I have been waiting to post about my SWB-1 till I had really given it a good try out. As I've now had the bass about three weeks, it's that time. If you read this, please bear in mind that I'm not a very good witness, I am an amateur bassist, came to it late in life, and have only owned two prior basses, an SX Jazz and a Jaguar SS, though of course I've played others. OTOH I have played guitar on and off for four decades so I may know a little bit.
My bass took an extra long time to get here as it went to the wrong post office locally, but one day a smiling mail carrier appeared on my porch with the extra long box. The bass was VERY well packed, snug inside a reinforced box that was inside another box, and came out almost in tune with itself (!) though detuned a step or so...maybe this is coincidence.
First visual inspection was that the 'fit and finish' was very good, clear smooth finish, good clean joints, very crisp fretwork and no 'sprout'. The tone control knob was loose and taking it off revealed that it's held by a setscrew onto a splined shaft, so that could easily have jarred loose. I think there are sleeves for the shafts for this exact thing.
The fingerboard is quite narrow, like a Jazz but more so, but the neck is a D profile so it has some meat to it. (Compared to the Jag SS I'd say the SWB fingerboard is similar, neck notably thicker--a good thing.) The body (nice mahogany) has that Alembic/almost SG shape and is very comfortable. I was happy to find that the balance was good, with a thin strap on, it settles with the neck about level.
I plugged the bass in right after playing my Jaguar SS, so was aware right away of a major difference: the SWB's pickup output is noticeably lower. I know that when I put Vintage Vibe pickups on my Stratocaster I lost some output but gained a lot of articulation and I bet that is the case here. As you'll see below, I grew to appreciate the sound, but at first I have to admit I was a bit put off by it. I had to keep reminding myself that I'd been playing only flats for a while, and the SWB-1 comes with roundwounds (not sure what they are), so my feelings of 'clank' or even 'tinniness' were not fair.
The neck and playability were nice from the get-go though, and even more so as my pal at the local shop did a slight trussrod adjustment. FWIW, he admired the build quality and fret dressing of the SWB-1, esp for the price.
Now here's the thing that really surprised me about the bass: it's heavier than I expected. The 'catalog' weight, which is of course only going to be an average in any case, is 7.5 lbs, but mine turns out to weigh 9 lbs, 6 or 7 oz. That's a big difference, and makes this bass actually heavier than my SX Jazz (which admittedly is made of mystery wood).
I'm a casual amateur musician, not going to stand on stage or the studio for hours, so how annoying is an extra pound or two going to be? Not that much, probably. However having waited for the bass for a long time I built up kind of a 'platonic ideal' of what it was going to be, and upon finding that it was different from that in this respect, I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to keep the bass. But I was balancing this with the things that I did like about the bass, and the fact that my Jaguar SS is feather-weight, yet has terrible neck dive and even feels kind of insubstantial. Would an SWB-1 with a lighter body also have neck dive? And how about the fact that with the SWB, you feel every note resonate through the body and neck--that's a GOOD thing, right?!
I have been in touch with Stephen Chown about the weight issue, and he has been responsive and has said all along that he wants me to be happy with the bass; while we didn't directly discuss it I believe he'd take it back for an exchange or even refund if I wanted. And he says he's stumped about the weight of this bass as it is far off the average. I note that the Chowny online catalog no longer lists mahogany as an option, possibly they can't get mahogany of the density they want? (This is sheer uneducated speculation.)
I put in an order for a set of short scale D'Addario Chromes* but kept playing the bass with roundwounds, and a funny thing happened...the more I played it, the more I liked it. Also, the more I found I could do with the pickups and tone control. The neck and bridge PU are very well balanced, which is definitely NOT the case with the Jaguar SS. As you'd expect, neck is deep and full and bridge is punchy; rolling off the tone on the bridge gets to that 'burpy' Jaco tone. Using both pickups and using a pick (!!) close to the bridge gets a raspy, growly sound that is (to me) at least in the ballpark of a Rick. That was a nice surprise. The PUs are single coil but noise seems minimal.
Last night I got the first real test of the SWB when I went to band practice. And by 'band practice' I mean a bunch of middle-aged** guys hanging around a loft 'studio' drinking beer, giving each other poopie***, and working our way through stuff like 'Watching the Detectives' and 'Ziggy Stardust,' and some punkish originals as well as lengthy, noodly jams. I only occasionally play with these guys and with the Jag SS had never felt that I could find a tone that sat right, but from the start last night it was easy to do so. We played for about five ̶b̶e̶e̶r̶s̶ hours, I tried just about every variation of pickup, tone control, and finger/pick, and there was something that worked for every song. The neck felt great, the body was comfortable and I had more fun than ever. The weight...well, I compared the bass to my friend's Collings LP, and it's about the same. I might get a wider strap, that's it. Three of the other guys tried out the bass and admired it; one is a veteran bass player himself and kept it for the last couple of songs, so I got another perspective on the sound--it was great!
Conclusion: For me, the SWB-1 is a keeper. It's well-made, versatile, and easy to play. Also it looks pretty darn cool. I don't want a collection of basses, and I think this one can fill all my needs, so I'm going to sell my others. (Sorry if that is blasphemy on this board, what can I say, I'm a rebel.) If you think you'd like one, but weight is a major issue for you, you might ask Stephen about it but I think mine is an outlier. From my experience he's a conscientious guy and wants to do right by his customers.
So...congratulations if you've read this far. I hope others will chime in here with your own reviews!
* When I got the new string set I got a surprise but one I should have anticipated: D'Addario SS strings are 32" ball to wrap, and the SWB's scale is 30.75" + 1 7/8" body depth...you can see the problem. I suggested to Stephen that he might put this in his notes to customers, though probably most are better at math than I am and maybe other string makers have a longer 'short' set. D'Addario has a 'medium scale' size which will save you a couple bucks off a long scale set.
** Assuming that we will all make it to well over 100.
***poopie? Wow, TB, that's what your filter does? 'Poopie' is a word you use with a baby when you're changing a diaper.
