Rick Turner Renaissance Fretless 5-String

Made in USA by Rick Turner, famous luthier and guitar genuis of Alembic fame.

Turner-designed piezo bridge pickup.

18 volt Highlander pre-amp.

Low-noise volume and tone controls.

Lined fretless maple neck with hand-rubbed oil finish.

Graphite/epoxy neck reinforcement bars.

Dual-action truss rod (string action adjustable via truss rod).

21-fret rosewood fingerboard with New Zealand Paua shell dots and side fret markers.

Hipshot Ultalite tuners.

Walnut top / sides.

UNLIMITED TONAL POSSIBILITIES - from Jazz to Rock to Bluegrass! If you want GROWL, this bass is the beast!

I play a wide variety of music -- from jazz to rock to bluegrass, and this bass has never failed to impress me with its color, power, and character. A one-of-a-kind that is the King of its class. Period.

Outstanding construction and near-perfection fit and finish. It just can't get any better than this bass.

Solid as a rock, despite its light weight. Never had a problem with the bass, despite using it on several sets running.

Rick Turner personally has returned my emails and phone calls on several occasions -- both pre-sale and post sale. He's very helpful and never resents it when you ask about your ax or his work!

I've been playing for over 20 years, and this bass is the best fretless for serious jazz / R&B and folk I've ever played. Amazing tone and voice to this creature. Can't be beat.

Oh, it might take you a little time to get the feel of the Thomastik strings, but never fear: the bass soon sings in your hands.

I play a 3 year old Renaissance 5 fretless: koa back/sides(oil satin) cedar top (gloss), unlined ebony board with side dots at the 3,5,7 etc. positions. It has Hipshot tuners -- originally nickel, Hipshot allowed me to trade in for gold -- looks way better against the koa wood headstock.

It originally came with a well-padded gig bag; I later got a hardshell case for it (see below).

I play folk, rock, jazz etc. and work in a church. With my Turner bass, I have stopped bringing an amp to my steady gigs prefering to plug directly into the PA system.

Incredibly full sound. The notes are full and clear without being loud. The bottom end flaps pant legs. I tend to roll off the high end "growl" going for a more "upright" sound.

It came set up exactly as I asked (being an upright player, I like it a little high).

I traded the chrome plated hardware for gold (my fault for not ordering it that way). The batteries and strings last about a year for me. No complaints.

The Thomastik nylon core strings are amazing. They're the only string that I have ever played where the low (E,B) strings sounded good way up the neck. The company tells me that the bass is solid enough for anything that I wish to use but the factory strings sound so great, I feel no reason to change.

The paua shell side dots are pretty but, in the dark, they are difficult to see. I play in pit orchestras sometimes -- now I know to always order white side dots on my instruments. Turner has told me that they can substitute white mop for the paua shell.

I often use it as my primary instrument and usually do not bring a backup.

The oil/urathane finish on the back and sides wears well (much better than another oil finished bass that I own) -- much better than I expected as it feels so thin.

The pocket for the electronics does not hold the jack plate well -- the screws sometimes slip out. I presume that they have fixed this by now (mine is 3 years old after all). If it bothered me, I know that they would fix it. It has caused no problems electrically or sonically -- I just have to be careful with the cord.

A hardshell case is not always available from Turner (according to Rick, he is working on finding a reliable supplier). I suffered damage on another Turner instrument that I owned in a similar gig bag.

With the personal attention that Rick Turner gives, I don't understand where he finds time to run the company and build instruments.

I have been playing for 35+ years and have owned many instruments. My favorite is now my Renaissance 5. In fact, I like is so much that I own a Renaissance guitar and have ordered an Electroline bass.

I like the fact that it sounds great through anything I plug it into. I especially like the fact that I can plug it into the PA and get a full deep sound that does not overwhelm the other instruments in the mix.

Also nice is the fact that bassists in my audience find me after the gig to talk about my instrument.

The bass is a bit neck-heavy (because the body is so light). I have not tried the extension and it has not bothered me, either.

