Club F-Bass (Part 6)

[jbay]

Probably Cocobolo with some sapwood

[chrisloe]

Guys, I just have to say my new BN-6 is hands down the nicest, best playing and sounding bass I have ever had, I am blown away by this thing, right out of the box. I have been playing since I was 13, I am now 38 and have never had a bass even close to this.

I also know most of you know this, but Donovan from Fretspot.com was absolutely awesome to work with to get me my dream bass, even with all my craziness and changes every 2-3 days. I will pictures up when I can, but for now I have to go play some bass.

Your never happier with his bass brother - Chris.

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by chrisloe

Guys, I just have to say my new BN-6 is hands down the nicest, best playing and sounding bass I have ever had, I am blown away by this thing, right out of the box. I have been playing since I was 13, I am now 38 and have never had a bass even close to this.

I also know most of you know this, but Donovan from Fretspot.com was absolutely awesome to work with to get me my dream bass, even with all my craziness and changes every 2-3 days. I will pictures up when I can, but for now I have to go play some bass.

Your never happier with his bass brother - Chris.

Congratulations again, Chris. Your excitement is contagious.

A couple of weeks ago I was playing my BN6 and thinking about how wonderful it would have been to have had this bass when I was a teenager.

It's wonderful tone, its amazing playability, its earth shaking B string and its sweet, musical C string conspire to make me a very happy guy too.

[chrisloe]

I agree with you Tom, I have often thought about how awesome it would be if I could go back in time and give one of the basses I have had now (This one now...) to a teenage version of myself. I would have enjoyed playing a lot more then having to wrestle all of those bad playing basses I had when I was younger...

Anyway, on to the pics!

[chrisloe]

Sorry they came out kind of dark, but it gives you a good idea of the color. My favorite color is somewhere between a blue and purple, about the exact color this bass came out to be!

[chrisloe]

Last one...

[TapyTap]

Originally Posted by chrisloe

Guys, I just have to say my new BN-6 is hands down the nicest, best playing and sounding bass I have ever had, I am blown away by this thing, right out of the box. I have been playing since I was 13, I am now 38 and have never had a bass even close to this.

I also know most of you know this, but Donovan from Fretspot.com was absolutely awesome to work with to get me my dream bass, even with all my craziness and changes every 2-3 days. I will pictures up when I can, but for now I have to go play some bass.

Congrats CeLoe !

That bass sounds good on YouTube, so it must sound great in person!

[jogi68]

FYI, when I went to the photo link, a popup ad covered the bass. When I closed the popup ad, another ad popped up. It was OBNOXIOUS!

Dang, that wasn´t intended! Edited my post to include the big picture - no more popups hopefully!

That BN-5 with the cocobolo (?) top is one of the reason why you can´t ever have too many F-Basses. It´s like the Pokemon-thing: Gotta catch ´em all!

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Tom7

Here's a little more BN5 for y'all...

Donovan and Steve, here's a BN5 that falls in my Top 10 favorite BN5s with yours:

That is a beautiful instrument! However, leaving that truss rod access route 'raw' on some of these models is just an awful design decision. It just destroys the look of that beautiful top to me.

[jbay]

Originally Posted by chrisloe

Sorry they came out kind of dark, but it gives you a good idea of the color. My favorite color is somewhere between a blue and purple, about the exact color this bass came out to be!

As far as colors go, you have REALLY good taste

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by jogi68

Dang, that wasn´t intended! Edited my post to include the big picture - no more popups hopefully!

That BN-5 with the cocobolo (?) top is one of the reason why you can´t ever have too many F-Basses. It´s like the Pokemon-thing: Gotta catch ´em all!

Well said!

[Tom7]

-- NOTE: I wanted to QUOTE this post, but I accidentally hit the EDIT button instead of quote. While I should have figured out my mistake when the system gave me my old message, I didn't. So instead of replying to my previous post, I edited it and saved it, destroying the original post.

This is my attempt to reconstruct it from a cached version. Sorry if I confused anyone. I'll start going to bed earlier.

Originally Posted by KJung
That is a beautiful instrument! However, leaving that truss rod access route 'raw' on some of these models is just an awful design decision. It just destroys the look of that beautiful top to me.

Huh, I never thought much about it. It doesn't bother me, obviously, but I can see why it bothers some.

It is hardly noticeable with the natural ash look:




And it isn't that noticeable either with colored finishes:



Nor is it that noticeable in burst finishes I think:



And while it is very noticeable with a topped BN5, it's always looked fine to me still.



By the way, all these photos came from a German bass seller's website.


I thought it was interesting that it described it's location to prospective customers with the following map:

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Tom7

Huh, I never thought much about it. It doesn't bother me, obviously, but clearly it bothers some.

It is hardly noticeable with the natural ash look:

And it isn't that noticeable either with colored finishes:

Nor is it that noticeable in burst finishes I think:

And while it is very noticeable with a topped BN5, it's always looked fine to me still.

By the way, all these photos came from a German bass seller's website.


I thought it was interesting that it described it's location to prospective customers with the following map:

I think you might be misunderstanding what I'm talking about. Your example of the colored and burst finish basses have that cutout matched to the finish. That looks great. I'm talking about that big, naked maple stripe running through the top of bass with a dark finish or fancy top (like on the last photo). I've seen F's of every finish and top with that cut-out matching the finish/top color or not.

