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.
Deluxe BN5 Antique Brown Finish
After 3+ years of extensive R&D, we’re excited to finally release the new Deluxe BN Series! This model changes the core character of the BN series—while still in the F Bass tone wheelhouse, the flexibility is unlike anything we’ve ever produced. Our humbucking pickups are splittable three ways and because they’re also hand-scatter-wound, you can attain anything from Jazz Bass, P Bass, MusicMan & Unique Modern tones all with a very musical presentation & excellent response to playing dynamics. A fun challenge was balancing the pickup modes to ensure positive changes in one mode was not made at the expense of another. So even at it’s fattest setting, the Deluxe packs serious weight to notes with a confident and controlled thud, rather than erring on boomy. If you’re looking for a single bass that can do it all then look no further.
F Bass Humbucking Pickups (w/ 2x Three-Way Toggles) Single-Coil (middle toggle position): Of all the modes, this produces the brightest and most open tone with the quickest attack. In comparison to the standard BN series, these singles are a little more compressed with more of a warm & woody timbre. Series Humbucking (down toggle position): Produces the highest output and a much thicker, darker, and more compressed tone. Parallel Humbucking (up toggle position): Produces a slightly thicker tone with more midrange honk than the articulate single-coil mode and without any of the 60 cycle hum.
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 gorgeous Antique Brown Burst finish and macassar ebony fingerboard. Wow! 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 VF 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.
We’ve added a few key features to the Deluxe to control the colossal series humbucking mode and the overall warmth of the Alnico II magnets: Exposed-Pole Pickups with taller magnets to add a little more output and high end shimmer at the factory pickup height Tara Labs Audiophile Grade Wiring, the copper wire soldered between pots is solid rather than being braided to maintain maximum detail Aluminum A Style Bridge with Gold Finished Brass Saddles to compress/control the lows and highs while improving sustain…we’re also loving the two-tone aesthetic. String-Through Body with DR Full-Core Strings to give the strings a tighter feel by the bridge. This reduction in string compliance allows us to get the pickups closer to the strings for maximum output and clarity. As with all of our basses, our 5 & 6 string Deluxe BN’s are also 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.
Some extras in this particular bass are:
- Black hardware
- Matching ramp
- Tara labs wiring
- Macassar ebony top
- Antique Brown Burst finish
- Straplocks
- Deluxe vegan leather gigbag
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. And in this case the special pickups, bridge and wiring make for an extremely versatile instrument with a very fast speaking voice that simply makes everything you play sound better. 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?