FS- Zon Sonus 5/1 Fretless in SKB HSC

[trkelley]

FER SALE
1996 Zon Sonus 5/1 fretless - all black. New d'Addario strings,
Duncan straplocks installed. Extra knob on lower horn, can remove & fill hole if you want.
One ding on the headstock, regular play wear,
gigged, but not in smoking venues. shipped from Oregon in an SKB hardshell anywhere in the conterminous US for $1600 fully insured.
I love this bass. I can no longer play 34" scale.

[Tampabass]

pics?

[chanson]

Pics!

[kukkunyan]

Pic&spec!

[trkelley]

Silly me, of course. pictures. and sounds.
Hear it at TR plays DR - YouTube

Forgive me,
I can't seem to figure out how to get a lot of pictures to show up right on here, picasa links don't seem to work and i'm limited to 2 attachments.

Here's the Picasa link to see 7 pictures of it:
https://picasaweb.google.com/trkpod/...eat=directlink

THanks for your interest.

[MarkA]

Hi, nice looking bass -- and unlined!

The Zon Sonus 5/1 page indicates 22 frets (or "frets" in this case), 17mm spacing and a 35" scale, not 34", but since this bass is from 1996, I'm not sure if the specs for the current model 5/1 apply... can you confirm the scale length and string spacing? Thanks!

[MarkA]

Bonus bump for "conterminous." "Coterminous" and "contiguous" I knew, but "conterminous" I had to look up.

[trkelley]

Hi there!
Just went and measured the bass, from the nut to the witness point on the bridge is 34.5". String spacing at the nut is 3/8" between the strings on-center with each string. (sorry don't have a ruler with metric measurements, is that 17mm?)

"Conterminous" i learned in 4th grade geography, same year i started bass in school orchestra.

TRK

[drnknmstr]

Best way to know to know is to measure the nut to the 12th position marker on the side. If it's 17 inches, you're at 34. Halfway point. Pythagorus or something.

My money is that it is a 34 because Zon didn't have 35" back then, I'm pretty sure.

[MarkA]

Originally Posted by trkelley

Hi there!
Just went and measured the bass, from the nut to the witness point on the bridge is 34.5". String spacing at the nut is 3/8" between the strings on-center with each string. (sorry don't have a ruler with metric measurements, is that 17mm?)

"Conterminous" i learned in 4th grade geography, same year i started bass in school orchestra.

TRK

3/8" would be about 9.5 mm, which makes sense for the nut. Would you mind measuring at the bridge saddles, center-to-center? If you measure center of the B to the center of the G and then divide by 4 (not 5; 5 strings = 4 spaces) you should be able to get a more accurate measurement. Spacing at the bridge is what I'm more curious about.

Drunkenmaster's observation about the 12th position marker is a good one... 17" = 34" scale; 17.5" = 35" scale. Or I guess it's possible that the bass is a 34.5" scale, depending on adjustments at the bridge.

Is the fingerboard a full two octaves? If not, what's the last note/"fret" on the G-string?

Does this bass have a truss rod?

Forgive all the questions -- I've only had my hands on a Zon once, unplugged and briefly. Don't know much about them except by reputation, and know next to nothing about these (relatively) older ones.

Thanks!
-Mark

P.S. If you don't mind my asking, are you playing shorter scale instruments now?

[trkelley]

I don't mind questions at all, it helps me learn how to do this better.

Measuring from the nut to the 12th "fret" (as determined by the purest harmonic node, corresponding to the double dot on the side marker) gives a measurement of 17.25

String to string spacing 1-11/16" on centers; total width from G to B on center at the saddles is 3.75 inches.

The bridge is original and has never been messed with other than the usual minor intonation adjustments, so this is the original factory scale length.

It is well-balanced, small-bodied and lightweight (under 9 pounds) and not a head-diver.

There is no truss rod in this bass.

Yes on doctor's suggestions (spine & wrist problems 35+ years behind a bass guitar and a sewing machine), i have switched over completely to all 30" scale instruments. I loved the Zon, it's featured on about a dozen or so CD projects for posterity. I'll have another high-end fretless someday, but right now I'm in an old-skool rock band, and it's a Fender/Ampeg kind of scene. My SX Jazz shorty is the perfect axe for the job.

thanks for asking!

trk

[trkelley]

Forgot this part of the question: Yes it is a full 2-octave fingerboard with another double-dot side marker at the end. Last note on the G is g

[MarkA]

Originally Posted by trkelley

I don't mind questions at all, it helps me learn how to do this better.

Measuring from the nut to the 12th "fret" (as determined by the purest harmonic node, corresponding to the double dot on the side marker) gives a measurement of 17.25

String to string spacing 1-11/16" on centers; total width from G to B on center at the saddles is 3.75 inches.

The bridge is original and has never been messed with other than the usual minor intonation adjustments, so this is the original factory scale length.

It is well-balanced, small-bodied and lightweight (under 9 pounds) and not a head-diver.

There is no truss rod in this bass.

Thanks for the detailed response.

Re. the scale, it appears to be a bona fide 34.5".

Re. string spacing at the bridge, do you mean to say that B to G, center to center, is 2.75" (rather than 3.75")? 2.75/4 =~.69", or about 17.5mm, which seems like pretty typical 5 string spacing. 3.75" would yield .94" (24mm) spacing, which is pretty big, to put it mildly.

"String spacing 1-11/16 on centers." Does that refer to B-to-G at the nut?

Just want to make sure I understand everything clearly.

Thanks!
-Mark

[fretless_guy]

Nice bass. Wish I had the scratch.