# NBD - Lettsbasses 8 string fretless multiscale!



## Winspear (Dec 5, 2013)

Today is a good day. I've eagerly been awaiting one of two basses I ordered from UK builder Jon Letts of Lettsbasses earlier this year. The fretted 7 string should not be too far off!

Forgive me, some of these pics are really bad  Taking pics with a fairly slow lens in a badly lit room with shaky hands at night time sucks, haha. I just tried to capture all the details for you guys without paying too much attention to the overall pic. I'll make some prettier sometime 


















The overall design is really lovely. I was originally going for a singlecut but I'm glad it ended up like this! Especially a fan of that gorgeous headstock design. The veneer is a nice touch






Hipshot Ultralite open gear tuners. Great stuff - very nice finish and accurate. 

The nut is an area of particular interest. It's ebony, the goal being to achieve a similar tonal effect to a zero fret on fretted instruments. Finger tone aside, it works! The cut is absolutely incredible. SO damn sleek!! The odd string is because the Circle K was faulty and broke on tuning. This is a spare and as you can see, not long enough for the extended 37" scale. I've fixed this with an old trick I made when strings came up too short on my 35", some paper in the nut until I get another CK 


















Lovely maple inlaid board and nice simple side dots. It's all so _neat_!








Sexy wenge back with amazing heel and access.


















The neck doesn't even feel too wide, this is 15th fret comfortable reach.

I'm going to just give a review here and post all the other pictures afterwards. I tried to take plenty to give the detail in the figure etc. 
Full specs:
7 piece maple and wenge set neck
swamp ash body with figured maple top and wenge back
ebony fretboard with maple lines
ebony nut
37-34" scale length
F#BEADGCF tuning (but I flat tune)
Circle K 182-19 strings
Vol, Tone, pickup selector
Hipshot triple lockdown saddles


Design is flawless. Balances perfectly, very comfortable. Weighs 12lbs which is very acceptable and doesn't feel heavy given the scale and width of the neck. 

The neck is incredibly comfortable. Trying to measure it without the proper tools (usually fairly accurate I find), it's about 19/20mm at the nut. 

The finish , especially the neck (if there even is one, not sure) is wonderful. It just feels like stroking silk. Absolutely insane playability. 

It has wooden knobs and pickups (pictured below) which are a lovely touch. 

The overall workmanship is insanely clean, along with the attention to detail. It easily rivals my ViK in all areas. The only thing I can't compare is fretwork of course, for which the ViK is at a level I doubt I will see anywhere else in my lifetime haha! The figure of the maple is wonderful , a really nice quilt along with some other details that I have tried to capture in the photos below. 

The fretless multiscale is really nothing to comment about at all. It's just like playing a normal lined, and I'd imagine playing unlined would be only as equally terrifying as a single-scale unlined. Beyond me right now  That said I haven't had a great deal of time and fretless and do find playing by ear/muscle memory much easier than imagined. However I have no muscle memory on this instrument, which is to be expected!

Right hand playability is great - it's 15mm spacing which is the minimum the bridges allow. I usually favour 16mm and given the width of this I thought I might as well. It feels a _little _bit odd on the thicker strings but no problem t all. 

The Letts pickups are lovely. Very balanced and natural woody, growly tone. The simple passive electronics suit this bass very well. The tone knob is very useful. 2way switch - each pickup sounds great on it's own, but I'll change it for a 3way because middle is usually my favourite position so I want to try it, and it's cool just to have the option!

I had to alter the setup even though it was great on arrival. Really low cut nut as is good for fretless, neck seemed dead flat. Incredibly low action. Felt and sounded great but I'm a heavy player, and given the low tuning and metal orientated playing most of the time, I had to dial in some relief and up the action. I'm going to have to up the gauges to 136 and 190 instead of 130 and 182. I was hoping the 37" would be long enough to step down from the 190 but it's not quite. Oh well, I wouldn't have wanted to go longer on a fretless. The scale is perfect and sounds fantastic - clarity of the low strings is quite amazing! (Though I'm looking forward to getting a CK B string back on there because the paper in the nut to fix the action isn't great for the tone )

I will be using this bass on a lot of projects in the near future. I hope to get some vids up in the coming weeks, but for now here is just a clip of a low F# which I recorded to show a friend what that note sounds like. This is straight DI with no EQ and no preamp, with some impulse cab emulation. The sustain and depth is fantastic. No volume loss on the low string at all. 

https://soundcloud.com/etherealentity/f

Note that Soundcloud compression entirely ....ed up something and added that odd treble distortion. You should get the idea of the power and clarity though! 

