Custom Matt Kamen Custom 5-string 2003 Bubinga

Matt Kamen built several 5-string basses around the 2003 time frame out of Boston. His basses are very similar to the Pensa. I sent photos of this bass to Pensa and they agreed it looked like one of theirs but the lack of a Pensa serial number revealed it was not.

This bass is a true custom and not a bunch of random parts put together. It is a jazz bass design with a walnut body and bubinga top. The neck is a 34” maple C-shape with a thick ebony fingerboard with Matt’s stylized signature on the headstock. The tuners are Gotoh. The bridge is a Hipshot type custom and the pickups are Lindy Fralin. My bass tech inspected the preamp and said it was custom made and the preamp has an on-off switch by pulling up the volume knob. The body is finished in bees wax and the neck has a lacquer finish.  The weight is 9 ½ pounds. I played one concert with it, so I would give it a 9.5 out of 10. Made in the USA. It comes with a hard-shell Fender case and Schaller strap locks.