fresh off the boat: fretless 5-string bass, alder w/ quilted maple top

[Bob Hoover Ross]

I've had this lined fretless 5-string neck for at least 15 years; used to be on a Warmoth cherry sunburst Jazz Bass body (I'd picked up that pre-assembled bass second hand in the late '90s) but when I used that body for my fretted 8-string the neck went into the closet. Just resurrected it with this brand new Warmoth rear-routed Precision Bass body, alder with a quilted maple top laminate.

The neck needed to be modded to fit the body since it has one of Warmoth's old D5 "wide" heels, so I brought the parts to Paul Nieto of GuitarTechNYC to do the modification/installation/assembly. That's a Hipshot Type A bridge and a Bartolini MV52CBJD quad-coil humbucker.

I'm going to install an EMG BTC preamp (which will allow me to treat that pickup as if it's two completely separate pickups, fully humbucking in all modes) and finish it myself (wish me luck!) with MinWax Wipe-On Poly. But here it is without electronics or finish:

 

[bagman67]

Simple = beautiful.  Looking forward to the finished product, but what you have now looks pretty good already.


Bagman.

 

[Bob Hoover Ross]

I want everyone to note the date of the OP. It has taken me over 10 years to finally get this bass into finished condition!!!

It's been playable for the last 4 or 5 years, but it just took me forever to get around to the last steps (finishing the body, and replacing a knob that went missing several months after I installed the electronics). I suck.

But this bass definitely does not suck! Sound and feel are amazing. Quite possibly the nicest feeling neck I own. It's a bit heavy, comes in at 10.39 lbs on the digital luggage scale, but not something that Comfort Strapp can't alleviate.

Specs:
- Warmoth Precision Bass body circa 2014, alder with a quilted maple top, finished in hand-rubbed Howard's Feed-N-Wax (a beeswax/orange oil blend)
- Warmoth "Wide 5" fretless neck circa <1996, maple with ebony fingerboard, maple fretlines, steel reinforcing bars. Neck heel was modded by Paul Nieto of GuitarTech in NYC to fit the standard dims of that body's neck pocket.
- Schaller tuning machines
- Hipshot Type A bridge
- Bartolini NTMB (HR-3.4/918) 3-band EQ/preamp
- Bartolini MV52CBJD quad-coil humbucker, wired up so that the front & rear coil pairs are treated as separate neck and bridge pickups. (Rear coil is in the 1960s Jazz Bass position...not that this beast sounds anything like a 60s Jazz Bass).
- Ken Smith "Slick Round" Nickel Iron Medium groundwound (# AA-SRM) strings

It's got incredible punch and a thick, "chewy" tone that really lends itself to Percy Jones/Mick Karn-esque lines. I'm thrilled...finally!

 

[ejphotos]

That looks fantastic!