Soledad

A first-time Sandberg owner here. Been a lifelong Fender man and still love the Precision. Just bought a California TT4 fretless (from italiancross here) and I am very impressed indeed. I do get quite excited about details and have a slight OCD tendency... bear this in mind! SO - love body shape: a slightly reduced Jazz (which I always felt was a tads big), the weight and balance with Euro ash body (tads over 4Kg), the build, detailing, hardware... everything really. The neck/body joint is insanely accurate. The cast bridge and string tree, the tension adjust on the tuners, 6-bolt neck, thick slab of rosewood fingerboard, the silky pots and their own lovely chrome knobs.... it just goes on. And then you spot the body is 2 piece BOOKMATCHED straight down the centre. That is special and takes a maker that really cares to do that. Obviously I don't have a fretted equivalent to compare but my impression is the p'ups are nice and fat - plenty of mids in there and some decent punch. It's the passive version (I prefer passive anyway) but bridge sounds fatter than a Jazz and hence more useful to me on a fretless. Just put some D'Addario Chrome flats on - I like those and EB Cobalt flats on fretless - mainly for the mids - sounding very good indeed striaght into my PJB Briefcase. Sustain is really good and I'm not finding any resonance-induced flat spot anywhere - they're a common issue and stand out more on fretless I think. I've come to this party late in life but it's a bloody good party! (pics have old strings on - suspected to ba Adagios)

and a quick thing about oiling fingerboards. I personally think the thing about lemon oil ('and only, ever') is 'rather overdone'. I spend a lot of time making furniture and have to mess with many finishes. I've been known to use oils and blends of many and various - I won't name some but I once used Tru-Oil on a fingerboard (of an Appachian dulcimer actually) which is probably illegal. Thing is not all oils are the same. Tru-Oil is an extreme example but is a polymerised blend and goes off rock hard, just cut it right back with 0000 steel wool. Even boiled linseed goes off hard, most oils do. So this softening thing... not my experience. And lemon oil has better uses like delicate skin (IMveryHO).

Be smart - go for the TIs !!😂 I'll check the LaBellas are where I left em and let you know but I think those TIs would tick the boxes. I did find the LBs a bit low tension tbh. What a fine gang you come across on BC eh?

Had almost exact same bass a few years ago - started me on my current fretless journey. My expectations were modest too, but it surprised. Nicely made, excellent neck, p\ups seemed OK. I can't remember if it was passive or active, passive I think. Sold it on for what it cost anyway (around 100 IIRC). Currently running a Sandberg TT4 - which is actually better😂 at a modest 10x ++ the price. I may have a spare set of La Bella nylon flats (so tapes I suppose) in a drawer, cut 2 + 2 so would fit. PM if useful and I'll go hunt. If you can justify the cost I'd say get some D'addario chrome 45-100 flats, or EB Cobalt flats (45-105 I think they come). Some flats users say they are too bright but the new top mellows away quite quickly and it's the mids you want on a fretless - they both excel in the mids whilst keeping the lower end nice and tight.

These guys in Portugal are excellent > Loja custom < - not sure if they have the Sadowsky logo as a stock item (they may have) but I have used them before (old Hofner logo). They produce fab quality micro-thin rub-downs, easy to apply but take very great care to get position bang on, you get one go at it. Then seal with a matt / semi-matt / gloss superthin coat, applied almost dry. They have some odd stuff - Guyatone (!); and more common Peavey, Ibanez, Fender of course, etc etc I think they'll make what you need up given a decent vector reference. http://www.lojahmcustom.com/epages/960708206.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/960708206/Categories/"Decalques/Stickers" [email protected]

Adagio flats on Amazon £16.99, free next day.... They do look quite a bit like these!!

They look a lot like those, the really smooth closed wrap, and the red silks look same. Can't be right though because I'm not supposed to like cheap strings... must be a mistake 😂

You mean not quite right for TIs, or for Rotos? I re-measured the G, in several places: 1 12 - 1.14mm = .044 - .045", i.e. 45s. Re-measured E also: 2.56 / 2.57 = .1 - .101 so 100s. So I'm confident these are 45 - 100s. About the TIs - do they have a really smooth wrap where the 'gaps' in ribbon are virtually invisible? Cos that's what these are like. These also feel quite flexible / bendy - and that tends to promote the mids/harmonics I think. Not used to buying a bass and discovering I like the strings, so it's ironic I like these and don't know what they are!

