Buscanti Newport Family Reserve

I received this bass freshly refurbished/spruced up from jazzyitalian in a trade about a month ago. I wanted to put it through it's paces before writing my review. I have owned several basses in the 1300-1500 dollar range, (ric 4003, ebmm stingray, ebmm big al, Warwick Corvette, Opatik custom ricken/jazz) and that is what I will comparing this bass to, as the price on these new is $1400ish.

Fit and Finish are top notch. The Pecan stain on the neck is a classy flourish, as are the inlays and the custom nut against the very dark rosewood. These accents give the bass a high-end flair, without being super flashy or showy. The fretwork is immaculate, no sprout. The action is set low, with little fret buzzing. Overall, the neck really stands out- it is a fantastic bit of craftsmanship, and I would put its feel and looks against any bass I have played. Don't have a good scale at home, but would put this in the 9lbs range.

The bass has a unique sound. I had asked Jeff to replace there active preamp with their passive setup, which is the varitone six-way switch, which can be engaged or turned off. The different varitone settings add a little "flavor" to the bass sound. I don't feel the SD hot stack have the scooped sizzle of most jazz pickups, but they do have a bit more mid-range bark, giving them a little more of a P sound. I prefer this trade-off, as I have been mostly a P devotee. They pickups are dead quiet in any setting. I give the tone a 4.0, only because I don't think I like the sound of anything as much as a simple P.

Another feature of the bass that stands out- sustain. This bass will ring out a note as long or longer than any bass I have ever had, and I have owned half a dozen neck-through's.

When the bass showed up, it had the deadest round-wounds I have ever had the misfortune of playing. So bad that when I plugged it in I was questioning my decision. Admittedly Jeff did tell me that I would probably want to change the strings ASAP, but I found myself wondering "how could anyone tweek/make adjustments on a bass with strings like this?"
Once I changed the strings to some D'Addario Nickels, I knew I had made a great choice!