Download image

We’ve been in business for 20 years now. During this period of time we’ve been lucky enough to have in our shop the absolute best electric basses in the world made by the best luthiers and small brands as well as many big company instruments. One may think he's seen it all but from time to time we are really excited and surprised about a new product. We just love it when we find out about new stuff that really gets our attention.

We’ve been aware of the amazing Stradi basses for sometime. There is definitely something about the design and the overall balance of these instruments that sets them apart from the rest.

In late 2024 Marek Dąbek and Aga (the luthiers behind the Stradi name) visited our shop in Burgos, Spain. They brought some of their really amazing basses for us to test and we spend the day hanging out and talking all things bass. From that very moment we knew we wanted to have these absolutely fantastic basses in our shop. We are really excited to continue bringing these masterpieces to our showroom.

We just got this new bass and it is Symphony Obsession model and it is a 4 String Fretless bass. The name of this individual bass (no two Stradi basses are the same) is Noissesbo. This is "Obsession" in reverse, the reason being that the original Obsession bass featured a bocote fingerboard and an oak top finished using the Japanese technique called Shou Sigi Ban which consists of burning just the outer layer of wood to make it look totally burnt and black. As you can see in the pictures, this bass follows the same pattern but in reverse: ebony fingerboard and bocote top.

When we order a custom instrument for the shop we are usually quite specific about the specs and features we want. We've sold thousands of basses so we have our preferences in terms of tonewoods, parts, dimensions, etc. However, in this case we preferred to leave Marek and Aga do their thing completely free and we are glad we did. We didn't want to interfere with the creative process and just wait for the bass to arrive and judge. Well, the bass is here and we have a veredict: it's 10 out of 10. Everything is absolutely perfect. Not only does this bass look spectacular but it plays and sounds incredible as well.

The Symphony is Stradi's flagship model and it combines two worlds: classic and modern. The idea is to fuse the natural beauty of a double bass and a modern electric bass. The result is an instrument with excellent sound, sustain and a unique shape.

A lot of time has been devoted to getting the proportions just right, and this is something you can feel as soon as you pick this beauty up. The extended fingerboard that goes from the nut to the end of the bass allows the bridge to be pushed closer to the edge of the body, thus bringing the first frets (or notes in this case) closer to the player to increase comfort. This is absolutely essential when it comes to playability. Too many modern basses suffer from an unbalanced design that makes you have to reach extra to get to the first notes. None of this happens here. Scale is the traditional 34" and it plays like butter.

The body is made from roasted alder. The top is carved and it is made from exhibition grade bocote. Absolutely stunning!!

The neck is made from maple and it is an homogeneous structure glued into the body along its entire length and stiffened with carbon fiber rods, ensuring prefect sustain and stability.

The fingerboard is made from top grade ebony. It looks great an of course it's very hard, which makes it ideal for a fretless instrument. It will stand the wear of roundwound strings for years and will also absorb less string vibration than softer woods, which translates into a very generous sustain. There are mini fretlines along the side of the fingerboard so you get perfect reference for every semitone. These are luminlay so you'll be able to see them in a dark stage just fine. On top of that, there are 24 small copper dots on the face of the fingerboard following a really cool swirl pattern.

Regarding electronics, there's more than meets the eye. Obviously you can see the nice oval shaped  Delano X Tender pickup that placed at the "sweet spot" (this is needed to get that almost vocal quality as well as the much sought after "mwah" factor) and it has a very comfortable contour for your thumb. Then there' a custom made Stradi piezo system under the bridge.

Electronics include a Glockenklang Blender preamp to blend both systems.Controls are Mag Volume, Piezo Volume, Passive Tone plus a 3 way mini switch to select the mode of the magnetic pickup: Single Coil, Parallel or Series.

The knobs are made from ebony o just like the fingerboard and the backplate is made from roasted maple. Talking about the backplate, it is made from roasted flamed oak and it includes a very special engraving that celebrates our 20th Anniversary as a bass specialist shop. This makes this bass even more exclusive. So coo!!

Attention to detail is just extraordinaire. Even the excellent Gotoh Res-O-Lite tuners have the Stradi Logo in them. Gotoh straplocks are included.

Playing this bass is an absolute joy. The neck is not wide nor narrow. The 41mm nut feels great for your left hand and string spacing at the bridge is 18mm.The fact that the first "fret" feels so close to the player makes for an incredibly comfortable playing experience. This is definitely one of the most comfortable and best sounding fretless basses we've ever tested.

The bass weighs in at about 4kg so it's not heavy at all and it balances beautifully. We are firm believers in ergonomics. Only when an instrument plays great it will allow us to get the best out of it and this is of course the case here.

As you can imagine, this bass sounds absolutely fantastic. The magnetic Delano X tender pickup is the perfect choice because on its own it will deliver three absolutely world class sounds that will cover a lot of ground from a very singing voice in Single Coil (noise free, by the way) to a very articulate tone in Parallel and a punchy one in Series. The Tone Control has range enough to tame the highs, get a darker sound and even a more midrangey type of sound when you close it down completely.

In case that's not enough, you also get an incredibly musical sounding piezo under the bridge and we are happy to say that it sounds warmer and fuller than most piezos out there. Just by trimming down the Tone control slightly you get a very warm and woody sound that is absolutely beautiful and usable. None of the harshness usually associated with piezo systems. This is due to the nature of the piezo itself and the use of a very good internal buffer preamp. Of course you can blend the Magnetic and the Piezo and get a really cool sound. We can safely say that Stradi make the best sounding piezo pickups for basses in the market, period.

To sum up: a bass that is a feast for your eyes, plays totally effortlessly and sounds like a dream. An instrument for a lifetime.

Please note that build up time for a new Stradi bass averages two years so grab this one while it's available.