Once again, the Skyline series by Lakland has hit the nail in the head.
The neck is ultra comfortable, with a nice soft C profile at the first frets that gradually flattens as you move up the neck. Access to the 22th fret is excellent for a bolt on. String spacing is wide but not cumbersome. Hipshot Ultralight tuners help balance the bass nicely. Lakland’s own bridge allows you to anchor the strings in a traditional manner, but also through the body for maximum sustain.
Electronics:
Lakland have been using this pickups arrangement since the early 90’s and it is in fact one of the best we can think of: a single coil at the neck, plus a splittable humbucker at the bridge. Actually, the 3 way miniswitch lets you select the North or South coils in the humbucker as well as both in parallel. In fact, you can get (among others) sounds that closely resemble a Musicman, a Jazz Bass and even a modern Precision. All of them are there and if you take some time to tweak the controls, you will find more useable sounds.
This is one of the first 5502's to come with the new Lakland pickups and electronics. According to Lakland's boss, Dan Lakin, this was the right time to introduce their own line of pickups and electronics and incorporate them into their basses. This allows Lakland to control the whole process and make sure they offer a trademark sound all of their own. The good news is that the new electronics are not radically different to the "old" Bartolini components, but take off from there, adding more punch, presence and "something else". You'll have to try the basses to see for yourself.
If you prefer a more traditional 5 string check out the signature Darryl Jones 5 or Joe Osborn model 5
