It arrived! I couldn't be happier. I have wanted one of these monsters for around 9 or 10 years. The day has come! This is Coco, named by Skip at Kalium ( formerly Knuckle Guitar Works ). Such a fitting name with the passing of Koko the Gorilla, who has been on my mind a lot! Coco was the NAMM 2017 bass, so there are some scuffs and some love rubs, but that is A-ok with me. Transparent black/brown finish 5 string straight frets 39.55" scale Tuned EADGC (one octave below standard bass tuning) Passive Jazz pickups (with an empty battery slot in the back in case of an active pickup swap) I have my Dingwall Combustion 5 string up for sale now, as I won't be needing it! I'll be sure to post some videos/tests with it soon.
Haha for sure! Yeah the bass next door is a Japanese 1992 Ibanez SR, standard 34" scale. It is pretty neat to see the size difference! But playing the Quake is surprisingly easy! Fret 1 is a bit of a reach, but it definitely is MUCH easier than I thought it would be.
Oh gosh. Those are the jazz pickups, right? How does it compare to your other basses? How are the higher strings? I've been looking at getting one myself to tune down to E0 but I'm an absolute noob when it comes to bass tone and electronics.
Yup! They are the passive Jazz pickups. I just played it for about an hour, and can honestly say I would not change a thing. It plays much easier than I thought it would. The way it's constructed makes it very easy to get used to. The pickups are extremely clear, and very dynamic when messing with the volume and tone controls. The low E0 is the perfect tension, it does not pitch up whatsoever when playing harsh with a pick. The high strings are great. Skip set it up with a nice low-ish action, with brand new kalium strings. The tension is so perfect, it feels much like playing a standard bass. Very fast playing - friendly. The frets I believe are the tall banjo frets, like the Dingwalls.
To quote the kids, “Noyce!” I’m still amazed how well that headstock works for that bass, especially given how much it doesn’t for a guitar.