Hello fellow Fbassers! I wanted to share the news of my new bass with anyone interested.
It's a BN6 with medium weight ash body. The medium weight seems to balance the frequency spectrum nicely, and it's good for ergonomics!
Exotic tops are beautiful, but I've found that I get the sound I want without them. I think the ceruse finish looks so cool anyway.
The neck is five piece, aged 5 years, with figured maple and bubinga stringers. I travel quite a bit and and wanted maximum stability without resorting to graphite, which imho kills the organic sound and response. The nut width is 51 mm instead of 54. I could have gone even narrower, but it feels great. The neck has an extra slim profile. Best 6-string neck ever!
Flame maple fingerboard, one of the prettiest I've seen without giving up tone. I asked that they use a hard piece.
Standard Fbass preamp. Why mess with a good thing?!
Hipshot ultralite tuners, because i am allergic to neck heavy instruments. The BN series is already one of the best balanced basses, but any 6-string needs any help it can get. The Hipshots actually feel more solid and precise than the standard Gotoh.
It came with Fbass strings which sound good, but are a bit light and flexible for my taste. Every instrument is different and I will probably try Ken Smiths and R Coccos as well, except for the B string. LaBella Super Steps (which Fbass strings are based on) is the only B string I've found that you can slap and still get a 'piano' sound instead of the clank of a rod.
I'll post a YouTube review with some sound examples as soon as I get a moment.
Feast on the photo!
Cheers,
David Hughes
www.swedebass.com