[Updated 3/6/2019, 1:30 PM]
I recently bought an NS Design WAV5 Radius bass guitar. It was built in Indonesia, in 2016.
I've been playing high quality basses for many years. In comparison, this WAV5 has been somewhat of a let-down.
It has a few features that I really like. I like the idea of having a humbucker and a piezo pickup. I like the way it uses standard strings instead of the bothersome double-ball strings on the old Steinbergers. I like the way the radiused body feels, and I like the shape of the neck.
It's also pretty light weight: 7.4 pounds. In contrast, my Warwick Thumb NT5 weighs 11 pounds. Big difference!
My main complaint is with the electronics/pickups. And then I feel that the overall workmanship is not as good as it should be.
The single passive EMG humbucker pickup hums. The hum gets louder and quieter as I move the bass around. In some positions, the hum is pretty much gone. But in others, it's very noticeable.
Tracking down the cause, I think it's humming because the control cavity itself isn't shielded well enough.
The control cavity cover plate has a foil backing. That's good. It's got a very low resistance so it will probably do a good job shielding, as long as it makes a good connection to the electronics ground.
The cavity itself is painted with conductive paint over the body's wood. The paint is not very conductive. Measured across roughly a quarter-inch, I measured between 50 and 100 Ohms. Across an inch it measured over 200 Ohms. This is not good.
I expect that the hum could be reduced by shielding the cavity with copper foil and grounding the cover to it. At this point I'm not sure that it's worth putting that effort into this bass.
Another notable problem is that if I attack the strings even a little hard, I hear a lot of distortion from both the humbucker and the piezo.
The workmanship on the exterior of the bass is pretty nice. My WAV5 has the matte black finish and it looks fine. All of the hardware is very good quality. The workmanship inside the control cavity is rough. And the control cavity cover feels cheap.
I've been in touch with NS Design, and I may send it back to them to have a look.
I'll update this post when I have news.
