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NBD! Fretless Status Graphite with a very unique finish!

Nic.

Nic.

Aug 28, 2009
1,502
746
Singapore
sangriento.bandcamp.com
#1
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So this arrived today.

In lots of bubble wrap:

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And inside, is my stunning new translucent PURPLE carbon fibre bass...
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Wait, did I say purple? I meant blue!

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Or actually...

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So you see, I couldn't really decide and I just went for both.

Check out this video!


Some detail shots:
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And the full bass from top to bottom:

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Interestingly, there's no nut for this fretless. I don't know if it's better or worse this way, but it sounds really good anyway. It makes a lot of sense, open notes would sound more like "fretted" notes.

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And amazingly.... when I took it out of the box, it sounded in tune, and my Polytune 2 Mini tells me it didn't detune en route from UK to Singapore via France, New Delhi and Guangzhou! I don't know how the hell it can be so stable.

So how does it sound? I don't have time to take a sound clip now, and I haven't tried it with my band, but the main thing that really impresses me is the clarity and how clear and deep it sounds. Every note seems to be quite well articulated and defined, more so than my other basses, and it doesn't lose character under very heavy distortion (but on the other hand, I use blend with distortion so...)

The other thing I noticed is how long notes seem to sustain. It's very easy to hold long notes and slide them gently up or down the fingerboard. With my other basses, the note dies off a lot faster when I do slides. Not sure if that's because of the graphite or because of the fingerboard material (which is apparently really hard and smooth). I can even slide octaves or double stops without much problem. So it makes the sound a lot more fluid, which is good.

Less mwah than I expected, but I think I can reduce the action a bit. I'll let it settle down first.

Intonation is really good- very easy to play once I settled down. The optimal strap length for this is a bit different from my other (full bodied) basses, I might want to get a separate strap for this bass instead. That, and that I usually use Dunlop straplocks but Rob uses Schaller when he builds his Statuses.

The difference between bridge and neck pickups isn't extremely large, but quite audible - I'd say the character stays the same between the two, and it feels more like a tone shape to me. Same for the preamp, more subtle than I thought it'd be.

Also, while it's definitely a lot lighter than my other basses, it still feels very slightly heavier than I thought it'd be. Ah, expectations. It's definitely easy to use though.
 
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Reactions: gregmon79, BIG97BEN, MightyMiloQuinn and 35 others
#7
Wow, such a nice finish....... If only id gotten a CF layer on my B2 and seen this finish back then lol

I was also a dunlop user until my status came :) schaller all the way for me now (my sandberg also came with the buttons pre installed).

Status dont need time to settle like wooden basses, especially the one piece models like yours.
 
#12
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My GAS list keeps growing - that's amazing!
 
#16
An amazing finish for an amazing bass - Congrats, and Enjoy!

I've been eyeballing a Streamline for some time now - a fretted 4-string, in silver graphite finish, with chrome hardware & red wraparound LEDs.
Did you order yours direct or through a dealer, and what was your wait time?
 

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