Tim Barber Fretless 6.. review/pics!!!

I ordered this bass from talkbass's very own Tim Barber (www.barbermusic.com) and I've been very pleased with the purchase. I gotta thank Tim for an excellent building experience and also thank Darrin Huff for letting Tim use his spray booth to apply the final catalized poly finish! I'm more that satisfied with this bass. It has both expanded my musical expression and skill in the short week I've owned it! I'm looking forward to working with Tim again on a 7-string I have planned

FIT/FINISH/QUALITY: 10
Naturally I'm hesitant to say that this is a perfect instrument. But quite honestly I have yet to find even a minor flaw in its construction! The finish is glass smooth, the neck is the best I've ever layed my hands on, and everything else about it is just flawless. My only complaint is that the stacked treble/bass knobs get stuck together when you roll them all the way off or on. Other than that, its virtually flawless!

SOUND: 10
This is a very subjective category so I won't spend much time here. To me however, the sound is exactly what I wanted. Its really warm, woody with sweet highs and clear lows. The I love the midrange presense it has! The passive mode is UNREAL!! Killer fodera vibe going on. Just by varying dynamics you can go from a big pbass thump, to a growly jazz burp. I'd compare it to a mellowed down version of a warwick thumb or streamer. Great punch though!! The Nordstrand Signature pickups are excellent in their punch and definition.. and believe it or not, the slap tone is killer!

PLAYBILITY: 10
I got this bass with 19mm spacing at the bridge and had Tim do his standard nut spacing. Its super confortable and easy to play. The neck is among the best I've felt! Super smooth, and just the right thickness and dimension (this is all IMO of course). The action is a little high for my tastes right now, but I expected that with the effect the climate change would have going from Washington state to Florida Luckly, another great TB.com luthier (Cliff Bordwell www.cbbasses.com) is about 15 minutes from me and I'm going to have him set the bass up (he designed the truss rod in this bass!). Overall this thing is a blast to play!!

Overall I'm pretty much convinced this is a keeper. Its exactly what I was looking for and MORE! I'll be working to get some sound clips out within the next week or so. Thanks again to Tim, Larry, Carey, Darrin, and anyone else that was a part of this build!

Ok enough blabbering... heres some pics:
*Disclaimer: The bass came out less "yellowish" than it actually is. I forgot to mess with the w/b on the camera. Also the grain is REALLY 3-D like and hard to get a good pic of.. This is the best I could do, but the bass looks 100X better in real life!!! *

Tim's pics: http://www.barbermusic.com/gallery.html (2nd one down)

 

I like it.. its very different sounding from a fretted bass. Really punchy and percussive. You gotta watch out for the pop's and intonation!! I'll get some slap samples when I get the clips up..