NBD: Sparkly Fretless Bongo content

[Ray Salamon]

Awhile ago (ok, ok, more like November/December) I had a thread on here about how I ordered a Cardinal Red Sparkle EBMM Bongo. It landed at ThePerfectBass last week, and it just showed up on my doorstep today.
Quick Specs:
Cardinal Red Sparkle - PDN/limited color (James had to work some voodoo magic to get it, since I ordered after it was discontinued)
5 String, Unlined Fretless
Humbucker, Single Coil, Piezo pickups

Been playing it and of course it's awesome. It's one heck of a mate to my Bongo 6HS. Just some quick pictures, then away I go back to play it more tonight.

 

[jlepre]

WOW! A true beauty. Love the grain on that plank too..

 

[tunaman4u2]

just great !

 

[solderjunkie]

I'm in love!!!

 

[OldManMusic]

Dang - that's sweet

 

[sanderhermans]

Altough bongo's arent really my thing. This is one nice bass!
I must say i would have removed the plastic and stickers on it... cant stand to see those
also never noticed that the rear control cavity covers arent sunk into the body... weird that they dont do that.

 

[Ray Salamon]

Eh, I don't mind stickers on the back. My Bongo 6 has them on it still, and it's 3 or 4 years old now. The one on the pickguard will come off in a few days or so.

Thanks for all the compliments everyone! I just put it down for the evening... was hard, but I have other things I need to get to

 

[Monahan]

Beautiful!
Can't think of anything else to say-- speechless
Congrats!

 

[keko]

Fantastic!!!

My proposal is to put later white pearloid pickguard on that baby!!!

 

[njhammer]

also never noticed that the rear control cavity covers arent sunk into the body....

I noticed that too - guessing it results in less chance of paint chipping off 90 degree edges. Beautiful bass, BTW. Congrats.

 

[Movielife]

Wow. That is one beautiful rare bass.

 

[Tollywood]

What a beauty! Sparkly neck is cool. Are you going to string it with flatwounds?

 

[KevinM]

That's really sparkly, Ray. Great choice.

Dig the fretless. I would put flats on it before you gouge the board.
I got my first fretless this week and it is really smooth.
With flats there's no finger slide noise at all.

 

[bassmonkeee]

Don't worry about putting flats on it unless you want the sound of flats. I have had my Bongo5SHp for a decade now and it has worn roundwounds for at least half of that and there is no appreciable degrading of the fretboard.

Use the strings that you like the sound of. Period.

It's truly a stunner. That's my absolute favorite Musicman sound--fretless Bongo 5SHp. Personally, I favor the single coil, and go about 60/40 mag/piezo. Slight low-mid bump, slight bass cut. Works great with my trio.

 

[jlepre]

back of the neck? What is that finish? It looks sparkly but not really..

 

[five7]

So Beautiful! I agree with bassmonkee, use the strings you like. I had roundwounds on a fretless sub 5. No damage and sounded great. How about pictures of the back of the neck and peghead. Thanks!

 

[KevinM]

Okay, you win.
If you don't like flats it wouldn't do much good using them.

 

[melvin7822]

The bass looks awesome. Personally, I would slap some La Bella 750C-B copper white nylon tapewounds on it and turn it into a growling beast.

 

[bassmonkeee]

The bass looks awesome. Personally, I would slap some La Bella 750C-B copper white nylon tapewounds on it and turn it into a growling beast.

And, then you would take them off the minute you found out that the tapewounds don't work with the piezos used on Bongos unless things have changed since I last tried tapes on my fretless Bongo. and

 

[melvin7822]

And, then you would take them off the minute you found out that the tapewounds don't work with the piezos used on Bongos unless things have changed since I last tried tapes on my fretless Bongo. and

That's interesting. I've never known a piezo that was picky about the mechanical vibrations that it picks up.