Vintage & Rare guitar of the week: Klein fretless ergonomic bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We were discussing ergonomic guitars recently, and of course the name Klein came up.

Steve Klein mainly builds high-end acoustic guitars these days, but he is probably best known for his ergonomically designed headless guitars. We at Guitarz have  previously featured a rare left-handed example of the Klein BF-96. These guitars are no longer in production, but have inspired numerous luthier-built instruments and ergonomic self-build projects.

I had heard that Klein produced a bass, but had never seen an example before I was browsing Vintage and Rare this weekend. You'll notice that the body is slightly more elongated than the guitar model, and it also has an upper body horn, which no doubt helps achieve the correct balance of the bass on a strap.

The specifications are as follows:

• 34" Scale
• Fretless Moses Graphite Neck
• Alder Body
• Active EMG J-Pickups
• Passive Electronics
• Steinberger D-Tuner Bridge
• Uses standard strings
• Refinished Body (Nitro)
• Volume - Volume - Tone

(I hope that it's equipped with proper round-wound strings and none of this "flatwounds on a fretless" nonsense. With a graphite neck there's absolutely no excuse for those tone killing strings.)

This very rare Klein fretless bass is currently available for sale via our good friends at Vintage & Rare and is priced at €6800.

G L Wilson

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