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Brown’s Guitar Factory Fretted/Less 4-String Bass – Bolt-on Series
by Kevin Borden
John Brown, the brains behind Brown’s
Guitar Factory and a long-time Premier
Guitar columnist, recently released his
new bolt-on Fretted/Less bass at the 2007
Summer NAMM show. Based on the popular
through-body neck designs, the premise
of this bass is to provide the utmost in
versatility: a bass fretted from the nut to
the 12th fret and a fretless second octave
– except for the 23rd and 24th degrees,
which are fretted for funk-style slapping.
The Honeymoon
When I finally laid my eyes on the Fretted/
Less, my first impression was a Guild Pilot
meets a Gibson Victory. Showing the bass
off to four or five instrumentally-inclined
friends confirmed that I wasn’t crazy
– they all said the exact same thing. The
other thing we all agreed on was there are
two trends we’re noticing with boutique
bass luthiers: designs are pleasing from
most, but not all angles or they are a
direct Fender knock-off. The alder body on
this bass looks great from all angles and
definitely captures a modern appearance
without coming across as kitschy. Kudos to
John for a fresh design.
Picking it up, the first thing you’ll notice
is the impeccable fit and finish. The bass
tested was Brown’s NAMM demo bass, so
I expected some wear and tear. The thing
I didn’t expect was how good the finish
looked after hours of heavy use. The back
of the instrument is painted a very chic
piano black and it looks flawless. The top
– made of AAA flamed maple – has a yellowish
stain that from two feet away looks
like old school Gibson, in a sort of korina/
TV finish way.
This bass is really a joy to examine, if only
to find a new appreciation for all of the
work that’s gone into the details. I was
very pleased with the way the painted
back stopped at the seam where the top
joined the body – it was executed with
amazing precision. The component routes
were impeccable and the electronics
were all perfectly trimmed and soldered.
The hardware – including an optional
Kahler 2410 bass tremolo tail, Hipshot UL
tuners and good ol’ Schaller strap locks
– was perfectly aligned, and the fretwork
and setup on this thing was stellar.
Brown’s Guitar Factory has covered even
the smallest of appointments; the 9-volt
battery resides in a nylon bag in the body
cavity, the control cover is screwed into
brass inserts – not directly into the wood,
and it features a Neutrik locking input jack.
A terrific feature in the cavity is a dual-dip
switch, mounted to the PC board, that
lets you adjust the frequency response
four different ways (Center Frequency,
2.1 khz, 3.5 khz, 4.5 khz, and 7.0 khz) so
you can choose the sound that’s right for
you. All of this was packed into a comfy
nine pounds.
The one thing I will say about this bass is
that it was not off the rack. Each bass is
finely tailored to your specifications and
you can expect a four to six month build
time. This Fretted/Less is available in a
variety of configurations; 5 and 6-string
options are available, along with a 35-inch
scale length. The bottom line is if you
can dream it, Brown’s will build it.
The Real World
Most bass builders model their necks
and hang position in one of two
manners: a) they emulate a Fender
or b) have their own creative positioning.
Brown obviously went with option B
in designing the neck but in doing so did
something very interesting. The bass hangs
like a Gibson full-scale, like the Ripper
series, and the right hand positioning
felt very Thunderbird-ish. As a huge
Thunderbird fan, I definitely welcomed this
change. The left hand was a little different
story. The neck from side to side is roughly
on par with a Fender B-neck. The thickness
from front to back seemed a little
deep. Digging in for fingerstyle was fairly
comfortable, but for tap and slap styles the
neck felt a bit slow. For my tastes, if the
neck was a touch wider at the nut and a
touch thinner front to back it would be a
real winner.
Despite the sluggishness, one of the areas
this bass earns its stripes in is the fretless
section. The board is raised and moving
from fretted to fretless is nearly undetectable
– there was no loss of volume and no
noticeable altering of tone. The engineering
and construction of the fretless section
was dead on – there are position lines
on the side of the neck but the board is
naked. The playability of the fretless section
is everything you would need it to
be. The mwah is focused and the tone
cut through. It cut right over my guitarist’s
Marshall without any loss of definition.
The controls are in a great layout, consisting
of a push/pull volume, stacked
bass and treble and a pan. The pull pot is
extremely trick – the tail pickup is actually
two pickups in one housing and the
pull separates the pickups and activates
the boost circuitry so there is no loss of
volume. The pots travel very smoothly and
there is no drastic roll-off or roll-on of volume
or tone.
The bass was played through three different
rigs: an EBS TD650 with an Epifani
UL410; a 1977 Ampeg SVT and a Hartke/
BagEnd 1x15 rig. In all three rigs, the first
thing you’ll notice is the instrument’s
prominent midrange. The mids can roll
over the lows and squelch the highs if
you’re not careful. It works great on the
fretless portion but unless you’re doing
some heavy in-your-face lines or some
hard rock digging, the mids can be a
little much. The mids can be tailored to
your needs using the aforementioned dip
switches, but I think some of this may
come from the position of the tail pickup’s
proximity to the bridge.
When playing through the EBS rig, we had
to dial the mid frequencies down about
50% from flat to coax some sweetness
out of the bass when playing delicate lines.
The SVT didn’t mesh with the Fretted/Less
– the input stage of the SVT seemed
overwhelmed and the headroom was just
not there. The bass seemed much more
at home through a modern bass rig, and
once it entered the studio, I discovered its
amazing tracking ability – I actually used it
to re-record some prior work I had done.
Running directly into the console, the bass
was stone quiet and very pronounced. The
mids, which were very prominent in the
live setting, actually made the recording
come to life. The flat setting on the bass
was ideal for studio use.
The Final Mojo
Overall, this is a solid instrument. The bass
has a fantastic fit and finish, the fretted/
less neck is extremely well done, the controls
are simple and effective, all providing
exactly what you would hope for in this
instrument. On the other hand, the bass
may be a little too midrange prominent for
some and the neck shape might take a
little getting used to. That being said, this
bass would be a great tool for the studio
player, because it tracks so well and has a
versatile neck – a Billy Sheehan-type player
would absolutely rip with this bass. The
average Joe should give it a try before purchasing
simply because of the mid tones
and neck depth, but odds are he’s going
to buy it.
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Brown’s Guitar Factory
Base Price $2100
As Tested $4000
brownsguitarfactory.com
(651) 455-6379
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