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Starting in 2021 we are exclusive distributors for F Basses in Spain. Of course we ship worldwide too.

We have gathered most of this information from F Bass' website. We are really excited to offer these really fantastic basses to all of you from now on.

History

F Bass Inc was founded by George Furlanetto in 1978, way back when 5 and 6-string bridges had to be fashioned from two 4-string bridges. George’s life path towards luthiery was inspired by his father’s craftsmanship and his mother’s musical talent. He started out by restoring instruments for a local music shop during the late 60’s & 70’s. It was here that he discovered that basses needed much more attention and had significant room for improvement. So he set out to create his own unique basses with “modern” appointments like a 5th & 6th string, fast action, and discreet wooden pickup shells. The company operated out of small workshops in Hamilton for several years to build upon this foundation. In 1986, F Bass grew into our current 5,000 sqft factory on McKinstry Street, becoming a hub for creatives and musicians alike. Four decades later, F Bass Inc continues to be family owned & operated with George’s son Marcel carrying on his vision.   

Handcrafted

To this day, our basses are handcrafted in small batches in our hometown of Hamilton. Our basses are still built by George and his highly trained and dedicated team, many of whom have been honing their craft with us for over 15 years. After decades of evolution, we’re in constant R&D to improve every facet of our builds. Whether it’s tweaking our handmade pickups & preamp, experimenting with finishes, or improving neck feel by just a few passes of the rasp. We’re never happy resting on our laurels and will continue to create some of the most refined and respected instruments in our industry.

Quality Components

All of our carefully selected lumber is aged in-house and never used prematurely. Whether it takes a few months or a few years, we’ll only use lumber that meters within our strict 4-6% moisture content requirement. This means most of the moving our wood does is in our hands and not in yours. We source our tone woods from local mills, while our exotics are sourced globally and are fully CITES & LACEY compliant. To complete our builds, our pickups, preamp, and even wooden knobs are handmade to our specification right here in Hamilton. We also only use quality hardware from proven industry leaders in the US & Japan.

Built For You

Our passion for luthiery goes well beyond the builds themselves as we obsess just as much over the bassists who play them. A beautiful boutique instrument is one thing, but we also firmly believe that it needs to be incredibly dependable and gig worthy — for the weekend warriors or those selling out stadiums. If it can’t last a lifetime then it’s simply not worth building. We’re always open to discussing basses, gear, life, (and dogs) with our players and love incorporating their feedback into our designs. 

BN5 Colour Shift

The BN series is the product of 40+ years of F Bass evolution.  

When putting so much effort into our design, finishes, and sourcing beautiful tone woods, the last thing we want is to disrupt that aesthetic flow with plastic. So we take the time to grain match pickup shells and backplate covers from the same wood used for the body. To continue this cosmetic harmony, our neck heels and headstocks are also colour matched to the body or crafted with matching wood veneers for exotic topped builds. In this case this bass comes with a striking Colour Shift finish that changes according to stage lights. Even the pickups covers come with the same finish. Absolutely stunning!

While this series has roots stemming from the original Jazz Bass, it has slowly morphed into our signature sound, feel, and look. The BN series’ voice leans heavily on the wood choices and design of the instrument itself, with the electronics designed to simply enhance those attributes, rather than colour them. The F Bass pickups and preamp are natural & transparent though offer the flexibility of a modern active bass. The result is a big yet controlled bottom end, a rich punchy midrange, and a high end that is articulate yet sweet. We’re often asked how our BN series differs from our VF series—the BN is a bigger yet more refined and “polite” tone that can still get plenty aggressive when asked.   Our pickups take the Jazz Bass single-coil a few steps further. While the focus is still a strong midrange and clear high end, the overall tone is thicker, smoother, and with none of the grit or grain in the higher register.

Our 3-band preamp controls Bass Boost, Mid Boost, and Treble Boost. When all are set flat at 0, there is no perceivable difference from your passive tone. This makes for an extremely predictable and shape-able tool to explore tones or to simply cater to various gigging environments. The 9V pre has a low draw allowing for approximately 500 hours of play. Now if your battery happens to die in the middle of a gig—don’t fret!— you can pop up the passive tone control to engage passive mode   Through careful design and consideration of each component’s weight (down to the ounce), we ensure perfect balance whether playing in the seated position or strapped in. While we take on requests for a slightly lighter weight, we don’t shy away from a medium to medium-heavy build clocking in between 9.25-9.5lbs (4 string), 9.5-10lbs (5 string), and 10lbs-10.25lbs (6 string). This gives the BN a commanding rather than toyish feel and avoids dreaded neck-dive. We also find it adds solidity to the low end and packs serious punch through the mids. To maximize comfort in the seated position and to allow for easier access to the end of the fingerboard, our treble horns are curved outwards and set further back into the body.

We love a big bass tone though can’t stress enough that it has to be focused and controlled. That’s why our 5 & 6 string BN’s are made with a 34.5” scale length. This 0.5” scale length extension adds clarity to the low B while maintaining a thick and musical G & C. We also don’t shy away from a medium to medium-heavy weight build as we find it adds solidity to the low end and packs serious punch through the mids. To control these lower frequencies even further, we string up our BN’s with custom F Bass exposed-cores made for us by LaBella. These exposed-core strings were developed in tandem with our BN series and have been continually improved since their inception in the mid 1980’s. The steel core is completely exposed over the saddle for maximum contact producing excellent clarity, a clean fundamental, and piano-like sustain.

This particular bass comes with the following extras:

- Ash body

- Maple fingerboard

- Colour Shift finish. Changes according to stage lights... Amazing!

- Black hardware

- Straplocks

Conclusion

Our personal impression is that this is an extremely responsive bass that manages to get that hard to find balance between clarity and punch in an incredibly well built and extremely comfortable and ergonomic instrument. It is a bass with a great voice, a beautiful stage presence that plays like few basses out there. Oh yes, and the low B is just phenomenal. It really is a bass for a lifetime. If you are looking for THE bass, this might well be it. We think that the price is more than fair because you are not buying just an exotic bass that looks nice. This is a true working bass player's instrument that will give you years of trouble free operation, will be incredibly inspiring night after night and will last for a lifetime. Check the price tag again. Do you think that's a lot of money for such assets?