The NAMM Show has a row called the Boutique Guitar Showcase, which allows for independent luthiers to show off their instruments. This year I got to check it out and catch up with Peter Malinoski of Malinoski Guitars, who showed me his Nero model.
The hollow body bass has a Spanish cedar back, fir body frame, and a spalted maple top that sports an original f-hole shape. It has a medium 32-inch scale with a maple neck and wenge fingerboard. A massive wooden pickup cover conceals two of Malinoski’s Type 14 humbuckers. The Nero also has a piezo transducer, and the builder wires it all up with a Bournes volume pot, a CTS volume pot with push/pull for the piezo, and a Switchcraft three-way toggle. Other features include 26 frets, a Hipshot A-style bridge, and Gotoh compact tuners.
