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NBD - The best five strings ever.

Jared Lash

Jared Lash

Born under punches
Aug 21, 2006
15,587
5,150
Denver, CO
#1
Well, my favorite fivers I've owned anyway.

I ordered this pair of fretted and fretless custom basses from Chris Stambaugh with the idea that they'd be the last two basses that I buy. And barring an upright or EUB purchase (I started on upright in middle school and then HS but have never owned one of my own) I think they will be.

Over the years I've churned through more basses than I care to admit, from a lot of great builders and manufacturers. So I think I got to the point where I had very clear pictures of exactly what I like (and don't like) and Chris nailed it on both.

Pictures:

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#2
Jared Lash said:
Well, my favorite fivers I've owned anyway.

I ordered this pair of fretted and fretless custom basses from Chris Stambaugh with the idea that they'd be the last two basses that I buy. And barring an upright or EUB purchase (I started on upright in middle school and then HS but have never owned one of my own) I think they will be.

I had clear pictures of exactly what I wanted and Chris nailed it on both .

Pictures:

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If those are your last two bass guitars, they are an impressive pair!:bassist:
 
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#3
Dr. Cheese said:
If those are your last two bass guitars, they are an impressive pair!:bassist:
Click to expand...

Thanks Doc. I know people don't believe me - my wife doesn't even believe me - but I'd be shocked if I wasn't done buying basses after this.

Some specs for anyone interested.

Fretted:
34" scale neck-through 5 string with a custom body shape
Alder body wings
Burl maple top and back & headstock
3 piece hard ash neck with a gloss coating
Birdseye maple fingerboard 10"-14" compound radius
Brownburst finish from Marty Bell
24 EVO gold frets
Hipshot Type A brass bridge and ultralite tuners (both in black/gold)
Nordstrand NP5 and BigSplitMan combo (awesome BTW)
Pope Flexcore 4 band preamp
Custom knobs from D-Cline Designs (Devin does awesome work)
Switches to change the BigSplitMan from front coil to both in parallel to the rear coil and to switch the high-mid frequency on the pope
Standard Stambaugh headstock

Fretless:
34" scale neck-through 5 string with a custom body shape
Chambered flame maple body wings
Buckeye burl top & headstock
Maple neck with Zebrawood stringers
Ebony fingerboard with a polyester finish, subtle position markers and 12" radius
Gloss finish from Marty Bell
Hipshot Type A brass bridge and ultralite tuners
Bartolini quad coils hard wired in series
Piezo bridge saddles
Bartolini NTMB GFL+ fretless preamp and Magnetic/Piezo buffer
Also has custom knobs from D-Cline Designs
Standard Stambaugh headstock


I think they've got Chris' signature Curt Mangan nickel strings on both. Both basses also have my signature inlay from Chris. The fretless has it on the back of the headstock (like my other Stambaughs) and the fretted has it at the 12th fret because I was afraid the burst might obscure it. It's taken from a ring I gave my wife after our third/youngest was born.

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And here it is at the 12th fret before the gloss finish:

jared1.jpg
 
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#4
I love these basses. Four hours later and I'm just taking a break before I play some more.

The goal with the fretted was to have a versatile, gigging bass for all the stuff I do (funk, soul, R&B, hip-hop, and covers ranging from classic rock to top 40 pop) that was ergonomic and relatively light weight. The Nordstrand setup gives it tons of tones and my bathroom scale says it's just over 9 lbs. Not bad for a fiver. And I think it looks good too.

The goal with the fretless (which I really only play for my own stuff) was to combine aspects of all my favorite basses. The pickup placement and similar electronics to a Roscoe, the polyester coated fingerboard and neckthrough build of a Pedulla, the chambered maple body and piezo setup of a FBass AC, and a body shape somewhere between a Warwick Fortress and a Zon Sonus. This one is 9.8 lbs according to my scale. Both of them balance on a strap as well or better than any basses I've owned.

Back to playing.
 
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#9
Jared Lash said:
Well, my favorite fivers I've owned anyway.

I ordered this pair of fretted and fretless custom basses from Chris Stambaugh with the idea that they'd be the last two basses that I buy. And barring an upright or EUB purchase (I started on upright in middle school and then HS but have never owned one of my own) I think they will be.

Over the years I've churned through more basses than I care to admit, from a lot of great builders and manufacturers. So I think I got to the point where I had very clear pictures of exactly what I like (and don't like) and Chris nailed it on both.

