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We add the amazing handmade Grosmann instruments to our stock. They are handmade in Bucarest, Romania, by luthier Cristian Grosu.

This model is named Hess and as you can see it is a headless design  which also uses a fanned fret or multiscale system.

With so many cool basses around these days, if a luthier wants to make himself a name he needs to come with smart designs, excellent build quality and good value for money. We are happy to report that all these things happen here. Cristian only uses excellent tonewoods as well as the best possible hardware and electronics. The build quality and finish are excellent and the price is surprisingly low for a bass like this. We love it.

The ash body has a contemporay design. The cool figured walnut top and zebrawood fingerboard all make for an incredibly good looking bass that blends beautifully modern design with classic wood and craftmanship. It's really unique. The neck is made from maple and the back is painted in satin black for a perfect feel and hi tech look.

The neck has two carbon reinforcement bars for extra stability and there's a two way truss rod inside for the perfect setup.

The bass is lightweight but also and more importantly, it balances just perfect. That's one of the advantages of the headless design, the other being the fact that you can take it in a guitar gigbag, really convenient.

We have explained the multiscale/fanned fret system extensively in other basses in our website (please check Dingwall basses for more details). Long story short, this is the same system that has been used for centuries for grand pianos, harps, etc. The idea is that each string will have a different scale depending on the open note it must produce. Lower notes need longer strings. It's pure physics and it works.

Some multiscale basses are a bit too cumbersome and require some extra stretch and/or adaptation but we feel that this Grosmann Hess model is way easier to play, needing almost no change in your technique or position at all. Scale goes from 34" (G string) to 37" (B string) and that's very reasonable. It's the best compromise between the advantages of the fanned fret system and ergonomics.

In order to capture the best possible sound and let the strings vibrate as freely as possible there are individual ABM bridges and the nut is a GraphTech unit. Nice!

Regarding electronics, we get a set of excellent German Delano SBC pickups. Clean and clear tone with excellent definition and just perfect string to string response. The onboard electronics are Grosmann's own TB-1 preamp with Bass, Middle and Treble and more than enough scope to let you get all the sounds you could ever need. In case you need even more sounds, there are two Single-Humbucker switches, one for each pickup.

To top it all, this particular bass comes with a hidden treasure: when you pull the Volume pot you engage a CMOS overdrive unit that sounds incredibly musical (reminds us of a Darkglass unit, and that's good news). You get Drive and Blend controls at the back of the bass. Being able to get a great sounding overdrive/distortion unit at the pull of a pot is incredibly handy and cool. We love it.

To sum up: this is an incredibly well designed and built bass that also boasts an incredibly low price tag. Buy it and you won't regret it, believe us.

Please note: this is a used bass so there are obviously some dings here and there but overall quality is quite good and everything works as it should.