That was my first thought as the wrap is very reminiscent of the old Swing Bass rounds i used to use. But I'm pretty sure the set is 45 - 100s ; I'm going to measure again as Roto seem to do a 40-100 and a 45 105 but not a 45-100. Could be the G is a 45, the E feels like a 105. £55 a set eh?! Damn, flats are an investment - that's about the same as the EB Cobalts I've been using. I know they last ages but I still like the slight crisp bite they have in the first flush of their youth! Anyways these are really nice strings for the fretless and seem to be more or less new,so I'll stick with these a good while.

After much hesitation I finally commited to Augusto's very fine Sandberg California fretless (advertised here of course). Arrived today - really well packed, fully insured and exactly as described, virtually mint. Really very impressed with this bass - the design, build, sound and overall feel. Augusto is very good to deal with, regular updates and very efficient in sorting shipping across the brexit border, helped by UPS. Deal with absolute confidence, he's a credit to the BC community. 👍👍👍👍

Wonder if someone can identify these strings - they're on a very fine Sandberg fretless I just had arrive from italiancross. They're flats and appear to be 45 - 100s - using a metric micrometer the E seems to be 2.59mm = .101", so I'll assume 100s. Thje G is similarly v close to 45. Ball ends all plain brass, wrap is red both ends. Augusto didn't know what brand they were. I was expecting to change to my usuals (EB Cobalt flats 45-105) but I'm quite impressed with these. I'll say more about the Sandberg later but it is stunningly well built and sounds v good straight into my PJB Briefcase, so extremely promising. Anyway, help appreciated.

👍 absolutely. I have eternal huge respect for Jamerson and love his playing and that sound, BUT there is a place for pick playing (maybe a few places!) and @JellyKnees is dead right - for some band setups and many tracks the pick sound is (IMHO) vital. And you get palm muting which is a very fine thing indeed, in the right places of course. It's the eternal debate (like best flats, best O/D pedal, P v J....) but I honestly believe a good versatile bass player needs fingers and pick to a decent standard.

Absolutely, and vital. Picks can do things fingers can't - it may be in the detail but there are styles where picks rule (punk being an obvious one). If you want the fat sound - fingers, But if you want the precise attack and clarity - a decent pick cannot be beaten. And there are some runs that are un-doable with fingers (some Phil Lynott for example, or Chelsea Dagger). OK, someone will tell me otherwise, but listen to fast picking - it's all in the pitch focus and attack. The fact you hear he's playing with a pick (Immediately) says it all.

Very good review, thanks - decent user reviews are invaluable. I wonder if you tried any alternatives in a similar price range - Vanderkley 210, Berg, Aguilar etc? I admit I've been biased somewhat against BF cabs - having used/tried a 110 and later a 112 and deciding they were loud but very coloured. I suppose I come from the other end of things - previous 2 cabs being a Genz Uber 1288 (1 x 12, 2 x 8s and a rotary-attenuated horn) then a PJB 6B. I think both these cabs are very neutral, almost 'technical' - so the jump across to the BFs I've tried is quite a jump. I really need to get myself to Bass Gallery and try a Vanderkley against a BF. If anyone has done A/B comparisons of the other high-end 210s please share experiences. And btw, that very excellent Genz Uber is for sale here - I have to say it's a blinding cab... and it's 250 quid. In have seriously considered buying it back from Andy, but I do need to go a little bit smaller.

Can't comment on the basses as I have no hands-on experience, but I hear good things. There's a fair choice around the price range though. But concerning flats, I spent years using rounds (D'Addario) without giving it much thought, but then tried some flats looking for more weight at the lower end. What I really wanted was that elusive 'punch' we all speak of. My absolute favourite (after spending hundreds on various brands of flats, which is quite easy when they cost around £30 - £50 a set) - Ernie Ball Cobalt flats. Beware as they do cobalt rounds too ( very good!) and it's easy to order the wrong ones. They come in various tensions/gauges and I settled on 45-105. They deliver the elusive punch of flats BUT with the option of dialled-in high mids/top end crunch or snap. Also the mids are more controllable, I mean you can add a bit of higher mids say - it's like the whole frequency range is there, just use your bass and head EQ to profile the sound. NOTE they are not rounds and will not deliver the full brightness, but the grunt in the critical lower frequencies is absolutely worth it. What they do (I think all flats do generally) is deliver real power with focus. There are as many opinions about flats as there are choices, so just my own experience. As for the E on the Elites wrapping round the post - considering most Bass Centre basses are Ps and Js, this is surely stupid.

On ebay at the moment, Oxford collect only. Currently £93 !! (OK, it'll rise but how far). Also on ebay at the mo, another '84 Westone Thunder fretless, 1200. One of these 2 is worth a look. here's the fretted 100 quid one