Made with in the year I suppose. It is all Koa body. A beauty I must say. I got it from guitar center and did not recieve any info abut the company nor a wrench. I guess my bad for not asking but I was thinking about the bass and how stunning it felt and sounded and the fact it was comming home with me. It has tuners a pizz pick up and volume and tone. It is really a finly crafted chunk of wood. Oh yeah, it's light light light light light.

The suits more styles than one might think, been doing Reggae, funk and 'senstive bass guy' stuff with it. No slapping that I can control but most other playing techniques work. Sounds great with any part of a hand from fingers to strumming. Sounds great with a pick. It is very adaptable to many playing techniques. I use a SWR Working Man 12 with the 10" extension cab (and my back thanks me). The bass also works well with FXs but bandpassing will help gain control of some stomp boxes. Great with things like the Bass Balls.
But it sounds best by itself with every bass amp I tried it with. The sound of the bass is really in the player fingers and the wood lends itself to that and the electronics stay out of the way. Beautiful

The bass was setup and sounded great when I got it. Action was great. Every thing was great. Takes a minute to get use to the weighting on the neck side of the instument and I find it a bit tuff to play in the upper register say c on the 3rd string 17th fret. It gets tuff to get around the neck joint.

The does a pretty good job for 4 state gigging but better to buy one hell of a real case for it. The bass has done 2 to three gigs for about 4 or 5 months in the New england area and no change in strings. It has performed great traveling in a gig bag but there are a couple of issues with the bass right now. The upper corner of the brigde looks like it is comming up a little. This just happened with in the week and is spooky.
The second thing is the 1/4' plug is getting flakey. It need to be replaced. Don't know what part they use but it is whimping out on me.
That's it for problems.
The finsh holds up well enough for me. From the crowd veiw it is great, but I can see wear at the points my thumb rests but it is very mild.
Also, there is string wear on the neck from the string bouncing into the fret board. The B shows wear across the length of the neck, 12th fret for the e and so on. there is very litte if any thing on the G string.
Never adjusted it. never had too thus far.

Just getting to this today!

Love the bass. Wouldn't want to play anything else. It took years to find "the Bass", with out getting it made (which I can't afford). This one is it. It is not for every body and reflective of the player fingers. It takes some getting to know and time to learn to get the really sweet tones out of it. Not a starter bass. Couldn't live with out it at this point and look forward for the years of getting to know the instument as it matures. Hopefully it will mature in the manner a great Martin guitar does and age well. Still use the old Pedulla at times but the Turner is the main bass

This review is about the Turner Renaisance 5 string fretless. The bass is semi hollow, hand crafted at Rick Turner's shop in Santa Cruz. The one I own is a 5 string/fretless model with a 35" scale, he makes 4's and fretted models as well. It has a solid cedar top, and mahogany sides and back. The top is finished in semigloss, the back/sides and neck are in tung oil, which not only gives the neck excellent "playability", but also enhances the beauty of the sides and back. It's light, and well balanced.
The body shape is a single-cutaway type, but if that brings to mind some mundane Les Paul thing, you would be off the beam. Turner has always had designs that were "outside the box", (stretching from his days at Alembic) yet with roots in classic design, and this is no exception. Think modern luthierary with a touch of 18th century European aesthetics.
The bass has a piezo pickup in the bridge routed to an 18 volt Highlander preamp; there are volume and tone controls on the upper bout, as well as trim pots next to the input jack for adjusting gain and bass. The preamp was co-developed by Rick with Highlander, and is an integral part of this bass; not only is it the most transparent preamp I have heard, but it also provides big headroom, an important part of attaining accurate amplified acoustic tone.
The bass uses hipshot (I think) ultra light tuners; and the headstock is faced with a piece of faux tortoise shell, with a big "R" at the tip. The tuners work great; if you are used to cranking fender things, they are a revelation.
The neck is a bolt-on with recessed screws, no neck plate here. My bass is fretless, with an ebony fingerboard. The neck is reinforced with graphite, and feels real solid. It's cut in sort of a "flat jazz" shape, very comfortable. The spacing for the 5 is very easy to play too. Turner has an interesting design for the position markers..there are dots on the side, and little lines that start from the side, capped by another marker right around where the B string ends. He calls these "exclamation marks" and though I dug the way they looked, I thought I needed full length inlaid lines; however these mini lines provide all the reference I needed. This is an option, he also has full length lines or no lines. The position dots are abalone? and have a cool blue/green/pearl shine to them.
The bass is strung at the "factory" with Thomastik acousticore strings. These feel light to most players at first, but they also seem made for this bass. The strings have no magnetic properties, and feel at first like big classical guitar strings. They sounded a little on the bright side for my Aston Barrett-influenced taste at first. Once you play them a while, the brightness mellows to a nice warm tone. And once you get used to them, their touch-response qualities become apparent. Some people I know have stuck flats on this bass, but if you check one out, try to make sure it has these Thom strings.
As far as accessories- you get a good Kaces leather type bag, and the usual wrench for adjusting the neck etc.

