Jerzy Drozd Basic 5 Fretless
This is a great bass from Polish luthier Jerzy Drozd.
Jerzy is now based in Barcelona, and along with a small team of carftsmen, they build some of the most sought after basses in the world.
This is a "Basic" model, one of the most affordable in Jerzy's catalogue. It is a bolt on, but the neck actually extends up to the neck pickup.
The neck is joined to the body using 7 bolts. Every aspect of this bass is designed for the most confortable playing experience ever. The small and ergonomic body rests easily on your lap, and the extended upper horn reaches out until the 12th fret, so the bass balances perfectly with a strap and your left arm does not have to stretch as in some other small bodied bass with shorter upper horns.
The etimoe body is light and responsive. The knobs are made of ebony and so is the lined fingerboard. The maple neck sports a beautiful piece of ebony for the fingerboard with 2 full octaves. The pickups themselves are covered in maple for contrast.
The pickups might look unnusual, and that's natural because they are unnusual. Jerzy makes his own pickups in house in order to make sure that he can control every aspect of the bass from wood selection to the final sound. The pickups are quite flat sounding (these are single coil), and will just reproduce what the bass is doing acoustically, which makes perfect sense in a bass like this. There's a familiar Jazz Bass type of sound to them, with neough midrange to cut through. Actually, the brdge pick is one of the best we've heard if this type. The onboard Aguilar OBP-3 3 band preamp is powerful enough to make the bass cover any style you might need. Two miniswitches control active/passive operation, as well as midrange selection (400/800 Hz).
This bass produces a great growl, but can also be sweet if needed. As usual, Jerzy's necks really invite you to play, and you'll find you re playing stuff on this bass that you would not be playing on other basses.
The pickps are also an excellent thumb rest.
As always, this bass has one of the best low B's in the market: strong, loud and clear. This is in part thanks to the 35" scale, but also due to Jerzy's expertise on ERB's (Extended Range Basses)
