NBD - a baby blue beauty (Sandberg content included)

[TrevorR]

I’m not a regular visitor to the NBD posts given that the last new bass (any bass) I bought was a decade ago but last Friday I picked up my new Sandberg VM4 in hardcore aged Marley Blue. I’ve long been a fan of Sandbergs and had had a hankering to get one for a long time. My comment about them was always that I’d never played a Sandberg that I didn’t love. And that’s perfectly true. 

I tried the bass before Christmas and loved it. I had a work event in Holborn and managed to arrive very early. Getting off the tube at Tottenham Court Road it was only right to kill some time browsing idly around Denmark Street before strolling on to the venue. I saw this bass in the bass basement at Wunjo’s. Having been wondering about whether a P bass pickup plus Music Man humbucker was a good alternative combination the fact that the bass had this layout was interesting. So, of course I asked to have a tinkle on it and was very very taken with the looks and the sound. I’m not a relic fan but this seemed to be a bit more restrained than some of Sandberg’s other hardcore jobs. To me it was really quite good looking and authentically done. No huge bits of finish scraped off in ridiculous places you can’t imagine getting regular wear etc. Having tried it out and reconfirmed all my Sandberg prejudices it got me thinking that I’d work up my ideal config (not that different - different blue, no relic, dots rather than blocks, pearl scratch plate, same neck and pickups) and look into ordering one. I finally got round to doing that in the New Year and, having inquired at a couple of dealers, I discovered just how long the lead times are… yikes!  Not quite Wal levels but 18-24 months is a long time. Anyway, having loved this bass when I tried it out before, I decided to check whether it was still available. It was and the price was no different from the configuration that I’d worked out. So that sealed the deal.

 

The specs are as follows… alder body, maple neck with pau ferro fingerboard, P/H pickups and Sandberg 2 band active/passive electronics. The neck is so comfortable - a shallow rounded C which fits in my hand perfectly and a silky smooth matt finish. The sounds is great too and having tried it out at our regular jam night it played so nicely and sounded beautiful. The pickups are really powerful and full sounding and it was a pleasant surprise that switching from active to passive mode doesn’t cause a particularly noticeable drop in volume - which is a bonus and makes the passive mode al the more useable. The strap lock compatible strap buttons are a  nice “icing on the cake” kind of bonus too (even though I do prefer Dunlop to Schaller). It’s hard to complain when they come as standard.

 

I’m not someone who names their things (cars, guitars, basses etc) but this one does have a name. It will be unofficially known as “Alfie” after my dad , who passed away last Spring aged 100. I kinda think of it as his last present to me so it’s named after him.

 

 

 

[Mudpup]

😍

[Lozz196]

Nice one @TrevorR, I’m sure Alfie will bring you much happiness.

[madshadows]

That's a real beauty, congrats on the new bass  

 

John 😎