That Ultra Bass is cool lookin'. What are the design issues?
The fretboard is 16" radius, but I'm pretty sure the tun-o-matic bridge is radiused to 12 or 14 (see: no individual height adjustment). So you can't get a perfect setup. However, Fodera strings (balanced tension and flexible round core) have mostly stepped around the issue. Although the A and D string still feel a little too high, the balanced properties of the fodera strings minimize the setup issues.
and the headstock is not angled enough. So you have to string it up with as much string as possible, maxing out the tuning pegs, to get as much downforce as possible. Otherwise the strings vibrate in the nut. Most especially, the E string.
A string tree would fix this, but I haven't done it yet.
although the frets are level, they are not rounded. They are more like a rhombus shape.
It is a very cool bass. I really like the way it looks (especially in the vintage burst and I'm not normally a vintage burst fan), it balances well, the stock emg pickups are actually pretty darn good and don't sound like I'm used to EMGs sounding. and the Tune-o-matic bridge gives a very interesting response to the strings when you play them. It won't win any sustain awards, but I think that's part of why it works. It has some sort of natural sustain muting properties which somehow translates into predicable, controllable 'punch', at your finger tips. In a way that I can't get on my other basses.
* I will get a couple of pics sometime soon.
