Paulhauser

I've never tried this exact model but had two FGN Neo jazzes and they were some of the best made basses I've ever had so the quality is great and if you liked the one you had tried then go for it. The MM is quite close to the bridge so I doubt it is very much useable in its own but together with the J it has to have a massive sound

I'm agree with what others said above: - I would not buy a bass with reparied neck/headstock/any sizeable crack on wood elsewhere like the fingerboard or the body/top. - If one of my basses would suffer such a damage I had it repaired with some of those luthiers here who can do a great jobs then I'd keep it for lifetime.

I think this is one of the best designs Warwick has and I like it a lot. But for me it suffers the same design "flaw" of putting the beidge far away from the bottom end of the neck thus making the fretboard and especially the first positions to far to the left (when in playing position) just as with the original Thumb. And I don't know how much the different location of the strap pin helps with this in the case of the SC as on the original Thumb the top horn is also quite short. I sold my '91 NT5 Thumb for this reason, my arm was tired of reaching out, the nut was farther left than on my 35" Spectors and those don't have very long top horns either (longer than the Thumb's though) But of course this is just a personal observation and preference.

Thanks Pierre! BTW when are you selling your white 60's to me? 😄

Interesting.... mine has the same controls bar the master tone. Mine is front vol, rear vol/push-pull active passive, mid, bass/treble stacked pot. Yes, I love the abalone inlays too!

Thank you! And congratulations to you, too! Wonderful bass you have there, enjoy! I'm sure it sounds fantastic! What does the switch do?

Thank you! It has the Aguilar OBP2. Yes, the battery is in the main cavity but it's not an issue for me to open it every once in a while. I will most probably not be using this bass live so I don't have to worry about changing a dead battery in the heat of the gig 🙂

I recently took possession of this US made Spector Forte 6. The Forte model was introduced in the early 2010's as a no frills version of the US NS basses. Cutting down on options, no fancy woods or inlays therefore making the production streamlined the aim was to offer a straightforward and a bit more affordable version of the NS models. Still made by the team of Stuart Spector (before his retirement) and co, Fortes are essentially the same as the US NS models but in Forte 'versions' Now to the contrary of all above this Forte 6 has more features than some of my US NS-5XL basses and certainly more than normal Fortes. Flamed maple top, ash back are the body woods, ebony (!) is the fingerboard, tuners are the same as the NS custom models, preamp is Aguilar OBP and the pickups are EMG 45DCs. It is a wonderful sounding bass, powerful but not aggressive, clean and very even in all registers and there is a depth and richness to the sound. The no inlay ebony board is a wonder in itself, the neck is comfortable for a sixer and the whole thing is an incredibly well built, ergonomicly designed and sweet sounding bass. I have owned and currently own US made NS-5XL Spectors and this is up there with the best of them. Enjoy the pics!

Strings: my experience is as some said above: buy a 5 string set and use the BEAD strings out of it. You'll have a lot more variety in terms of gauges and brands/materials as 4 string BEAD sets are few and would not cost less than an average 5 string set. Setup: I have a few 4 string basses turned to BEAD and in all cases some of the nut slots needed to be worked on but apart form that nothing more complicated than a normal setup. The only thing to watch out is some bridges will also have a problem with thich gauge strings (those in which you need to get the strings through)

I respect them for putting all the effort into this video but there isn't much point in reviewing a 5 string Rickenbacker without playing the B string much at all.

With all the brands and options to choose from at this price level this bass is leaving me unimpressed to say the least. The headstock is meh, the font/branding too. I mean you name a bass bite and the best thing you can come is a headstock which looks like part of it is bitten off and a similar logo on the neck plate? Nonetheless all the best to them and hope they can get a niche market with the short lead time and customization. I'm not sure this is really important but maybe so for some folks.

Also D'Addario makes the piccolo set of 52 42 32 20 (EXL280) so getting two other single nickel strings gauged 80 and 100 from them would do the trick and it fits to long scale necks (34" works for sure as I gave used these)

Update: after owning and using this bass for 16 months I have to say this is a keeper and as such it effectively killed my GAS for super 5 string jazzes. The feel of the neck is especially lovely, it is high gloss finish but has such a warmth and ease to it, unbelieveable. As I've said I'd bought this bass untried and unheard, never ever even had an Atelier Z in my hands but I wish all the "blind" purchases would be such spot on like this. Can't recommend Atelier Z's enough, they very well worth their prices!

While the original 4 string Spector headstock - a.k.a. “Gumby” has a cult following I think the Platypus kind of headstock that the Euro and US NS basses have are one of the best 5 string headstocks in the industry for me. I actually prefer it to the Gumby - but all my Spectors except one are 5 strings...

Sure. It was from muziker.sk , a slovakian e-commerce site that grew big on instruments and related products and now they seem to branch out to other stuff. I think I bought about 6-8 sets of DR strings at that time. It seems currently they dont have those prices but worth to keep an eye as I must have been bought from them on good prices about three times in the last few years. (Probably my only purchases from them...)

+1 on the DR Hi Beams. Those are my preferred strings to be used on my US and Euro Spectors. While their normal price is a bit on the high side there are deals to be found, I got my 0.45-.130 Hibeams for around £30 a set which is a quite ok. They sound great, feels great and last good (but not great) I love how my Spectors sound with them

On second thought I would just leave it as it is.

Lovely bass, congratulations! I think the red is passable but of course the stickers would do the trick provided they cover the existing inlays. This I’m not sure of, I used the crown pearl sticker set on a NS-CR to cover the dots and am not sure whether they are 100% the same size and shape as the inlays. I still have 2 sets but can’t check them against my Euro as I’m not at home.

If I were you I would by all means start putting up an ad on Basschat and in some facebook groups - European bass market is one of the biggest such group on facebook. Basschat marketplace sees a lot of international traffic, I'm from Hungary and have bought and sold basses through BC from/to all over Europe. It only takes a few minutes and a small amount of money but you'll be able to gauge the interest and the price level. But of course you'll need to be able to ship and take care of an international money transaction and these can be seen as risky for some.

Very nice of you Rotosound! For me it's gotta be Billy Sheehan. I have learnt a lot from his playing and his videos explaining what and why he does. His three finger plucking technique especially made an impact on my playing. Also I never used distortion until his signature EBS BS pedal convinced me to appy it to my sound at certain instances to spice up things. And his unique approach to distortion made that pedal to stand out. Kudos again to Billy!