Tension profile I will be running for any geeks interested. 
The current bottom strings are something like 40lbs and 38lbs.

len 37" F0 .190 ckwnb == 44.63# 
len 36.5714285714"
B0b .136 ckwnb == 40.49#
len 36.1428571429"
E1b .098 ckwnb == 37.49#
len 35.7142857143" 
A1b .073 ckwnb == 36.38# 
len 35.2857142857" 
D2b .053 ckwnb == 34.19# 
len 34.8571428572" 
G2b .039 ckwnb == 32.83#
len 34.4285714286" 
C3b .028 ckwnb == 30.18# 
len 34" 
 E3 .020 ckplb == 28.97# 

Feels perfect! Quite a steep progression but rather that than an out of place high string which can't really go tighter. The progression feels very natural across the tone and common intended use of the strings. 

Now for the rest of the pics of this absolutely beautiful instrument. 

Another 10/10 keeper for me. I am overwhelmed with everything about this bass.


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## Winspear (Dec 5, 2013)

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## Hollowway (Dec 5, 2013)

Man, that's nice! I'm jealous of your huge success with luthiers!


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## Cloudy (Dec 5, 2013)

That top is a beauty!


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## Nag (Dec 5, 2013)

it's weird how simple and natural it looks despite being a custom-built multiscale ERB 

much congrats. such low end. wow. doge.


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## FrancescoFiligoi (Dec 5, 2013)

This is insane.


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## Winspear (Dec 5, 2013)

Hollowway said:


> Man, that's nice! I'm jealous of your huge success with luthiers!



Rest assured I feel like an asshole reading a lot of the stuff around here 


You're right Nagash - it looks like a simple guitar or something doesn't it? 

The top is crazy. I love the really cool darker parts in it here and there


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## CaptainLuckeyBeard (Dec 5, 2013)

What Hollowway said! Too many awesome instruments...I feel like once the fretted 7 come in, physics is just gonna say .... it and you're gonna tear a hole in the space-time continuum. Probably not but still. Super stoked for ya man! It looks so good its not even fair hahah


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## trayenshreds (Dec 5, 2013)

Wow. Amazing purchase. Congrats man! Low F# on a bass is fearsome haha, definitely need that extended scale fanned fret action going on for that. Cheers


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## JoshuaVonFlash (Dec 5, 2013)

Holy .... that heel is god like HNGD!!!


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## Alice AKW (Dec 5, 2013)

TUNE LOWER! And get rid of that unsightly one plain string 

HNGD man! She's a beauty!


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## Lorcan Ward (Dec 5, 2013)

Amazing! Everything is perfect. Can we get a pic of it beside your Vik?


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## StevenC (Dec 5, 2013)

Glad to hear these are high quality! HNGD! Looks beautiful.

I'm very tempted by a 7 from Letts.

EDIT: I second a picture beside the Vik.


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## lettsbasses (Dec 5, 2013)

Lovely job Tom! Rarely do folk make such an effort.
Thanks man.
Oh yea, and I will definitely be taking extra care in my fretwork for you now


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## AxeHappy (Dec 5, 2013)

I am beyond floored.


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## Mwoit (Dec 5, 2013)

Ah Tom, you sick bastard. Get your new band up north to Scotland and give us a shot!

I play a 4 string fretless and I'm having issues with that, I can't imagine a 8 string fanned fretless. But I'd love to try!


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## InfinityCollision (Dec 5, 2013)

Daaaaaaaaaaaamn.

Love the way he did the fingerboard lines, nice touch.


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## Necris (Dec 6, 2013)

Yes, please.


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## Bodes (Dec 6, 2013)

*clicks down slowly* Yeah, looks nice... 











*click*
















*click*














DAT BACK END!


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## Daf57 (Dec 6, 2013)

Whoa - that is a hell of a bass! Masterpiece, man! Big congrats!!


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## JaeSwift (Dec 6, 2013)

Such awesome woodwork; this is what I imagine my luthiery skills would be at had I started at age 16.

Really, this is amazing, massive congrats. Any chance of a vid or a soundsample?