I play a variety of music, live and sessions, for a living: blues, modern R+B/house, roots rock, even...sometimes..not if I can help it..folk.. When I write and do my own little thang, it's usually deep dub and early 70's Miles style..sort of the Bill Laswell pool. I use this bass on all these. I also have a Turner fretted Electroline 5, which I use when I need the "hard fret solid body" thang, and a pbass for times when I work with "producers" who want nothing else, but I have found myself using this ax more and more. The combo of Turner's design and the preamp means that I can plug it straight into the board at the studio, using a Demeter tube DI, and usually NO eq. Live, I plug it into my tube bass amp head and acme cabs, but first it hits the PA, and lord ha' mercy on you and your butt when you feel that low C cranked through the subs the first time.
My favorite thing about the REN 5 is its dynamic response. You can actually use your chops to play with punch or subtlty; you can play with style! I think it is due to a lot of things: the preamp's headroom, the hollow core design, I don't know, but Turner sure do. If you have been playing for a while, I think you'll understand: the bass allows you to experiment with attack and timing and space. In comparison, after you play a REN for awhile other basses seem to lack the nuance neccessary to duplicate what you are doing..they sort of "quantize" your playing. This bass lets it shine through.(Hope I explained that right, it's a major feature of this instrument that is a bit hard to put into words. That whole "dancing about architecture" deal.)

The bass played great when I received it, no adjustments were neccessary, everything fit right and tight. There is some question about the way it balances on a strap. It depends on what position you play in: people play with the neck pointed at all sorts of angles from sub horizontal to Bill Wyman upright. If you have a problem, he provides, free of charge, an extension that shifts the center of balance. I use it on mine, other people I know don't.

I am careful with my tools..except for my pbass, which I love to throw around, use as a sledgehammer, prop open the garage door, you know. I have had the Ren 5 for about a year now, and beside making the occasional trust rod adjustment due to the dryness in my house during the winter (something I have to do for all my basses) I have had no problems. It is solid and well crafted; almost over-crafted, like a Mercedes S-class sedan if you get my drift. I use it at all my gigs without a backup, though like I said I have an Electroline 5 too. Only thing that caught me once was the batteries..there's two for 18 volts and I once was in a situation where I was playing A LOT..doing sessions/gigs for HOURS o' fun per day for a couple weeks straight. When the batteries go, the preamp starts to lose some clarity and highs..then you change the batteries. Once I figured that out..no problem.

You want to know customer support? How about this: Turner is one of the top designers in the country, yet he will usually repond directly to you about any problems you have within 48 hours. He also has an excellent support staff at his shop, who actually know what the f@#$ they are talking about. There are a lot of stories about his customer service in the TBL archives..things like him replacing a neck on a USED Ren free of charge because he thought it wasn't right, changing and upgrading a preamp for free just because the bass was in his shop for something else and he thought it should be done.
The warranty is lifetime..the man knows what he is doing and stands behind his work, period.

Bottom Line-I realize this is a pretty positive review, but I figure it this way: I have been playing for a living for over 25 years. I have had free bass/endorsement deals from several companies, as well as boutique basses and one-offs from some respected luthiers. I have gone the "pbass is kang" route, and the vintage "I can make any piece of shit sound great" route as well. I got news for you sports fans: this bass knocks em all dead. And I have put my "I make a living playing bass" money on the line to back that up. JP