ooo! ooo! Look at me! I spent moneys! 
I kind of shy away from coffee table potato basses, but I was looking at short scale 5 strings and Paul Curtinsmith in Australia builds pretty cool ones. For those that care about the woods - swamp ash body, roasted curly maple neck, wenge/padauk fretboard. For those that are spec geeks, it's 31" scale and 18mm spacing. The pickup/circuit is cool and unique - master volume with a series/parallel switch and a 3-way tone toggle (full, dark, max roll off). I'm super pleased with his work, which excels some of the other boutique builders I've either owned or encountered. And it came to America in about a week in a super delux Curtinsmith branded case. For the money, it's a great value.
I kind of shy away from coffee table potato basses, but I was looking at short scale 5 strings and Paul Curtinsmith in Australia builds pretty cool ones. For those that care about the woods - swamp ash body, roasted curly maple neck, wenge/padauk fretboard. For those that are spec geeks, it's 31" scale and 18mm spacing. The pickup/circuit is cool and unique - master volume with a series/parallel switch and a 3-way tone toggle (full, dark, max roll off). I'm super pleased with his work, which excels some of the other boutique builders I've either owned or encountered. And it came to America in about a week in a super delux Curtinsmith branded case. For the money, it's a great value.
