Devon Bass Guitars

While the Aeon basses are made from Fender licensed parts assembled to my quality standards, I decided to try an Aeon D (D stands for Distressed — often referred to as Relic) version of my bass. I took an aftermarket P-bass body made from Paulownia (also called Empress Wood) and brought it up to my standards as it needed a fair amount of love. To understand how and where to created the aged effect, I did a fair amount of research to learn not only how to create the relic appearance, but also studied how older basses present their age and copied.

For this bass, I really went to the extreme in terms of making it looked aged and worn. I absolutely love the idea of departing from the bass being a precious object and more of a tool. This would give permission to players to be more focused on their music and not keeping it from damage. Fender only offers genuine Relic'd basses in their custom-shop and you'll typically pay $4k-$5k-plus for one of them.

To be honest, after I had almost completed this bass, I was a bit skeptical this would be something that anyone find desirable. But, now that it's complete, I've absolutely changed my mind. The bass sounds incredible, is super lightweight (6lbs 11oz) and is just a lot of fun to play.

It was labor-intensive to create and took almost twice the amount of time a stardard Aeon² takes to build. Also, working with the very strong acid to age the metal is scarey, even dangerous. Despite that, I priced this instrument reasonably, knowing the buyer doesn't need to pay for my learning curve. I'm honestly not sure I will make another bass like this again. And if I do, I'll likely charge a lot more for it. So, snatch this bass up as I'm not sure you'll be able to buy another one!

Here's what's different about Aeon d basses:
1. Threaded inserts for Pickguard and Pickup Screws
2. Acid aged hardware
3. Aged nitrocellulous finish
4. Gently rounded fretboard edge
5. Rounded frets
6. Bone nut
9. Bartolinie MM and P pickups
10. Volume, blend and tone passive configuration
11. Truss rod access channel
12. Copper foiled pickup cavities
13. Copper foiled electronics cavity