Lee Sklar & Steve Lawson

Lee Sklar is unquestionably a bass legend and we found him on top form, waxing lyrical over his current tour with Judith Owen. Having spent the past few decades performing alongside some of popular music’s all-time greats, Lee is certainly no stranger to back-to-back touring. “I’ve toured every year since 1970,’ he smiles. “I’ll never get sick of it: you get tired of airports and sitting in buses for eight hours, but that all disappears the minute you walk out on stage.” Welcome to their first proper interview together. They’re big, they’re hairy and they would like to hug the world.

We were interested to hear how this fitted in with Steve Lawson, who’s bass work remains rather ahead of the curve in his area of soloistic music making. “It can be a little tricky to pin down exactly what I do,’ says Steve. “I’m a solo bassist who spends a lot of his time making very un-bass-like sounds.” The Gold Series SLC Steve Lawson Signature model was designed specifically, in conjunction with Steve, for players who like to play chords and more progressive solo work.

It’s essentially a revamp of a Rob’s Gold Series 6-string, incorporating a chambered semi-hollow body, medium scale length (33”), 17mm string spacing, a 3-way pickup selector, an ‘interruptor’ button and glow-in-the-dark side dots. Larry Pollack satisfied Steve Lawson’s request for single-coil pickups with a pair of custom Aeros that perfectly align with the narrow string spacing at their pickup locations.

Warwick’s latest addition to their artist signature line is this Custom Shop Masterbuilt Sklar Bass. It’s a modern take on the company’s Star Bass II Doublecut, built especially to suit Lee. It’s a fairly unique design that blends the original with a special ergonomic arm rest and a custom ‘producer switch.’ The bass also features a pair of active MEC Vintage single-coil pickups, active MEC electronics and a mahogany body with a AAA flamed maple top.