Toni SBX’s Mockingbird Bass

Starting with a Mockingbird guitar body and an old bass neck, Toni has rebuilt this bass that you’re sure to love.

What Toni tells us

“It’s a bass guitar I found in the trash over 30 years ago. It’s an Italian Eko. The neck was attached to a guitar body that had been drilled and painted with a brush, and it had guitar pickups and guitar electronics. In short, a disaster that served its purpose in recording the first demo I ever made as a musician, which is why I’ve kept it and am very fond of it.

The body is your Clandestine Guitars Mockingbird basswood guitar body. Since the pickup cavities weren’t suitable for the bass, I routed the entire center section and inlaid a piece of zebrawood along with the thin rosewood strips you see next to it. This allowed me to re-route the cavities for the pickups I installed. Afterward, I gave it a French polish finish with blue stain, three coats of wood sealer with sanding in between, and a four-coat polyurethane gloss lacquer finish.

The electronics, pickup rings, knobs, etc. are also Clandestine. It has the original Tokai TWB20 hot rail pickup (from a guitar) and a set of Billy Sheehan’s signature Dimarzio DP146 Will Power pickups. The neck, tuning pegs, bridge, and tailpiece are original.”