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Official Zon Club

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#282
pierreganseman said:
My zon :-)

A sonus, walnut, mint condition! :hyper::hyper::hyper:

Invalid Link Removed

could i email zon, to have it dated? any one knows how to figure out serial numbers?

cheers
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That's not just any Sonus, that's a Sonus "Special". Actually a Bubinga top on that too (ash body). Those are really cool for slicing mixes due to the "neck" pickup being back farther towards the bridge. Very strong mids on these. I used to have the fretless version of this bass and to date, it is still my all time favorite fretless.

On the serial numbers, I think you just have to call/email Zon. I'm pretty sure they're not encoded... just sequentially numbered... so they'd have to check their records for you.
 
#284
Vic said:
I think there's a lot of confusion out there regarding neck relief and its role in action settings.
Click to expand...

...which brings us to the original premise of the "love 'em / hate 'em" relationships Zon owners have with their respective instruments....even more complicated when dealing with set-necks or thru-body configurations which offer manipulation of the string plane only. These are the limitations I have with my set-neck non-truss rodded (?) Vinny 5. I've found the best way to deal with it is by (a) careful selection of string type / gauge and (b) judicious adjustment of string height at the bridge. Should either fail, I would have no other choice but to pursue some form of fret leveling (plek, perhaps?). As it stands, I've had no problems whatsoever and would not dissuade anyone from snagging a Zon...and I mean any model. They really are marvelous basses.

Riis
 
#285
Zooberwerx said:
...which brings us to the original premise of the "love 'em / hate 'em" relationships Zon owners have with their respective instruments....even more complicated when dealing with set-necks or thru-body configurations which offer manipulation of the string plane only. These are the limitations I have with my set-neck non-truss rodded (?) Vinny 5. I've found the best way to deal with it is by (a) careful selection of string type / gauge and (b) judicious adjustment of string height at the bridge. Should either fail, I would have no other choice but to pursue some form of fret leveling (plek, perhaps?). As it stands, I've had no problems whatsoever and would not dissuade anyone from snagging a Zon...and I mean any model. They really are marvelous basses.

Riis
Click to expand...
True again. Depending on what someone's objections might be with a Zon, there are some things that can be done, some of which might not be intuitively obvious, but yeah, there are certainly cases where it's simply not a good fit and you have to move on.
 
#286
pierreganseman said:
What's the difference between a sonus and a special?? is it that pickup closer to the bridge?

cheers
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The Special is a specific configuration, and there are at least two things I can think of that make it specifically what it is...
  • The standard bubinga/ash wood combo
  • The pickup placement
Also, I was thinking the pickup type, but I can't verify that from the web site. Joe uses custom wound pickups for a lot of his basses... maybe all of them, and I was thinking the Sonus Special pickups are even specifically unique to that Sonus model, but again, I can't confirm that. Not sure.
 
#290
Right guys, I have now recorded and practiced with the zon sonnus special that i got(see picture from previous post). All I can say is... This thing cuts through evry thing. Evry note rings exactly the same lenght. Neck is so easy to play. at practice Played it through an 4/10 marshall, with berhinger head. Even if it's not the best cab and head you could dream of. It sounded so fat.

Am i crazy? or zon basses are really the S***?

cheers
 
#292
pierreganseman said:
Am i crazy? or zon basses are really the S***?

cheers
Click to expand...
No, of course you are not crazy, and yeah, Zon basses have been stellar instruments for years. It all just boils down to the usual things at the high end... you aren't going to have any quality issues, and it's going to sound great, but the design has to be your thing as well. For example, most Zon 5 strings are still the older style 17mm spacing. That's a very personal thing. The vast majority, as discussed, have fixed relief profiles designed into the neck, so that has to also be your thing. Finally, how the body hangs for you on the strap, and the neck profile. If all those things are good for you, then yes, they most definitely are the S***. :)
 
#293
Vic said:
No, of course you are not crazy, and yeah, Zon basses have been stellar instruments for years. It all just boils down to the usual things at the high end... you aren't going to have any quality issues, and it's going to sound great, but the design has to be your thing as well. For example, most Zon 5 strings are still the older style 17mm spacing. That's a very personal thing. The vast majority, as discussed, have fixed relief profiles designed into the neck, so that has to also be your thing. Finally, how the body hangs for you on the strap, and the neck profile. If all those things are good for you, then yes, they most definitely are the S***. :)
Click to expand...


+1 to Vic`s comments.

If you`re enjoying your Sonus Special you gotta play a fretless.
IMHO, their fretless basses are simply fantastic.
 
#295
pierreganseman said:
Any one on this forum crazy enough to buy an hyper bass?

:-)
Click to expand...

Yep! There are a couple.

lsu921 said:
Has anyone tried to put a Hipshot bridge with 18mm or 18.5mm spacing on a standard Sonus? I wonder if the holes would line up and if the neck would have enough room. I love those basses, but the 17mm spacing is just too tight..
Click to expand...

If you maintain the centerline, then yes, technically you have enough space. You should have roughly .160" from the outer string edge to the neck edge. Switching to 18mm only adds 2mm to each side (roughly .079"); 18.5mm adds 3mm (roughly .118"). The problem comes in, though, when you consider how close the strings will be to the edge of the fingerboard. Though the measurements I gave above don't consider the width of the fret bevel (which is significant as you cannot fret there), let's just assume for a second that it's unbeveled. With the added 2mm, the distance from the string to the fingerboard edge is going to feel uncomfortably wrong, but maybe avoidable if your left hand technique is great...but it'll still feel like a mistake was made somewhere. At 3mm it would be awful, but it's sort of a moot point because I think the outer strings would most likely be sitting on the bevel anyway.

I'm pretty sure you could get away with 18mm, but I don't know if it would improve anything- any improvement of feel or comfort for the right hand is likely to be tempered by problems in the left on the outer strings.

Of course, a Hipshot A bridge is adjustable between 18mm and 18.5mm easily, so it wouldn't require multiple tries.

I don't have a Hipshot A in front of me, but if Hipshot had technical drawings of their bridges on their website I could tell you immediately if they'll be a direct swap or not. But really, the only time bridges are a direct swap are Fender -> Badass, so I'd just assume that you're going to have to drill some holes (particularly here where you have very, very little side-to-side tolerance).
 
#296
lsu921 said:
Has anyone tried to put a Hipshot bridge with 18mm or 18.5mm spacing on a standard Sonus? I wonder if the holes would line up and if the neck would have enough room. I love those basses, but the 17mm spacing is just too tight..
Click to expand...
As Angus noted, you could probably get it to fit, but I'm just telling you, it would not work well. The G string would be so close to the edge of the fingerboard, you'd constantly be rolling it off the edge. Trust me. :)
 
#297
Vic said:
As Angus noted, you could probably get it to fit, but I'm just telling you, it would not work well. The G string would be so close to the edge of the fingerboard, you'd constantly be rolling it off the edge. Trust me. :)
Click to expand...

Well, :spit::spit::spit:

:D

Just kidding. I kinda figured that would be the answer. I really wish they made a non-519 with wider spacing. 519's always feel big to me, and I prefer 24 frets instead of 22..
 
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