NBD, NBD and NBD

[Iain]

Popped up to Worsley to see Drew and Great British Bass Lounge (GBBL from now on!) with a view to looking at the acoustics he had in stock for a side project, also wanted to have a dabble in the murky world of fretless bass...

Came away with:


All new, from left to right:

Breedlove Atlas Stage BJ350/CRe4
Cort B4FL
Sandberg California II VM4 in trans black.

The Breedlove is beautiful and perfect, a steal for well under half list price, not had much time to play it yet though.

The Cort is a stunner for under £400. I played a German made Thumb BO fretless back-to-back with this and, while the Warwick was better it wasn't £800 or so better. I've played this for about an hour so far and it's not as daunting as I thought (the lack of frets). Only been working through stuff that I know well so far though and nothing overly complex. Fingers seem to be hitting the marks remarkably well!

The Sandberg was a complete impulse purchase. I'd been fancying something Precision-y for a while but, having played a few didn't like them - neck too wide and 'clumsy' feeling. This bass had only arrived the day before and is, I think, the only one in this spec in the UK currently. I played it for about 10 mins @ GBBL while Drew was looking out cases for the other two and just fell in love with it. It's really light, Swamp Ash body (like the Cort), very deep rosewood fretboard. Went directly from GBBL to rehearsal for Half-Life and it's utterly epic. Other band-mates commented on the tone enthusiastically and repeatedly.

Happy days.

Edited July 1, 2016 by Iain

[roman_sub]

wow, triple win!

[discreet]

Three at once?? Good Lord. Nice, though.

[Iain]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1467395431' post='3083444']
Three at once?? Good Lord. Nice, though.
[/quote]

I even surprised myself. Total price was about half that of my Dingwall though and the Sandberg plays better than my US Geddy Jazz!

[gary mac]

I can't see the photo

[HowieBass]

I can't see the photo either!

I've got a Cort B4FL and they're nice basses

[Iain]

Try now - google image sharing is a little opaque at times!

[Schnozzalee]

Love those Corts. Once you go Fretless, you can't do without - They really sing and add a bit more depth I feel. Enjoy!

[CamdenRob]

This is exactly the sort of thing I would have done...

Three beauties there though covering all bases

[discreet]

[quote name='Schnozzalee' timestamp='1467408959' post='3083575']
Love those Corts. Once you go Fretless, you can't do without - They really sing and add a bit more depth I feel. Enjoy!
[/quote]

After many decades of being indifferent to fretless basses, I've now got fretless Cort GAS. Who would have thought?

Edited July 1, 2016 by discreet