Your picture of the natural bass is an interesting one. While the actual cutout doesn't look bad, the way the grain totally stops in that exposed part of the neck going into the body is strange also... don't dig that at all.... look at how the grain comes to an abrupt halt from the neck pickup at the neck joint. Not good IMO.

IMO!

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by KJung

I think you might be misunderstanding what I'm talking about. Your example of the colored and burst finish basses have that cutout matched to the finish. That looks great. I'm talking about that big, naked maple stripe running through the top of bass with a dark finish or fancy top (like on the last photo). I've seen F's of every finish and top with that cut-out matching the finish/top color or not.

Your picture of the natural bass is an interesting one. While the actual cutout doesn't look bad, the way the grain totally stops in that exposed part of the neck going into the body is strange also... don't dig that at all.... look at how the grain comes to an abrupt halt from the neck pickup at the neck joint. Not good IMO.

IMO!

I might be, but I think I understand (and understood when I made that post).

The photos were meant to illustrate that the cut out is MOST noticeable when an exotic top is used... and while that doesn't bother me, I was acknowledging that it might bother others... you being exhibit A.

I've noticed that grain thing too you pointed out in my own BN5, but again it's never bothered me.

It's just an "eye of the beholder" thing I guess. Just as I'm not bothered by larger bridges, that cutout hasn't bothered me either.

But I fully acknowledge that these things DO bother other players, and that's cool too.

I don't USUALLY like basses without matching headstocks, while that doesn't bother some guys, so I get that we all have varying tastes when it comes to things like this.

And I'm glad.

I'd hate it if the entire world had basses identical to mine.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Tom7

I might be, but I think I understand (and understood when I made that post).

The photos were meant to illustrate that the cut out is MOST noticeable when an exotic top is used... and while that doesn't bother me, I was acknowledging that it might bother others... you being exhibit A.

I've noticed that grain thing too you pointed out in my own BN5, but again it's never bothered me.

It's just an "eye of the beholder" thing I guess. Just as I'm not bothered by larger bridges, that cutout hasn't bothered me either.

But I fully acknowledge that these things DO bother other players, and that's cool too.

I don't USUALLY like basses without matching headstocks, while that doesn't bother some guys, so I get that we all have varying tastes when it comes to things like this.

And I'm glad.

I'd hate it if the entire world had basses identical to mine.

Again, you miss my point. The cutout itself looks fine (you can't even see it if the color is matched, as is the case on the vast majority of 'body truss rod access' intruments).

It is the NON FINISHED cutouts that look bad to me.

The only reason I'm bringing this up is that I assume you have to specify that the cutout be finished to match the fancy top wood finish. I have a feeling some who order custom F's don't realize this. I would be massively bummed if I paid thousands for a fancy topwood, and had a naked stripe of maple running down the middle of it!

[steve f]

I love my cocobolo BN-5 and I agree with Ken.
It would be nice if a thin matching veneer could be used to line the cutout (or something like that). It's certainly not a deal breaker for me as the BN-5 is the best bass I've ever owned and I bought it second hand and knew what I was getting, but I think it would add a nice finishing touch to the bass, particularly at this price point. If there are logistic reasons why that won't work, I'll still love my bass and play the hell out of it.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by steve f

I love my cocobolo BN-5 and I agree with Ken.
It would be nice if a thin matching veneer could be used to line the cutout (or something like that). It's certainly not a deal breaker for me as the BN-5 is the best bass I've ever owned and I bought it second hand and knew what I was getting, but I think it would add a nice finishing touch to the bass, particularly at this price point. If there are logistic reasons why that won't work, I'll still love my bass and play the hell out of it.

I've actually seen a couple with fancy tops just with a simple finish (like on the bursts and solid colors) that matches at least the color of the top, and that works great... looks wonderful.

[chris lykins]

Its funny Ive never noticed that before and I own one with a buckeye top! I agree it would look better with a stain that matches the color closely but that would be next to impossible with buckeye and in person somehow Ive never been bothered by it.

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by KJung

Again, you miss my point. The cutout itself looks fine (you can't even see it if the color is matched, as is the case on the vast majority of 'body truss rod access' intruments).

It is the NON FINISHED cutouts that look bad to me.

The only reason I'm bringing this up is that I assume you have to specify that the cutout be finished to match the fancy top wood finish. I have a feeling some who order custom F's don't realize this. I would be massively bummed if I paid thousands for a fancy topwood, and had a naked stripe of maple running down the middle of it!

No, I'm not missing it. I'm just not articulating it well.

Let me try again.

I don't mind the cut out -- even when the cut out is "non finished" and doesn't match the fancy top or lacks the grain of the natural finish.

But...

I can see why others would dislike the cut out, particularly if it wasn't finished and interrupting an exotic top...

Because beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

That's all I was trying to say.

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by steve f

I love my cocobolo BN-5 and I agree with Ken.
It would be nice if a thin matching veneer could be used to line the cutout (or something like that). It's certainly not a deal breaker for me as the BN-5 is the best bass I've ever owned and I bought it second hand and knew what I was getting, but I think it would add a nice finishing touch to the bass, particularly at this price point. If there are logistic reasons why that won't work, I'll still love my bass and play the hell out of it.

Well, if you ever decide to do a custom order with the cutout covered, please let me know...

'Cause I'd be happy to "settle" for yours!