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Only at Chuck Levin's! The Spector NYC Graffiti Collection
Legendary music shop Chuck Levin's has collaborated with custom bass manufacturer Spector and renowned airbrush artist Dan Lawrence to craft a collection of limited edition bass guitars celebrating the iconic Spector bass sound and New York City arts culture - the NYC Graffiti Collection.
"One of the things we're so proud of at Spector is that we're through and through a New York brand. It started in Brooklyn and now we build these custom basses in Woodstock, New York." -Taylor McLam, Sales Manager at Spector Bass
Spector has been building basses in New York for over 50 years. Starting in a collaborative woodworking shop, Stuart Spector developed the company's signature contoured body shape with assistance from Ned Steinberger (yep, that Ned Steinberger), and the rest is, of course, history.
Seen in the hands of artists as diverse as Sting, Nikki Sixx, and Doug Wimbash, the signature Spector growl is both respected and beloved by everyone who picks one up! Celebrating this history and heritage was a core objective of the NYC Graffiti Collection, but it wasn't always obvious how to express this.
"It was going to be a yellow taxi with a stripe and a few words in there. I remember I was driving home one day and I was telling the idea that we were going to do the yellow taxis to my son who was driving with me. And he turned around and he said, 'Well, if you're going to do something about New York, why don't you just do graffiti?'" - Carlos Romero, Guitar Dept Manager at Chuck Levin's
Carlos Romero, guitar department manager at Chuck Levin's, worked with his son Enrique and with Spector's sales manager Taylor McLam to come up with a huge list of words, phrases, and references to decorate the instruments. It was then time to bring the final ingredient into the mix - Dan Lawrence.
"We gave Dan a bunch of words that are kind of tied to the Spector brand and sort of come off like a graffiti tag. All kinds of references to Brooklyn, references to hip hop, references to famous graffiti artists, there's bass clefs in there, there's all kinds of cool stuff. I've been around these for a while now and I'm still noticing cool stuff!" - Taylor, McLam, Sales Manager at Spector Bass
Collaborating with Dan Lawrence for the first time was both challenging and rewarding. This collection marks the first time Dan Lawrence has worked on a Spector bass. His passion and style can be seen all over these instruments, and Dan added several of his own flourishes and secrets to each bass.
"It was kind of a unique thing, because [Spector] had never worked with Dan Lawrence. Most of the [custom painted] instruments you see from the 80s and later have been done by Dan Lawrence. So I gave [Dan] a call and explained to him the idea of doing this special run of basses with Spector, and he said he had never worked with Spector before. That made it even better." - Carlos Romero, Guitar Dept Manager at Chuck Levin's
This run of basses features 12 unique instruments each featuring its own color scheme and set references to bass guitar, Spector, and New York, all expressed in the form of graffiti tags hand-painted by Dan Lawrence.
Each bass is constructed using Spector's signature NS body shape with maple body, 3-piece maple neck, and ebony fretboard. They are then loaded with Spector's HAZ 9v electronics and a set of EMG pickups - a PX/SJX set on 4-string models and a 40DCX set on 5-string models.
These basses will be available exclusively at Chuck Levin's, a legendary family-run music shop and Spector's #1 dealer. Chuck Levin's celebrated its 65th Anniversary in 2023, and has been a Spector dealer since the late 70s when the NS-2 was available in just one color - black!
The entire collection can be found here!
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