Here are some photos of my new Shuker custom-order bass. I've actually had it for a few weeks now, but I didn't get round to taking photos so here they are.
The spec:
- 35" scale, maple neck, 22 fret rosewood fretboard
- Alder body
- 19mm spacing
- Nordstrand Fat Stacks (that's temporary, I wanted the Norstrand Dual Coils, which will replace the Fat Stacks)
- piezo-loaded bridge
- John East Retro pre-amp
- HipShot Ultralite tuners
What's that little plate with the switches, you ask? One switch is active/passive, the other two will switch each pickup between series and parallel.
You can just about see that there's a little LED on the plate. That's my favourite feature I think. It does absolutely nothing... until the batteries get low. What a splendid idea.
The bass sounds and plays awesome. The amount of output from the John East preamp will need getting used to. First time in my life I've had to use the "active" input on my amps.
The playability is superb. The workmanship is superb. The bass balances really well, better than any of my other basses (they are all 5-string, maybe that's why they don't tend to be so well balanced.)
I've gigged the bass a few times, and every single time I've had people come to me after the show saying they love what the bass looks, and that it sounds very good.
I'm over the moon with it, and since getting it no other bass has had any serious play time. It looks like it will achieve its purpose, which was to be my main bass for everything.
- martin