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Cliff Bordwell CB 32" custom fretless 4 strings
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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1
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4895
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Thu June 8, 2006
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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None indicated
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10.0
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supersize
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Description:
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Custom "D" model 32" scale fretless made by Cliff Bordwell - CB Instruments
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Author
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michele
sushi lover
Registered: April 2004
Location: Italy
Posts: 833
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Review Date: Thu June 8, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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A piece of art
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Cons:
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none
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Soundlab: Bass plugged into Thunderfunk TFB550 amp powering an Accugroove Tri112L cabinet. Everything connected with Evidence Audio cables.
Woods & electronics - When I decided to have a custom fretless bass built by Cliff Bordwell, I had this feeling to try a ’32 scale: I’ve always tought that it’s a common acceptance between bassist that medium and short scale instruments sound somewhat “muddy” compared to the longer scale ones. On the opposite, it’s always been my convinction that a good luthier with quality woods and proper construction methods could make an instrument with good definition, punch and growl. To obtain these results on a “32 Cliff suggested to go with his “modern neck” (two pieces of maple with a wenge center section) and to cap it with an ebony fingerboard.
As regarding to the body woods, I’ve played alder Fenders back in the days and only later, with my Sadowsky, I discovered the pleasures of swamp ash, so I decided it was mahogany turn. As I drooled so many times over an old bass by Cliff with a bloodwood top, I decided to cap the mahogany with this wood and choose walnut for the back just because the three colours match so well together.
After boring Cliff with a lot of ideas and scketches for a custom body shape, I just realized that what I really like was his “D” body shape, so I went for it but at the same time I asked for two minor modifications: the little “tail”, just a personal touch, and the “reversed” lower horn. In my opinion, this two modifications gave to the body a more fluid line (and made it “mine”). Furthermore I find that the lower horn shape allows the bass to lay in a natural way on my leg while playing in sitting position.
Being just as Cliff a fan of those little touches that do make the difference I also asked for ebony pickup covers, knobs and ramp.
As concerning electronics, after reading so many positive comments here on TB, I decided to try some Carey Nordstrand’s pickups. Since I wanted to try something new while not staying too far from the “J recipe”, Cliff suggested to go with the NJ4SE pickups. Furthermore I decided to get rid of the onboard electronics previously committed and to go passive in order to eliminate the need of too much knobs and to fight the common desire of the “Custom Bass Addicted” to conceive an instrument as versatile as possible (often not looking at the real sonic needs).
Construction - As I took the bass from the beautiful Levy’s gig bag it came with, I was litterally floored by the depth and the richness of the natural colours of the woods, wonderfully enhanced by a light coat of satin urethane finish. Then I started to look closely at every part of the bass, just to discover that it is PERFECT: you won’t see a single, little imperfection on this bass ... from the perfectly matched wood control cover, to the impeccable carving job, to the astonishing neck joint, the work on the woods is a truly labour of love! Bravo!
The result is under everyone’s eyes: the bass has a simple, elegant charme to it. A beauty that won’t hit you with crazy figured woods or complicated inlays but it steals your heart with the deep, rich colours of the woods and the perfection of every little detail.
Playability - The bass is a breeze to play. Despite the hard woods used, it weights only 8.2 lbs and it’s perfectly balanced both standing and sitting.
It has a neck to die for. Straight like an arrow, with just a minimum amount of relief, it has an incredibly low action that suits perfectly my playing style and my light touch. My Sadowsky has a wonderful neck, by far the best I’ve encountered until now, and I’m not going to tell you that the neck on my CB is better but it SURELY stands side by side with it! I can’t tell if it’s because of the neck shape itself, or the shorter scale, or the flatter fingerboard (16” radius vs. the 12” of the Sad), or the neck joint that allows, along with the deeper cutaway, a full fingerboard access but you could play this bass effortlessy for hours ... and that’s what I did!
Sounds - Well, it’s a beauty, plays like a dream ... but what about the sound? I’ll say you just three words, my friends, to help you figuring out the overall character of this bass: rich, full, complex. Well defined and consistent across all the frequency spectrum, it has big, solid, round lows, warm and punchy mids and a sweetness in the highs that I’ve ever heard before.
I guess the combo of the mahogany body and the ebony fingerboard plays a fundamental role in the way this bass sounds, givin’ it a slightly compressed nuance that I find very enjoyable on a fretless. It has a very good, natural “mwah” and it’s strung with flats!
Through the Nordstrand pickups the bass speaks with authority and, YES, those NJ4SE do have pronounced low-mids and a slightly muted top end. They’re powerful, very sensitive to different plucking hand tecniques and blending them offer a good variety of sounds.
Cliff added a wonderful Passive Tone Control: rolling off the treble you could go from a clear, modern tone to a buttery vintage one.
I took the bass on a trio rehearsal and both the drummer and the keyboardist had big smiles in their faces!
The Luthier – I can’t end this review without saying something about the man. As concerning his chops as a luthier, well ... his work is under everyone’s eyes but I must add that Cliff Bordwell is a special guy to deal with. Nice, patient, always ready to discuss very aspect of his work with you. We exchanged about 95 e-mails during the building process and I NEVER had to wait more than few hours to get an answer back.
When I first committed a ramp for the bass he told me it’ll cost $70 and I said “OK”: some days later, as he saved more wood from my stock of ebony, he wrote me just to tell he would charge $50 instead of $70 ... it’s not something that you see everyday!
I can only highly reccomend to anyone on the market for a custom quality instrument to seriously consider Cliff Bordwell’s work. I see a bright future for this guy in the luthier’s world ... and he deserves it!
Don't miss my "CB in progress" thread:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=219196
and visit Cliff's website: www.cbbasses.com
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Wake up everybody!
Sadowsky Club #193
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