NBD: Fretless Conklin GT-4

[naetog]

I was kicking around the idea of building a cheap fretless from parts, but ended up finding this cool GT-4 online for a couple hundred bucks.

Having never played a Conklin before, it was definitely a leap of faith. I honestly wasn't expecting (or needing) much since this will be the bass that lives at the practice space, but I'm quite pleasantly surprised.

I'll need to mess about with it tonight to see how the electronics are, but, again, I'm not expecting much.

So far, the truss rod was easily adjusted, it balances well, not too heavy, has a NICE skinny neck made of Wenge & Purpleheart, Ash body, Maple top.

Stoked! A seemingly capable stand in for my nicer fretless.

 

[Iridescentone]

I really like the necks on those, real stiff and slender with a nice volute. Some of the later ones came with Bart MKII elecs. The others have Conklin-badged pickups made by Mighty Mite.

Nice score, 'grats.

 

[naetog]

I was surprised how little info there is about these. Seems most of them out in the wild are 5 & 7 strings. Info on the 4 string was hard to come by, even more so the fretless.

I tweaked the truss rod a bit more and it's super fast up and down the neck. I hate the flatwound strings on it, but that's an easy fix.

 

[Eilif]

Great score. Groove tools were always nice instruments in my experience. If it's got MK1 pups that's a good thing (the MK1 preamp is a weak spot) but that route will also take many varieties of Nordstrand.

 

[naetog]

It's got the Conklin branded Mighty Mite pickups, which are huge for a 4 string. They are EMG 40 size!? You could reasonably fit a narrow 6 string across them.

It sounds decent, and I'm not a fan of the EQ, but that's fixable. I've got some Duncan's that'll fit, so I'll probably give those a go in a couple days.

I'm just excited how nicely it plays and feels. Electronics are easily changed, so no worries here!