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NBD: Franz "Sirius" Fretless 5


franzbassist
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Hello all

I just wanted to share my new bass with you, a Sirius fretless, made by Xaver Tremel at Franz Bass Guitars in Bavaria.

As many BC folk know, I play fretless almost exclusively, and have searched for many years to find "the one". I've come close a few times, most notably with a Veillette Archtop and the ACG Recurve I'm selling at the moment, but with this bass, I truly believe that my search is over :)

The body is walnut, chambered and very slightly curved, with a "thermo" maple top. My understanding of the "thermo" process is the wood is heat treated, which apart from changing the colour also makes it respond in a way that is more typical of older wood (i.e. more resonant, better sustain).






The through-neck is a nine piece combination of "thermo" ash, with walnut stripes and what look like maple stringers. The neck has an asymmetric profile (thinner on the treble side than the bass) and also features carbon fibre reinforcement. The fingerboard is ebony, radiused from 10" to 16" and extended (to what would be 32 "frets") all the way to the pickup, so it also makes a great ramp. Scale length is 34.5"



I wasn't sure about the end of the fingerboard shape when looking at the pictures initially, as I'd have preferred to see the fingerboard either echo the pickup shape or just have a straight end, but it actually works really well.

The hardware is all top notch: Gotoh tuners, and ETS 3D bridge with a lovely ebony-block to pass the strings through the body. The pickup is a Delano Xtender twin coil in line humbucker, with passive electronics of just volume, tone, and a switch to change the output between humbucker, single coil and parallel.



In terms of ergonomics, the bass weighs 8 3/4 lbs, but balance is perfect. It's [i]beautifully[/i] put together, and finished in an oil wax finish that feels wonderfully tactile and organic. The carving is smooth, gentle curves, all executed perfectly; you can tell that Xaver trained as a cabinet maker!

The neck is amazing. It's thin, front to back, and there are no dead spots anywhere. Every note rings out loud and true - the bass sings - and with the rigid neck and chambered body the sustain is wonderful. String spacing is set at 19mm, so there's load of space, but it can be adjusted up or down should you wish.



The electronics are simple but effective. The tone control is useful at every position, unlike on some basses where anything less than "full up" results in a quacky sort of thump. The pickup switch also gives three very different flavours to the tone, so lots of variation on tap at the flick of a switch.

Xaver's basses are not cheap, but the minute you hold one you know it's a piece of exquisite craftsmanship B)

Gareth

Edited by walbassist
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[quote name='Grahambythesea' timestamp='1466688173' post='3077903']
Looks beautiful and no doubt sounds it too, bet it weighs a ton!
[/quote]

Thanks, and thanks to the chambered body it actually weighs in at 8 3/4 lbs :)

Edited by walbassist
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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

How to make a great bass better? Add a Noll preamp.

Neck stack is volume on top and midrange below, pull up for passive operation. Bridge stack is passive tone on top with bass below. It's whisper quiet and suits the bass perfectly.

Installed by our very own OBBM - thanks Dave!
Original passive setup

29627217483_dc9d39808e_c.jpg&key=8d7975f2ad540aab1f6d238aaa944f8d14bb071aa349ed7b7bda294db5c0807d

New active setup

30086526940_1f4a4ac12f_c.jpg&key=ae0b2f5243223f8bd7e427f204cb2d7bc3844942c6e46471e7ea0bceb0f1df63

And the stack knobs

30086526150_4ee7122f7a_c.jpg&key=dc82d49e1262162dc2815bdf82bc7e6f118179427f3f18f6af86d60371446c66

Edited by franzbassist
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I must say it was a real pleasure to sit down and do this for Gareth yesterday. It is just a beautiful instrument and of course I took the opportunity to have a noodle before he came and collected it. Such a wonderful tone. It makes my MIJ fretless Jazz sound complete rubbish. Now what can I sell?

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  • 7 months later...

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