Handmade bass by Spanish luthier Jaime Catalá Redondo.
This model is named Eclipse and it features a double cutaway neck thru design. Scale is 35"
Jaime Catalá has been building basses and guitars for more than 20 years now and is one of the best luthiers in Spain. He offers and number of different models, some of which are based on some well known basses but with a twist while others are his own design.
This is an exceptional instrument where no corners have been cut. It is extremely comfortable to play, allows for unrestricted access up to the 24th fret and it balances really well regardless if you play seated or standing.
It is also surprisingly lightweight (weighs in at just 4.25kg) and this is something you wouldn't expect from a neck thru maple/ovangkol neck, ziricote top and fingerboard bass.
By the way, the ziricote top is really amazing and the matt finish really has an organic feel to it that we love.
The neck feels just great thanks to the use of a 46mm nut and 19mm spacing at the bridge. These are perfect dimensions for us.
Scale is 35" but for some reason it feels just like a 34". This is probably due to the body design. No need to stretch to reach the 1st fret as with some other 35" basses. Of course the low B is just phenomenal.
Two excellent Nordtrand Fat Stack pickups are used. The preamp is a John East Uni Pre 5 unit. Great match in our opinion.
These Nordstrand pickups sound full and clear with a slightly broader frequency range than normal Singlecoils and zero noise thanks to the stacked concept (there's a "ghost" coil beneath the singlecoil to cancel hum). The sound is just great in passive mode, but when you kick in the John East Unit this bass comes to life. Just add a touch of Bass EQ and you'll be in heaven. Some people say that the best recipe for a great slap tone is a bolt on bass with 20-21 frets and single coils.... Well, this bass proves that this is not a rule of thumb. This is a bass that's completely different can actually yield one of the best slap sounds we've heard latelty.
The preamp really alllows for a lot of different sounds. We were able to get a ton of great ones in 5 minutes just tweaking the EQ and using the pan pot.
Hardware is also top notch: ETS bridge and Hipshot Ultralite tuners.
To sum up, an excellent handmade bass that not only looks gorgeous but it plays and sounds just as good. What's more, we think that value for money is pretty amazing on this bass. If you consider the construction method, quality of the woods and parts and of course Jaime's excellent workmanship, we really think this bass is a steal. Buy it and you'll totally agree with us.