NBD: Sandberg FortyEight (warning: fretless content)

I've been drooling over these for a while, and a few months back I was finally in a position to make the order. Last week, it arrived:

Haven't had time to really put it through its paces, and won't for another few weeks yet, but my impressions so far are:
- That neck is fantastic!
- It sounds great.
- The onboard preamp is the best I've used yet. There's a slight difference between active and passive modes. If anything, it sounds a little more "present" with the preamp on, but that's about it.
- It's not for the short of arm, especially if you balance it with the belly-cut actually against your belly. I'm 6 feet tall and moderately long-armed with it, and it's just at the edge of a comfortable reach for me.
- As others have said, fret access is limited above the 17th. But really, who plays that high on a bass like this anyway?
- Did I mention the preamp? I didn't expect to get such a reggae-ready tone out of roundwounds.
- The curved ridge makes for a surprisingly good thumb-rest.
- The finish has to be seen in person to be fully appreciated.

Thanks to Dub56 for the pointer about modifying an Epiphone Thunderbird case - that worked nicely.

Funny thing: I knew it was due around this time, and I've been looking more and more at my SR370, thinking "but this is already a nice instrument. Did I just do something stupid?"
Nope. This is so much nicer.
You'd expect so, from a custom build at several times the price, but Sandberg delivered.

 

You should definitely go for it.
And thankyou

 

That's what ultimately drew me to this model: they've combined the best of the T-bird and the Explorer, resulting in something better than either.
What I didn't see until I had the thing on a stand in front of me, was the resemblance to the St Vincent model, with its neatly-proportioned waist.