Dolan Custom Guitars

[AdamWoodBass]

Hey guys

Just thought I'd give a bit of a bump for Adam Dolan of Dolan Custom Guitars. He's a Manchester based luthier and has only recently started up. I got chatting to him at the Northwest Guitar Show at Haydock on Sunday. He had a couple of basses with him and I had a bit of a play.

First impressions are these basses are high quality with a lot of attention to detail. Adam is a bass player himself so he knows what makes a good instrument. The 5 string on his website is the first of his Proteus series. Great spec with Hipshot tuners and through body bridge, Nordstrand big splits and a Glockenklang preamp which was intuitive and easy to use. Clear and defined low B and a nice even response over all strings. Action was a touch high for my taste but that can easily be lowered. Lots of nice touches you'd expect on a high end bass like wooden control cavity cover, stainless steel frets, wooden control knobs (I think he said Ebony??) and Luminlay markers. Sound wise it reminded me of a boutique Jazz bass with lots of bite on both pickups when you dig in but also the clarity of a very modern instrument when the bridge pickup was soloed.

The 4 string which I don't think is featured on the website yet was a little heavier weight wise (not back breaking though) and the body shape is a little sleaker than the 5 string. I believe the body topwood was Black Limba and the neck was Wenge. Passive with Nordstrand Big J Blades (which are awesome!) and the same high end hipshot hardware. Sound wise I'd say it was a faithful tip of the cap to a high end Jazz especially as the pickup position is based on a 1975 Fender Jazz but with a little extra "something" that made the bass really stand out. The action was much lower on this and allowed for that very subtle hint of gritty fret buzz when you dig in on an old Jazz. Lovely tapered neck profile which made it a dream to play. Loved the tone from both pickups both on slap and fingers but for me it really came into its own with the bridge pickup soloed: punchy, dark and aggressive like an angry vintage jazz.

Adam is a very friendly chap too and had a lot of time to answer questions and talk about possibilities. He's been working with guitars for over 10 years and clearly knows his onions. He had a couple of guitars with him too which looked lovely but I didn't try them.

Check out his website www.dolancustomguitars.co.uk

Just for transparency I am in no way affiliated with Dolan Custom Guitars and I'm not getting paid to say this, I just like to give credit where credit is due!

Cheers

Adam

[Dolando]

Hello mate,

He definitely wasn't paid to say that, I've only just seen this!

Anyway, thanks so much for the kind words, and spending the time to really give my basses a good play. It's always nice to hear players feedback, especially when it's as positive as this. Makes all the hours planning and testing really worth it!

All builds are on the website now, with new pro photos.

Thanks again, and it was great to meet you.

Adam from Dolan Custom Guitars