About CallowHill™ Guitars
CallowHill™ was originally developed as a specialty instrument designed with, and for, bassists coming out of the Black Gospel tradition. Mind you, if the aforementioned tradition were a town, then I'm not even on the same planet; however, having spent over ten years modifying and repairing basses for players from this genre, it struck me that none of the large manufacturers (and few of the boutique) cared to address common complaints and suggestions from this group of insanely talented musicians.
The initial goal was to build light-weight, well-balanced (tonally and physically) instruments with premium electronics and a thick, authoritative, well defined voice. The end result is a bass that surpasses all of the initial goals. All basses are currently bolt-ons, available in a 34” scale with ¾” spacing at the bridge. All truss rods are adjustable with a spokewheel. The headstock is nearly ¾” thick which helps to eliminate dead spots and the need for a volute under the nut. Also, because the core test group of players are all respected upright players, the basses had to possess a definitive boom and swell in the initial attack. This is achieved with an unorthodox approach to neck construction which not only gives the basses extra strength and a unique resonance peak, but virtually eliminates dead spots. Hipshot hardware is standard. Aguilar preamps and Nordstrand pickups are also standard, and all wiring in the passive stage of the basses is executed with Teflon coated solid silver audiophile grade wiring with either "foil in oil" Jensen caps or NOS pre CBS Fender* caps.
No corners are cut in the construction anywhere. You can choose any preamp or pickups you want, but the Aguilar/Nordstrand combo was picked over and over again by the test group as well as a number of other busy session/touring bassists. Once you hear the Nordstrands, you won't want anything else. The "extended" family of bassists chosen to develop CallowHill™ can be heard laying it down for a number of artists represented on okayplayer.com. The studio where most of the tracks for these artists are recorded is just down the street from my shop. Each bass was designed with the help of a specific player in an effort to address specific problems on production style instruments. While none of the basses represented on this site are signature models, I felt an obligation to use acronyms and names for the basses in order to give credit where credit is due. I build what I know. While laminate (3/16+) bent tops are an option, there's no tonal reason to stray from a solid, light-weight Swamp Ash body. The necks all feature three piece construction, either all Maple or with a thick Wenge center strip.
Having been schooled as a guitar builder with a number of high-end archtop builders like Bill Comins and the late John Zeidler, as well as a few years in the hot-seat at Ibanez, I quickly realized that rules of guitar construction and tone usually do NOT apply to bass. There are certain materials/ methods of construction I use on basses that I would never even consider on a guitar, but they work.
I'm not a fan of clutter on the face of an instrument. My basic control layout features five knobs only. Three of which are push/pull. I'm a firm believer that a bass (even in the modern era) is electrically only as good as its passive stage set flat. The first three knobs represent the passive stage (Master volume, Pickup select, passive tone). When the passive tone is pulled up the preamp is defeated, no battery necessary. When the knob is down, the preamp is engaged. No audible difference when the knobs are set flat, but you can tweak the preamp or "season to taste" to get the sounds you need from there.