Paulhauser

I recently took possession of this US made Spector Forte 6. The Forte model was introduced in the early 2010's as a no frills version of the US NS basses. Cutting down on options, no fancy woods or inlays therefore making the production streamlined the aim was to offer a straightforward and a bit more affordable version of the NS models. Still made by the team of Stuart Spector (before his retirement) and co, Fortes are essentially the same as the US NS models but in Forte 'versions' Now to the contrary of all above this Forte 6 has more features than some of my US NS-5XL basses and certainly more than normal Fortes. Flamed maple top, ash back are the body woods, ebony (!) is the fingerboard, tuners are the same as the NS custom models, preamp is Aguilar OBP and the pickups are EMG 45DCs. It is a wonderful sounding bass, powerful but not aggressive, clean and very even in all registers and there is a depth and richness to the sound. The no inlay ebony board is a wonder in itself, the neck is comfortable for a sixer and the whole thing is an incredibly well built, ergonomicly designed and sweet sounding bass. I have owned and currently own US made NS-5XL Spectors and this is up there with the best of them. Enjoy the pics!

Strings: my experience is as some said above: buy a 5 string set and use the BEAD strings out of it. You'll have a lot more variety in terms of gauges and brands/materials as 4 string BEAD sets are few and would not cost less than an average 5 string set. Setup: I have a few 4 string basses turned to BEAD and in all cases some of the nut slots needed to be worked on but apart form that nothing more complicated than a normal setup. The only thing to watch out is some bridges will also have a problem with thich gauge strings (those in which you need to get the strings through)

I respect them for putting all the effort into this video but there isn't much point in reviewing a 5 string Rickenbacker without playing the B string much at all.

With all the brands and options to choose from at this price level this bass is leaving me unimpressed to say the least. The headstock is meh, the font/branding too. I mean you name a bass bite and the best thing you can come is a headstock which looks like part of it is bitten off and a similar logo on the neck plate? Nonetheless all the best to them and hope they can get a niche market with the short lead time and customization. I'm not sure this is really important but maybe so for some folks.

Also D'Addario makes the piccolo set of 52 42 32 20 (EXL280) so getting two other single nickel strings gauged 80 and 100 from them would do the trick and it fits to long scale necks (34" works for sure as I gave used these)

Update: after owning and using this bass for 16 months I have to say this is a keeper and as such it effectively killed my GAS for super 5 string jazzes. The feel of the neck is especially lovely, it is high gloss finish but has such a warmth and ease to it, unbelieveable. As I've said I'd bought this bass untried and unheard, never ever even had an Atelier Z in my hands but I wish all the "blind" purchases would be such spot on like this. Can't recommend Atelier Z's enough, they very well worth their prices!

While the original 4 string Spector headstock - a.k.a. “Gumby” has a cult following I think the Platypus kind of headstock that the Euro and US NS basses have are one of the best 5 string headstocks in the industry for me. I actually prefer it to the Gumby - but all my Spectors except one are 5 strings...

Sure. It was from muziker.sk , a slovakian e-commerce site that grew big on instruments and related products and now they seem to branch out to other stuff. I think I bought about 6-8 sets of DR strings at that time. It seems currently they dont have those prices but worth to keep an eye as I must have been bought from them on good prices about three times in the last few years. (Probably my only purchases from them...)

+1 on the DR Hi Beams. Those are my preferred strings to be used on my US and Euro Spectors. While their normal price is a bit on the high side there are deals to be found, I got my 0.45-.130 Hibeams for around £30 a set which is a quite ok. They sound great, feels great and last good (but not great) I love how my Spectors sound with them

On second thought I would just leave it as it is.

Lovely bass, congratulations! I think the red is passable but of course the stickers would do the trick provided they cover the existing inlays. This I’m not sure of, I used the crown pearl sticker set on a NS-CR to cover the dots and am not sure whether they are 100% the same size and shape as the inlays. I still have 2 sets but can’t check them against my Euro as I’m not at home.

If I were you I would by all means start putting up an ad on Basschat and in some facebook groups - European bass market is one of the biggest such group on facebook. Basschat marketplace sees a lot of international traffic, I'm from Hungary and have bought and sold basses through BC from/to all over Europe. It only takes a few minutes and a small amount of money but you'll be able to gauge the interest and the price level. But of course you'll need to be able to ship and take care of an international money transaction and these can be seen as risky for some.

Very nice of you Rotosound! For me it's gotta be Billy Sheehan. I have learnt a lot from his playing and his videos explaining what and why he does. His three finger plucking technique especially made an impact on my playing. Also I never used distortion until his signature EBS BS pedal convinced me to appy it to my sound at certain instances to spice up things. And his unique approach to distortion made that pedal to stand out. Kudos again to Billy!

There was a time when my only bass was an Ibanez Prestige SR3006 and I took it to every gig. Nobody made a comment.

My issue with the Thumb NT5 I had was the geometry and ergonomics of the bass: as Greg mentioned in the prev post the short upper horn makes it quite unbalanced and also puts the whole bass quite a lot to the left, meaning the 1st position is a lot farther to the left than on a Stingray for ex. As said above it may not matter to some but it was an issue for me for sure.

My take would be pau ferro or walnut. The headstock back/front looks a lot like my walnut winged Spectors but the neck takes more after my pau ferro boards.

My Spector US and Euro five string basses are tuned drop A and I use .130 or .135 strings and occasionally .125, too. DR HiBeams. Never had issues with the string being floppy, I recorded and played many gigs with this setup and never felt the need to go to thicker gauges. F# is another thing though....

Thank you! I used to have a 1005 that indeed had the 16,5mm but was checking the SRSC805 the other day and it has 18mm spacing.

@Woodinblack could you please check what's the string spacing at the bridge on the 5005? I have the 5006 with 16.5mm spacing and am curious if it is the same on the 5 string version and the official spec doesn't mention it. Thanks!

I think that higher price would not necessarily mean that that particular bass is more suitable ("better") for you. In many cases higher price is a result of distinctive higher quality that any player can benefit from (pu, electronics, hardware, woodwork) But it still does not mean that you by default will enjoy playing that bass more, its just means that you'll probably have less issues. In many other cases higher price is a result of expensive woods, branding, customizing, etc which could be important for some and not much to others. But it still does not mean that you by default will enjoy playing that bass more, its just means that you got something that you've dreamt of and this may make all the difference. It takes time, effort and experience to work out what (and why) works for you and what isn't.