yes- i have it.
it's seen a fair amount of work so far. in comparison to my other basses its just a totally different world, so its a large adjustment. it's been to a couple of gigs, and obviously several rehearsals and many hours of practice time. (almost all with a jazz/fusion trio)
the woodworking looks to be excellent. Andy did a ton of experimenting with pickups and settled with the bartolinis, and they really do seem like a beautiful match for this bass. more than i've ever seen before the amplified sound has a very obvious connection to the unplugged sound. the preamp has a natural bass boost which im still getting used to, i like the huge low end, but it has a bit of an unnatural amount of resonance to it. it's gotten compliments from some really great musicians, so thats nice too.
i think i said this to andy the day or so after i got the bass, but this bass (and i know this is a cliché) has a very fodera-like sound. maybe the 33" scale + 26 frets put this in my head, but it reminds me a lot of Janek's bass. i'm more or less dialing in that sort of sound, punchy back pickup sort of stuff, and the ramp is giving me a lighter touch than normal.
overall, this is a wonderful instrument. it's absolutely nothing like my other basses, which is nice, having something new to choose from. if i was going to order another bass from Ristola the only thing i'd definitely do differently is have a thicker neck, and even that i've completely adjusted to, and am sure that the thinner neck (in reality its average, all my other basses have very thick necks) keeps the weight down which is nice. I've played a ton of high end basses, and i see no specific reason why (aside from the number of basses being produced) Ristolas can't hang with all the big names.
sorry for the somewhat unorganized thoughts, i'll probably post a more formal and thought-out review after it's seen more gigs, and with a larger variety of music. that'll be the real test.
