{"id":15,"date":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/?post_type=bass&p=15"},"modified":"2026-09-13T08:46:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T08:46:34","slug":"doc-wileys-strat-o-bass-is-one-bass-to-rule-them-all","status":"publish","type":"bass","link":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/?bass=doc-wileys-strat-o-bass-is-one-bass-to-rule-them-all","title":{"rendered":"Doc Wiley\u2019s Strat-o-Bass Is One Bass to Rule Them All"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Doc<\/p>\n

Photos by Dan Bradner<\/div>\n

As a Grammy Award-winning mix engineer, bassist Doc Wiley knows about getting a good sound. He\u2019s also a practical, working musician. Today, we\u2019re diving into the story of his Doc Shop Strat-o-Bass, a Frankensteined four-string that began as a Fender Standard Precision Bass and was transformed by luthier Bill Foley of German Village Music Haus in Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been playing with The Waiting<\/a>, celebrating the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, since 2013,\u201d Wiley explains. \u201cOn any given night, my incredibly talented bandmates may have 12 to 18 guitars onstage, not counting the basses. Because faithfully performing the Heartbreakers\u2019 catalog already requires guitar changes on nearly every song, I wanted to avoid adding another instrument to the changeover chaos. The Strat-o-Bass is my solution: one bass to rule them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting with the Precision as a foundation gives a good starting point for the feel and playability. From there, Wiley consulted with pickup icon Larry DiMarzio about how to get the most tone out of it. They settled on three DiMarzio Relentless Neck DP295 pickups controlled with a five-way switch and a custom G&L-inspired tone circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd because Bill is one of those wonderful instrument wizards who hears a half-formed idea and somehow turns it into something useful,\u201d Wiley explains on his Substack, \u201che also added a very cool wiring trick: with a pull of the tone knob, the middle pickup gets into a voicing inspired by that Rickenbacker 4001 middle-pickup flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hardware was upgraded to Leo Quan tuners and a Badass III hi-mass bridge. The back of the bass has another intriguing feature: a resonant chamber.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe three rounded, concentric chambers are proportioned around the relationship between the fundamental, major third, and fifth of a musical note\u2014an intonated resonant system designed to encourage consonant resonance throughout the instrument,\u201d Wiley writes. He adds that the resonator seems to make the bass ring forever, \u201clike it has unfinished business and a hotel room somewhere in 1978.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of these features add up to an instrument that fits the gig and doesn\u2019t feel too precious to use. Wiley documented his thought process and the creation on his Substack (Check out part one<\/a> and part two<\/a>), where he wrapped up with a final thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of all this, the point is not to own a custom bass. The point is to own a bass that helps you make music,\u201d he said. \u201cThe right upgrades can make a mid-priced bass feel like home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doc Shop Strat-o-Bass Photos:<\/h2>\n
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Photos by Dan Bradner As a Grammy Award-winning mix engineer, bassist Doc Wiley knows about getting a good sound. He’s also a practical, working musician. Today, we’re diving into the story of his Doc Shop\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":828,"template":"","meta":[],"builder":[5],"class_list":["post-15","bass","type-bass","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","builder-doc-wiley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/bass\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/bass"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/bass"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"builder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fbuilder&post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}