N(ish)BD: Conklin GT5 Fretless

[Persona87]

A few months ago I found a used Conklin Groove Tools fretless five string at Guitar Center. I've been in love with the Conklin design since I started playing bass, and I spent hours drooling over their custom extended range instruments. When I saw this, I knew that it was my chance to own something I've been fawning over for years, even if it is the Korean version instead of the American version.

The instrument had some problems (the preamp didn't work and one of the neck coils didn't output sound), so I got it for a really low price "as-is". It sat on my instrument rack for several months until tax season rolled around. The first thing I did upon seeing that money in my bank account was order a set of Aguilar Super Singles, an OBP3 preamp, and DR Pure Blues strings from Bestbassgear, and the day that arrived it went to a local tech.

I got a call today saying that it was ready to pick up, so I rushed there after work to get it. Here are some pictures:

Now, this tech didn't exactly live up to the reputation he'd been given. He wired the controls in a weird way (with the volume being the bottom two knobs and the three knobs in a row controlling the preamp) and two of the preamp knobs were wired backwards. Additionally, the neck was too flat (even on fretless, I like a little bit of relief); when I got it home, I had to lower the saddles and loosen the truss rod to get the setup where I liked it. However, it plays great now, and more importantly, it sounds great. I'm going to give it a shot at rehearsal tomorrow.

Anyone out there with this sort of setup (fretless "jazz" bass with an OBP3) who wants to share their knob settings? I don't have much experience with active jazz basses in general, or this pre in particular.

 

[P. Aaron]

Nice wood grain on that thing. Congrats & here's to hoping it works out for you.

 

[anavar]

beautiful looking bass Op

shame about the bloated nipple looking input jack.

The purple is just stunning looking, especially with the ebony(?) board. Bet it sounds like a monster.

 

[bassbenj]

Really nice looking bass! I've got a Bill Dickens 7 string Conklin. I don't know why you think the knobs are weird. Mine has the same arrangement of the two being pup vol and the three in a row being EQ (bass treble mids).

And you've discovered that fretless basses are VERY sensitive to relief and saddle height. Controls Mwah and overall tone. I decided to do a set up on my G&L L2500 fretless that is my main axe a while back and thought maybe if I lowered the saddles and reduced relief a bit more "mwah" might be interesting. Much to my amazement the bass went positively nuts! It felt and sounded like I was playing a completely different instrument (and not an improvement, mind you). Startled by that large change in tone I put it back more or less as it was and my old familiar bass returned to me. Which just shows you how much difference in taste can show up with just small adjustments in fretless setups.

And as for the Neutrik cable connector, I'm of two minds on that one. I sort of like the positive locking feature and Neutrik connectors are good stuff, but it is big and ugly and a pain to remove the cable with one hand.

Anyway, It looks like that bass is well on it's way to being a nice dream bass!

PS is that an ebony board? Ebony is by far my favorite wood for fretless fingerboards.

 

[Persona87]

Thanks! Yeah, I think I prefer less mwah than most fretless players. I like the expressiveness and intonation of a fretless, but with the neck perfectly flat it just sounded buzzy to me.

The color is called wine red; the camera and lighting make it look more purplish than it actually is. I actually wish it were purple; I've always wanted a purple bass with a flame or quilt top and gold hardware.

I'm used to the volume knobs being closest to the pickups. That's how all of my other bases have been and how this one was before the tech fixed it. It's not wrong, just something I'll have to get used to.

As for the fingerboard, this may disappoint some people, but it's actually ebonol. If you don't know, that's basically wood pulp mixed with black dye and resin, and tonally it sounds like a coated fingerboard. Some people hate it, but this bass sounds good and so does my Squier fretless (which also has an ebonol board).

This, along with my Carvin P

and my upright, make me feel like I have all of my basses (hyuk) covered. Now my only GPS is for an extension cab and a pedal board!

 

[kesslari]

Beauty. Enjoy.