Pictures:

View attachment 3010502 View attachment 3010503 View attachment 3010504 View attachment 3010505 View attachment 3010506 View attachment 3010507
Click to expand...

The tops on both are special. I have a couple questions for you on the fretted one. First how do you like the Nordie Bigman and the Nordie P in that position? I've seen Carrie do a couple in that position and they sound good in the videos. Secondly, those knobs have to be Devon Cline designs as I've had alot of his work and he is the best knob and pickup cover man in the states IMO.
 
#10
Oh, such amazing basses from one of the best luthiers, IMO! Congratulations!!
By the way, my favorite and final 5’er, that I have purchased 2 years ago, has quite similar features of your both) Mayones Caledonius 5. Absolutely love it!
 

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#11
GBalitsky said:
Oh, such amazing basses from one of the best luthiers, IMO! Congratulations!!
By the way, my favorite and final 5’er, that I have purchased 2 years ago, has quite similar features of your both) Mayones Caledonius 5. Absolutely love it!
Click to expand...

There is no doubt Mayones makes some of the best built basses in the world but for me that cut out in the upper horn makes me not want that bass. Absolutely amazing in every other aspect though.
 
#14
Bassworship1 said:
The tops on both are special. I have a couple questions for you on the fretted one. First how do you like the Nordie Bigman and the Nordie P in that position? I've seen Carrie do a couple in that position and they sound good in the videos. Secondly, those knobs have to be Devon Cline designs as I've had alot of his work and he is the best knob and pickup cover man in the states IMO.
Click to expand...

The NP5 is in the traditional Pbass location (it may look off because of the 24 fret fingerboard) and it gives the traditional Pbass sound with that little extra bit of high mid presence that characterizes this pickup. I can run the preamp flat (or in passive mode) and just use the NP5 and the tone control for all my Pbass needs. It sounds terrific. It'll sound even better when these strings are a bit worn in.

The BigSplitMan is it's own beast. It's almost exactly in the Stingray sweetspot, just nudged a few mm back. As @Carey described it in the Dan Lutz video, it's kind of like a Musicman with a lot of meat. I love the sound of Stingray basses - when other people play them. Some of my favorite bassists play Music Man and sound fantastic but in my hands and my playing style they never sounded like I wanted. The BigSplitMan in parallel does give a Stingray sound but warmer/fatter. It doesn't sound exactly like a Music Man (especially slapped) but it gets close enough to that tone for what I want. The rear coil is great for that jazz bridge tone or for combining with the NP5 as a pseudo PJ bass. And in series it is darker and fatter. Great for hip-hop and neo soul sounds in the lower register. So far I don't use series as much and may end up rewiring it as neck coil/parallel/bridge coil which is what I actually spec'd. But cool that I got to try out series mode.

And yes, I mentioned in the post running down the specs but it's worth calling out again that Devin Cline (D-Cline Designs) did the knobs. I sent him pictures of the unfinished tops and he crafted knobs that look amazing and match better than I could have imagined. On the fretted he designed them to look like maple burl under the bark. Really cool.



Also worth mentioning again that Marty Bell did the finish work. Chris doesn't have a spray booth (his standard finish is tung oil which is awesome) so for gloss finishes he farms them out and Marty is one of the best in the business IMO. He did the brownburst and gloss fretboard on the fretted and the clear gloss finish and polyester fingerboard coating on the fretless
 
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#17
@Jared Lash - Great looking basses from Chris!!! I own one of his Master Classic 5'ers, not as pretty as yours, but a great bass from a very good builder!!

I envy you to have decided to not buy any more basses. I made that same statement after each bass I bought! :laugh:
 
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#18
Wow. Those are beautiful. Really beautiful. I saw the thread and was hoping that it was another Stammie - I recalled that you loved those basses.
I'm a little surprised that you didn't go with an ACG pre in the fretless. I just put an EQ01 into my Zon and it sounds great. Going to post a clip soon. But enough about me...

Play some great music on those beautiful basses, amigo!
 
#20
GBalitsky said:
Oh, such amazing basses from one of the best luthiers, IMO! Congratulations!!
By the way, my favorite and final 5’er, that I have purchased 2 years ago, has quite similar features of your both) Mayones Caledonius 5. Absolutely love it!
Click to expand...

I've always wanted to try a Mayones but so far I haven't. Generally I tend to prefer a full facing top on neck through basses but the two exceptions are Warwicks when they do a maple neck with the black pinstripes and Mayones with those beautiful wenge/padouk necks.

From what I've heard, the Mayones basses play/sound as good as they look too.
 

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