Jeremy has been ranked as a leading tax lawyer in the Legal 500 US for his “superb legal advice and practical business guidance," by Chambers USA, which has noted his practice’s “dominant presence in the sports industry,” in Who’s Who Legal: Sports & Entertainment, as a Law360 MVP, and as a National Law Journal Sports Law Trailblazer.
The stain or color choice is informed by the top wood, as certain woods work better with certain stains or techniques.Jeremy Spector’s practice involves tax planning, IRS controversy work, and the structuring of corporate transactions, with particular emphasis on advising professional sports leagues and teams and on representing large taxpayers through the IRS audit, Fast Track, and Appeals processes. The fingerboard choice, electronics, and backing wood are informed by the tones and response the player wants. Lately we’ve been using more buckeye, spalted maple, maple burl, redwood, and similar woods.” He adds, “The top wood is often the initial inspiration for the player. For the top wood, older Spectors were traditionally solid walnut and solid maple, which sound fantastic and remain popular. But we’ll take requests - if a client wants, say, alder, mahogany, cedar, or sycamore. For the back wood we use redwood, swamp ash, or empress wood, which is also known as paulownia. The top is generally the more highly figured, flashy choice the customer makes, and the back wood is more responsible for the tone. Explains Stippell, “We do a two-piece body, although we offer a one-piece body, as well. Wood storage is in an impressively stocked corner of the main room.
There, you can see and choose the actual piece of body wood for your bass. The first step in the bass-building process is wood selection via Spector’s Wood Library, which is accessible on the Spector website. But similar to what Taylor alluded to about the visual side, between our different woods, hardware, and the many pickup and electronics options available, there are seemingly endless combinations of what we can put together with our classic sound to tweak it to the customer’s needs. John: As Jeff said, most of the time customers are familiar with the sound and feel of our basses, and that’s what they’re coming for. We say, “Take an hour this afternoon, choose a stain block, and try something new, something crazy.” Chris Heitzman came up with our “Interstellar” look that way, and now it’s one of our standard finishes. One thing we’ve been able to do with our talented staff is give them the freedom to experiment. To be able to turn that into a first-class instrument is a blast. Taylor: The requests can get pretty abstract, finish-wise customers have sent me photos of tropical fish or landscapes and asked if we can replicate it. And in the end it becomes a gift they share with people. Finding a way to take what is an emotional connection and turn it into a physical piece is a process and a journey. Often they’ve seen or heard a Spector and been inspired by it. We’re very aware that working bassists are putting a lot of money and time into the process of buying their dream bass, so we want to provide an instrument that delivers the sound, feel, and experience they were hoping for. Jeff Shreiner: Absolutely that’s our main mission. So interpreting what a customer wants is a key part of what you do. Sales & Artist Relations Manager Taylor McLam, Marketing Manager Jeff Shreiner, and Production Manager William DeYoung. Following an extensive tour of the first-floor workspace (see accompanying story), I settled into the spacious second-story loft to discuss the present and future of Spector with Global Brand Manager John Stippell, U.S. Here, Spector builds its NS Neck Through, NS Bolt On, and CodaBass. A key part of the deal was moving the Custom Shop into the larger facility on Route 28. and Canada, and in 2019 Korg purchased the company, now known as Spector Musical Instruments. In 2015, Korg USA took over distribution in the U.S. Spector evolved into Spector/Kramer in the ’80s, Stuart Spector Design in the ’90s, and back to Spector in the 2000s. As the company grew its two lines of basses, players like Sting, Doug Wimbish, Graham Maby, Ian Hill, Guy Pratt, Rudy Sarzo, and Alex Webster manned Spectors to put their bass lines on timeless recordings and concerts in a wide range of genres.