Which bass should be my first boutique/high end fretted bass?

[bearhart74]

try as many as you can and make your own decision. their are hundreds of custom builders out there.
if you are looking for used i would say look at Modulus Genesis and Kevin Brubaker's products.

[Got2SadowskyNYC]

Everyone is mentioning bass brands. Here's what you REALLY need to know.

Some builders don't offer these options but it's still something to put some thought into.

String spaceing. Figure out what you like and why. I prefer 19mm, center to center at the bridge. My Curbow has a 18mm. You can feel the 1mm as you play.

Spaceing at the nut, same as above.

FRET SIZE. I used to have a Curbow Fretted. Greg built it to my specs. Great bass, but I never liked it. It took me several years to figure out why. Greg used Jumbo frets. At the time I didn't know how that effected the feel. It does. A LOT. I prefer a medium jumbo so I basically wasted $6000 because of millimeters on fretwire.

Even the type of material matters. Nickle or steel. etc.

Neck thinkness and shape. Get to know what you like and what you don't. I can't stand several brands because of the shape of the neck alone. They just don't feel good to me.

People say Sadowsky is just a fender copy. It's not, really. They feel completely different.

Play everything you can get your hands on BUT not plugged in. Don't look at price or brand. Figure out why you like a bass and why you don't based on feel alone.

Next you need to research how tone is effected by the woods. DO you lean to darker tones or brighter tones. I prefer bright and snappy so I have lots of maple and an ash body.

The electronics should be LAST because these can be changed. Everything else you're stuck with.

It'll take awhile, BUT you get a much better bass that you'll pass on to your kids and grand kids. It's a waste to "trade up" an expensive custom bass.

[ChuckTrucks]

Roscoe makes nice basses

[backup]

you see what happens? every one recommends you their high end bass of choice.
try to play as many boutique basses as possible and then decide for yourself.
if you already have solid preferences and you know what you want to sound like and what it should look like then just call builders who did similar things. i think any boutique builder can get you your prefered tone and many will also be ready to make exceptional designs.

[jmclearnon]

+1 to trying out as many basses as possible...

Remember the same builder can make basses with completely different tone, so on the Alembic front, there may actually be one in a shop which is suited for you tone wise. So try ALL the "boutique" basses even if you have turned away from a certain luthier.

If you were getting a new bass its completely different because you can get stuff which compliments the tone your want to achieve. Anyways good luck on your search!! And have fun in the process!

[phillybass101]

I'll address this based on the choices you've indicated. Get the Roscoe. I didn't say Brubaker because it wasn't on your list. For me Brubakers get the job done.