Status Graphite S2 Fretless 4 String Bass + xtras

[penguin]

Rare Left Handed Status Graphite S2 4 string fretless headless bass. Serial number CE10012759, made in England. Inset/neck through construction, figured maple top, 34" graphite neck with phenolic fingerboard. Grey fretlines on fingerboard with side dot inlays and blue LED's on the fretlines. 18v Status Graphite Hyperactive pickup system. Black hardware. Currently strung with D'Addario nylon tape wound strings. Auction includes original Hiscox ultra light hardshell case in excellent condition, 3 hex wrenches(truss rod, bridge adjustment and string screws) and original documentation. Condition 9.5 out of 10, the only blemish being a small ding on the back near the control cavity(see photos). I added a drop of superglue on the ding to prevent it from flaking or spreading, otherwise the bass is in excellent condition. Extras include 5 sets of new Status Graphite Hot Wires double ball roundwound strings, 3 sets of used Status Graphite Hot Wires double ball roundwound strings for spares/backup, 4 spare older model bridge tuners w/ saddles and black Dunlop Straploks. $1000. Not looking for trades. The headless design makes this bass very compact and light and a joy to play onstage with less worry about banging the headstock on something. Status Graphite basses are very hard to find in the U.S., and a lefty fretless even more so. This is a rare opportunity to land a fantastic quality bass for a great price. Local pickup preferred, but will ship to the lower 48. This item is being advertised through other sources, therefore the seller reserves the right to end the listing early due to prior sale. Post any questions here and I will answer as best I can and thanks for looking!

[Lefty007]

I'll be the first one to say, WOW!

Just beautiful and quite a good price. If I was in the market for such instrument I would be all over it already.

[markcv]

@ Carlos: I see your "WOW", and I'd like to raise you by an additional "HOLY CRAP!"

[fivebass52]

Beautiful, and if it was a 5-string, it would be sold already!

[penguin]

Thanks for all the compliments guys! Yes, its a drag to have to put it up for sale as it is a fantastic bass of the highest quality. But things is be bad now and I need the money. I've gone thru everything and will most likely be posting two, maybe three more basses in the near future along with a chorus/flanger pedal, a computer, a flatscreen/Blu-Ray system and maybe a couple of guns(that's for a different forum). As bad as things are, in a way it kind of feels good to 'lighten the load of life' so to speak.

[penguin]

Here are photos of the back of the bass as per a request. First is the back of the body where the ding can be seen near the electronics cover. The second is the back of the graphite neck. Excuse the excessive reflections.

[AzWhoFan]

Had I not just dropped $1500 on Who presale tickets ....

... well, you know the story

[pjmuck]

Damn. If this were a fretted model I'd be all over it. I'm guessing it's no easy task to add frets to a graphite neck?

[penguin]

Bass on hold.

[markcv]

Enroute to me!

[slybass3000]

Enroute to me!

Good call Mark, this is a steal !!!!

Congrats,

[markcv]

Thanks Sly! Kinda excited here...

[AzWhoFan]

as well you should be!

[fivebass52]

Looking forward to your review... and would love to hear some sound clips of this bass!

[penguin]

Sold, shipped and received! (:^D

[slybass3000]

Sold, shipped and received! (:^D

Great. Can't wait to have a review from Mark

[markcv]

Review pending guys but so far so good. First off: major sales kudos to penguin! If he sells any more basses don't hesitate to deal with him. Stand up guy, great communication, first rate packing with photos of packing process. Can't say enough good things.

Thank you El Penguini!

[Stingray5]

congrats - killer bass, killer price!

[penguin]

Review pending guys but so far so good. First off: major sales kudos to penguin! If he sells any more basses don't hesitate to deal with him. Stand up guy, great communication, first rate packing with photos of packing process. Can't say enough good things.

Thank you El Penguini!

Thanks for the compliments! It was interesting talking to you. Enjoy the bass! BTW, the wait for Thor is now 5 years!!!!! (:^O I'm not even sure I'll still have the Jazz bass by then.

[markcv]

Wow! 5 years?! What's the point in being in business if you are making customers wait that long?

Anyway, on to the bass... this is a VERY cool bass and makes for an interesting companion to my M Bass M3 5 string fretted and my Warwick Streamer Stage 1 4 string fretted. All unique instruments with their own personalities. I need to ask Penguin what year the bass is but according to the docs it is the second lefty Status Graphite headless ever made. This bass has the first version of the preamp, what is known as the 300 preamp. There have been 3 versions since that for the S2 Classic and Kingbasses: the 301, 302, and 303 (current version). Not sure what the differences are yet but will send an email to Rob Green and ask.

Controls consist of: master volume; pickup balance; bass cut/boost of +/- 10 db @ 50 Hz; treble cut/boost of +/- 14 db @ 10 kHz; variable midrange frequency control from 300 Hz to 3 kHz with a 3 position switch that consists of + 10 db/flat/- 10 db. This is one feature that I'm trying to get my head around... not sure I like it. To me it would make more sense to have a stacked pot with the ability to adjust the amount of cut or boost from 0 db to 10 db +/-. Plus one less hole in the bass for the mini 3 way toggle switch. Also, I haven't figured out why this is happening yet but there appears to be a bit of distortion at higher output levels from the preamp. My input on my amp is not clipping and, something very strange, I put new Duracell 9 volt batteries in and the preamp (meaning no audio from the bass) didn't work at all, put the old batteries in and, whew, the bass was working again (according to my tongue the new batteries seem to have as much juice as the old ones, couldn't find my meter to verify). Another good argument for an active/passive switch. There is also a switch to turn on the blue LED position markers.

As far as the fingerboard is concerned, the grey lines are almost invisible so I would have preferred either white lines or no lines at all. For some odd reason, when you run your finger up and down the fingerboard you can just feel the lines as minute bumps. You should not be able to feel them at all as they should be at exactly the same plane as the fingerboard itself. The blue LED markers are installed above the white dot position markers. I would have just used the LED markers alone as they are visible when they are off. Again, fewer holes to drill. The position marks are all at the position rather than between which is fine, except for the 12th position, the marks there are either side of the 12th position. A bit odd to me. Status offers an optional LED install now that they call "wrap-around". See pic attached. I would have chosen this option if it was available. Regardless of these small comments they're still cool. I just think I have some practicing and "getting used to it" to do. It's definitely not as easy to navigate fretless-wise as my F Bass BNF 5 was.

When I got the bass it had the tape wounds on it as stated in the original listing above. These strings do have a useful and interesting sound and I've kept them to slap on if the need arises but I immediately put the round wounds back on. Much more what my ear wants to hear. The bass has lots of mwah and growl and there is a huge difference in tone between the bridge and neck pickups. I like this as it certainly gives the bass a LOT of tonal variety.

The neck is not badly shaped and Rob Green does an absolutely perfect job of laying up the composite material that it is made out of.

Give me a few weeks to get used to playing fretless again and I will follow up with part 2 and see what I can do about some sounds.

Cheers all.