I've translated my review to English:
Once every couple of years it's time for a new invention in bass land. Examples are graphite, luthite and ebonol when we talk about materials, Ritter and Lace can be checked out for the looks and Q-Tuner pickups and Lightwave pickups are the opponents of conventional magnetic pickups.
Another of those moments has come today. The Dutchman Arnoud Faber has built a bass that, according to him, has to be the most practical for a bass guitar can exist in: The Paddle Bass.
As you can see it's clearly a modern design, but very obviously looking back to the past.
Looks
The name couldn't be better fitting. Those who see this bass for the first time will probably think of a rowing paddle or cricket bat, and some have already found the comparison with the Statue Of Liberty. The idea behind this unconventional design is actually quite simple: Take a square and redesign it so that it's easy to play, without losing the simplicity of the original design. This has resulted in an actual upper horn, which has to take care of the neck dive. Secondly, there is a cutout for your upper leg, and a cutout for your arm (which won't be convenient for everybody, since not everybody has their arm on the same spot). Both things will be experienced differently by every player, but there is a clear idea behind it. Lastly, the body has a risen middle part on top of the body, resembling a Gibson Thunderbird, which has to serve as a really big thumb rest.
What strikes immediately is the shape of the headstock: it looks like a regular Fender headstock, but the top part has been sawn off, so you won't hit the singer or guitar player's head when acting crazy on stage. That choice of shape maybe isn't the best. It probably would have been better if the headstock would have followed the shape of the body more, so the looks would be a bit more consistent.
The mahogany bass I was able to test was finished in deep red, but I can imagine brighter colours would suit this bass really well, so it stands out even more on stage.
Finally: the Paddle Bass has 2 strap buttons: 1 for bass players who prefer their instrument a little bit above the belt, and 1 for Mark King fans. The downside of the latter is that the bass has the tendency to tilt forwards.
Construction and electronics
The bass is really well built. The bolt-on neck fits like a dream in the neck pocket. The pickups and other hardware have been fitted really tight as well. Speaking of pickups: this bass has nearly the simplest electronics configuration imaginable: 2 passive (and noiseless) jazz bass pickups, both equipped with their own volume pot, a master tone and a series-parallel switch. The switch works in the way that in series mode, the pickups work as a humbucker. That is véry convenient in some music styles. More about that in the “sound” section.
The Paddle has a simple vintage bridge and clover tuners. The tuners are a bit of a disappointment as well, because it breaches the square character of the body, and with that the consistency of the design.
All this isn't very exciting. On one hand that's great, because the luthier meant the bass to be nice and simple, and it is now, on the other hand maybe with an extraordinary instrument like this one you might expect a high tech bridge or Q-Tuner pickups. Fortunately, all that can be ordered as an extra.
Playability
This might be the scariest thing on the Paddle. Most bass players are probably used to a nice curvy instrument and when seeing this bass they might think instantly: No one can play on this, can they?! The body will stick in your stomach, chest and arms, and a nice big spot to put your right arm isn't there either. Let alone the neck dive: that hás to be enormous, considering the size of the body!
Yes, you have to get used to playing this. It's réally quite a small bass and for you readers that own a violin bass: you can compare the body size to that.
As soon as you place the bass on your leg there is 1 thing that stands out immediately: the body does stick in your stomach. That is a very important point that hás to be improved, but luckily you only notice that when sitting down while playing. At the moment you stand up this problem has disappeared entirely, so on stage you probably will never notice this.
What can become a bigger issue is the other side: the bass players that hang their bass higher than approximately belt height (like me) will notice the 90 degrees angle of the body. My under arm was really hurting after a while, and as soon as I grabbed one of my other basses that had a rounder arm rest the problem was gone immediately. This is something that many players will notice.
Disclaimer: Please note that I hang my basses quite high, regularly. Your experience may differ.
But except for those things the Paddle is a really nice bass to play. The neckdive is absent, which probably is thanks to the mahogany body. Mahogany is quite a heavy kind of wood, and that compensates the small body size. If you hang the bass on the upper straplock and let go of it entirely it's really balanced.
When set up properly, this instrument doesn't play any different from a conventional bass guitar, and the risen middle part of the body is certainly a great extra help on that subject: despite the fact that the pickups are really close together you don't have the problem of “falling fingers”: it feels like a ramp. Slapping isn't a problem on this bass either.
The neck size lies somewhere in the middle of a Jazz Bass and a Precision Bass, and every bass player will be able to do his thing on this neck.
Sound
This is of course the most important part of a bass guitar: the sound. On that subject some readers might think: those 2 pickups have no use at all. They're so close together they'll only sound good as a humbucker, and then there might as well have been a Musicman pickup in there.
This is far from the truth. Surprisingly enough, you really can get many different sounds from the Paddle Bass. With the pickups in parallel mode as well as series mode you get a Musicman-like punch, but the series mode is a bit more present in the low-mids, and it has a higher output, which might result in a better position in the mix of a band. This sound will mostly be useful in funk and funkrock, but it's usable as well in any decent rock band.
The sound of the bridge pickup doesn't even differ that much from the sound of the 2 pickups together and will therefore be the biggest factor in the sound. The sound is described best as the Musicman-like sound we've experienced before, but it nudges more to the Jazz Bass/Jaco Pastorius sound.
The neck pickup is a completely different story. It seems as if the pickup is almost an inch further forward than it actually is. It's an almost Precision-like sound the instrument produces, and it really is a revelation! All of a sudden I find myself playing The Meters and Bernard Odum bass lines, and I'm playing solely old funk and soul music. And so it's clear the Paddle has more diversity in sound than I had expected.
In conclusion
Arnoud Faber has created a unique instrument with his Paddle Bass. I have never seen an instrument that even remotely resembles this bass and I don't think many luthiers will be attracted to building a similar bass, but it seems to look better every time I see it.
It's unique in its sound quality as well. Although it seems to resemble the classic Musicman Stingray and Fender basses, the Paddle constantly takes one extra step aside. This way it gets its own spot in bass guitar land where not many other brands come, even in this price range (it costs about $1200, which could be more if you want more expensive pickups, a better bridge etc.).
Sounds
Both pickups, single coil mode:
CLICK
Both pickups, humbucker mode:
CLICK
Bridge pickup:
CLICK
Neck pickup:
CLICK
In all fragments, the first part is with the tone open, the second part with the tone closed.
Slap:
CLICK
First single coil mode, then humbucker.
Linear Mode
