- Fretless
- Y
-Chambered figured Maple body with Spruce top, flame Maple neck, Ebony fingerboard and bridge.
-34.5" scale.
-19mm spacing at bridge.
-Weight= 9.4 lbs. according to my scale. Balances perfectly on the shoulder.
-28 “fret” positions with effortless access all the way up.
-Made in the year 2000.
The bass is 25 years old with a nitro finish and has been played a lot, it seems. I hope the photos I took communicate both how beautiful the bass is and the degree to which it is cosmetically flawed. Please look closely at all the dings, chips, wear, checking, etc. in the finish.
Everything works perfectly. It has recently had a professional fingerboard planing and an aftermarket ramp made (which I prefer to the original thumb rest, though both will be included along with a very clean F Bass gig bag).
This is the most consistent sounding fretless up and down the neck and from string to string I’ve ever owned and I’ve been playing and trading high end gear for going on three decades and have been fortunate to own numerous Foderas, F Basses, Marleaux, Roscoes, Jerzy Drozd, Ken Lawrence, and many other great basses. It is really hard to part with this one, but I am simply more comfortable playing a lined 34” scale bass with 16.5 mm string spacing. So, I end up playing my GWB-1 when I need a fretless and feel I really should let the AC go even though it is honestly a superior instrument in numerous respects (no disrespect to my Gary Willis bass, I love it as well!)
Four or five years ago I traded a newer active AC5 I had for this one because this one sounded much better to me. It was a local deal and I got to try it out before trading which was great. The other one was very cool too and very thick sounding, but this bass sings and growls in a way that is rare and special, in my honest opinion.
This older model is fully passive, yet has incredible tonal range with coil tap and piezo options. Sometimes I blend the piezo and magnetic pickups together, other times I feel like I have two bases in one if I just go fully magnetic and then fully piezo. To me, when using just the piezo, it sounds like a free Rob Allen along side the magnetic F bass tones. An interesting thing about this passive piezo system is that when you lower the piezo volume it also rolls the highs off in a way that is very different from what the tone knob does. This, paired with using the tone knob and the gain or volume on your amp to compensate for the lower volume is really useful and can cop a surprising upright-ish tone, among other sounds. Also, to my ear, the bass sounds so good it doesn’t generally need any eq adjustments beyond what the magnetic pickup volume knob with single coil/humbucker push/pull option, piezo volume, and tone knob can achieve.
I can send more photos, we can talk on the phone or video chat, etc. if you like. I want you to be comfortable purchasing from me, know what to expect, and for you to be thrilled with the bass if you decide to buy it.
It seems there’s always more to say, but for now I’ll just add thatI’ve currently got a shim in the neck pocket since I like very low action. The action is probably too low for some players, so I can remove it before shipping and put it back to normal or include it if you like. It plays and sounds incredible either way.
I’m asking for $145 to cover fully insured shipping within CONUS
-34.5" scale.
-19mm spacing at bridge.
-Weight= 9.4 lbs. according to my scale. Balances perfectly on the shoulder.
-28 “fret” positions with effortless access all the way up.
-Made in the year 2000.
The bass is 25 years old with a nitro finish and has been played a lot, it seems. I hope the photos I took communicate both how beautiful the bass is and the degree to which it is cosmetically flawed. Please look closely at all the dings, chips, wear, checking, etc. in the finish.
Everything works perfectly. It has recently had a professional fingerboard planing and an aftermarket ramp made (which I prefer to the original thumb rest, though both will be included along with a very clean F Bass gig bag).
This is the most consistent sounding fretless up and down the neck and from string to string I’ve ever owned and I’ve been playing and trading high end gear for going on three decades and have been fortunate to own numerous Foderas, F Basses, Marleaux, Roscoes, Jerzy Drozd, Ken Lawrence, and many other great basses. It is really hard to part with this one, but I am simply more comfortable playing a lined 34” scale bass with 16.5 mm string spacing. So, I end up playing my GWB-1 when I need a fretless and feel I really should let the AC go even though it is honestly a superior instrument in numerous respects (no disrespect to my Gary Willis bass, I love it as well!)
Four or five years ago I traded a newer active AC5 I had for this one because this one sounded much better to me. It was a local deal and I got to try it out before trading which was great. The other one was very cool too and very thick sounding, but this bass sings and growls in a way that is rare and special, in my honest opinion.
This older model is fully passive, yet has incredible tonal range with coil tap and piezo options. Sometimes I blend the piezo and magnetic pickups together, other times I feel like I have two bases in one if I just go fully magnetic and then fully piezo. To me, when using just the piezo, it sounds like a free Rob Allen along side the magnetic F bass tones. An interesting thing about this passive piezo system is that when you lower the piezo volume it also rolls the highs off in a way that is very different from what the tone knob does. This, paired with using the tone knob and the gain or volume on your amp to compensate for the lower volume is really useful and can cop a surprising upright-ish tone, among other sounds. Also, to my ear, the bass sounds so good it doesn’t generally need any eq adjustments beyond what the magnetic pickup volume knob with single coil/humbucker push/pull option, piezo volume, and tone knob can achieve.
I can send more photos, we can talk on the phone or video chat, etc. if you like. I want you to be comfortable purchasing from me, know what to expect, and for you to be thrilled with the bass if you decide to buy it.
It seems there’s always more to say, but for now I’ll just add thatI’ve currently got a shim in the neck pocket since I like very low action. The action is probably too low for some players, so I can remove it before shipping and put it back to normal or include it if you like. It plays and sounds incredible either way.
I’m asking for $145 to cover fully insured shipping within CONUS