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## monkeysuncle (Dec 7, 2013)

B-E-A-youteefool


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## Primitive Guitarist (Dec 7, 2013)

That bass is phenomenal
This has single handedly (or two handed tappingly? ) re ignited my want for an ERG bass.
Enjoy it man!


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## Fretless (Dec 9, 2013)

I have so much gas for a 6+ string fretless multiscale bass. Only the only places that can build em for me either have super long wait times, or cost a million.


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## Winspear (Dec 9, 2013)

Fretless said:


> I have so much gas for a 6+ string fretless multiscale bass. Only the only places that can build em for me either have super long wait times, or cost a million.



Dingwall 6 + Defret. Seriously  
In fact, I believe they do fanned fretless too. Some definitely exist. 

Thanks for all the comments guys! This bass just sings. I'll upload a pic next to the ViK soon


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## Fretless (Dec 9, 2013)

EtherealEntity said:


> Dingwall 6 + Defret. Seriously
> In fact, I believe they do fanned fretless too. Some definitely exist.
> 
> Thanks for all the comments guys! This bass just sings. I'll upload a pic next to the ViK soon



 that's not a bad idea. I'm looking at a 5 string ff on the bay for 750 that's absolutely gorgeous. Dunno if I'll pull the trigger yet though.


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## Winspear (Dec 10, 2013)

Here's a size comparison






37" 8 string bass and 29.25" 9 string guitar. Worth noting that for such a technically big guitar, the ViK is actually really small! Shorter overall than a standard Ibanez RG inline hs. 
After playing the bass heavily for a few days - if there is anything that can make a 29" 9 string guitar feel like a toy, this is it!


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## holy ghost (Dec 11, 2013)

Wow. That looks great. Really cool.


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## Fretless (Dec 11, 2013)

I contacted Jon today about making a bass for me in the mindset of the custom bass vi that I want, and I have to say he is a really awesome guy to deal with (not to mention his prices are extremely fair!)! 

I'd be willing to wager that the 8 string fretless sounds like an absolute boss. Makes my gas for a custom from Jon go through the roof and probably is what is causing that cooling malfunction on the international space station


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## DiegusMaximus32 (Dec 11, 2013)

EtherealEntity said:


> Dingwall 6 + Defret. Seriously
> In fact, I believe they do fanned fretless too. Some definitely exist.
> 
> Thanks for all the comments guys! This bass just sings. I'll upload a pic next to the ViK soon



Better yet, how about a video?  HNBD man!


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## ApteraBassist (Feb 18, 2014)

love the wenge on there man. a belated congrats to you. hope you're having fun with it!


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## Grand Moff Tim (Feb 18, 2014)

Tom. You are a crazy person.


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## JEngelking (Feb 18, 2014)

Now that's a whole lotta bass! Looks fantastic though, it turned out great.


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## Winspear (Feb 19, 2014)

Thank you guys!


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## lettsbasses (Jun 19, 2014)

Tom's 2nd neck shall finally be on the bench this week. It's been a while ha ha. I had a rough time of late but it should fly together pretty quick now I'm back on it. I will be using Toms neck to document the multi scale build process,jig etc in another thread here somewhere. 
Easy now. Jon.


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## Winspear (Jun 19, 2014)

lettsbasses said:


> Tom's 2nd neck shall finally be on the bench this week. It's been a while ha ha. I had a rough time of late but it should fly together pretty quick now I'm back on it. I will be using Toms neck to document the multi scale build process,jig etc in another thread here somewhere.
> Easy now. Jon.



 Will be cool to see how you do it!!


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## DreamError (Jun 19, 2014)

Beautiful 

Jelly I cannot possibly ever play a bass with that many strings, unless it's a short scale with spacing like a guitar 



monkeysuncle said:


> B-E-A-youteefool



I see what you did there.


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## JoeuJGM (Jun 20, 2014)

When I saw the title 
Saw the first picture 
As I kept scrolling 
Stunning! I've probably said this alot, but this has to take the cake as the best looking bass I've seen in a while. The simplicity of the natural-finished woods matched with the multiscale and fretless design really work well together. Almost has the same vibe as Tosin Abasi's Ibanez, combines some more classic-looking elements and aesthetics with features that modern players need. Others have said this already, but congrats man! She's a beauty for sure.


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## ThePhilosopher (Jun 21, 2014)

Holy mother of fan.


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