Kawai F2-B

I own TWO Kawai FIIB basses. I tend to do that. I like to have two of everything- amps, basses, etc. Both are 22 frets (which is fine with me instead of 24 because I'm not Stanley Clarke or Mark King). Both are maple/mohagony, I believe. One is string-through-body, the other is not. One is totally stock with the toggle, and one is upgraded with Alembic pickups.(Sweet!). Active electronics.
Thin, fast neck. Easy to play. Light weight at under 10 lbs.

The sound is great. Honestly, it's so versatile, that it is actually complicated to me. There are so many variations and combinations available with the toggle, 2 volume, two tone, and two micro-tone switches, that I'm not sure how to optimize it ! If it just had a better low end, then it would be perfect.

Low action, EASY to play. I got both of mine used, so I don't know how they came from the factory. I had to bring it to Tall Toad Music in Petaluma, California to have Stuart adjust it a little and dial it in for my needs. That was my choice. This is a solid, WELL BUILT bass. The G string tends to bend over the edge of the neck, so I may need to have it fine-tuned again.

This bass NEVER goes out of tune. Granted, I store it in the case every day after playing it. Yes, I play it everyday for at least 30 minutes. I love it. It's easy to tune, easy to change strings, and solid as the moon.

Never needed it

First of all, I am a Mark King fanatic !! I love to play slap and get that piano sound. I am very hard on my instruments, and it shows. I'm going to be honest with you fellow bass players. I bought this bass because of the Alembic looks, and I thought I would play it until the day I could afford a real Alembic. That day came. I had it all panned out how I was going to sell my Kawai, and keep the Alembic, etc. When the moment of truth came, and I had both basses (Alembic Epic) together, there was no contest. The KAWAI blew the Alembic out of the water !! The Kawai FIIB is SO EASY TO PLAY, IT ALMOST PLAYS AND WRITES BY ITSELF !! The neck it fast, and the strings feel slinky and soft. The growl is that of 1970's Geddy Lee- AWESOME. Slap the hell out of this bass like Mark King, and she just wants more. Always stays in tune. It looks great, and chicks think you're rich !!!!

Used Kawai FII-B 4 string bass quitar. Made in Japan in early 80's. Laminated top with Flame Maple veneer. 24 Frets with twin Kawai active soap bars. Active preamps to a total fo 18V. Two volume, two passive tone, two microtone switches and a pickup select toggle. 7 piece laminate neck through design with through body stringing and medium frets. Thing quick neck.

Very nice bass guitar with wonderful tone and feel. Can be bright and punchy and can emulate a Jazz bass quite well but lacks the warmth of a P-Bass. Currently using with a Mesa Boogie M-pulse 600 sans effects. Not noisey at all, no scratchiness or hums. Excellent bass for modern soloing can give you a wonderful response and is so easy to play. Equally good for stage or studio. No major dislikes, but could've used a separate battery enclosure.

Beautiful fit and finish. This bass, reminiscant of an Alembic Series II is a heavily finished wonder. Bought used off the bay, I don't know how the bass came from the factory but this bass is soooo perfectly designed and built I'm not concerned at all. Great wood and wonderully un-marred hardware after almost 20 years of use real brass real wood. Controls are right and tight. Had a refretting done at Parkway Music in Clifton Park, New York and this turned what was alread a good instrument into a great one. One of if not the prettiest bass I've ever owned. Cheesey sticky for serial number is the only detraction I'd give it, such a bush finish to a wonderful instrument. No way near as heavy as some claim.

The things over 20 years old and still doing yoeman service and sounds great, what more can you ask? Well it would be nice if there were replacement pups available for these. This things have preamps sealed in them, once theyr'e dead, they're DAID!!! So I wish they hadn't used a proprietary design for them. Everything else has lasted from nut to strap buttons. Depend on it? Without a friggin doubt. Rock sold and steady as Deacon on Judgement day. Can't do any better. I find it surprisingly light for such a solid instrument. Not as heavy as other basses I own.

N/A

I've been playing for pay off and on since Nixon was President. I've these basses.

Four Stringers:
Kawai FIIB
'68 Fender Jazz
'69 Les Paul Recording bass
'73 Renaissance Plexi
'84 Mark Leue Custom
'2003 Fender Jazz Custom

Five stringers:
Anderson Custom 5 String
Ibanez 1205
Ibanez 1305 Custom

No questions before buying. If stolen I'd buy another after hunting down and killing the dog who stole it.. and his family and his pets. Love this basses playability, hate that it's pups are one of a kind. Fave feature is the slick way she feels. As good as any 4 stringer I've ever owned only my Mark Leue Custom and Anderson 5 are superior

Features on this Gem include neckthru body, low action, active 18v electronics, tritone wood grain. Multiple tone selection, 3way pickup toggle. Beautiful looks, beautiful construction, beautiful tone.

You can use this bass for any sound, and it plays very easy for a bass player.(no picks or guitar styled strumming) The possibilities are really endless with this bass. They crafted this instrument, I mean CRAFTED. Best if used in funk, groove, jazz, blues, latin, jamband, reggea, projects. This piece is not recommended for straight up rock, because it will slowly mold you into a hot bassist, sculpting your ears into funnels for smooth phat bass, which in turn, butterize your fingers to play the tastiest licks known to man, and no rock band will satisfy your need to play this bass the way it needs to be played.

The sounds you can achieve with the kawai are the sounds of tower of power, jamiroquai, phish, stanley clark, greatful dead, old school groove, new school, scoschool, all the grooving stuff.

The instrument was well set up when I bought it in 94' and I use a local shop for yearly setups, and when when they finish it's as fresh as the day I got it, no sh*t!
The action is incomparable to any other competitor. They finish is ridiculous, it hasn't flawed, dulled or chipped in 10 years of my abusive possesion. Bridge rusts easy, only problem thus far, which is highly manageable.

After world war III you will have roaches and this bass left. Never failed me during gigs, never a problem, never. It literally looks a year old, and it was made in 89'
The only probs are small fixables, after ten years one new input jack and toggle switch repair. That's it, set up has never gone way out, not even small out.

Forget about it. If you see one get it, then go on ebay and look for a backup, parts salvage one. The prices I'm seeing them for it shouldn't be a prob.

Most people who own this instrument have no idea what they have. I'ved used it for 10 years and I was not particularly gentle. I do have a backup(warwick Tb-5) When I got the warwick last summer, I played it reg. for about 5 months, and then I was back into the Kawai. The 2 are night and day, so I have 2 amps SWR WKM300 w/ SWR triad cab for the kawai, lush rich tones plow through this setup. Use the moogerfooger lowpass filter and this thing is the milkman of funk. The warwick gets an ampeg B2 for a low boom sound w/ the 5 string, only used for some stuff. I could never get through a set without doing at least one tune with the kawai.

It is really that good, for the money, you can get one for $500 and you will not be dissapointed. Just don't get it for blink 182 rock or metallica stuff, its a waste.

I really couldnt tell you what year this bass was made but to any one considering buying one you will not go wrong with this best kept secret! For the price that you can find these basses going for, its really unbeleivable! neck thru 18 volt active pickups nice woods ect.the batteries just lye in the cavity so dont be alarmed when you see them there but you can surround them in felt or bubble wrap so that you dont hear them moving around.

The sounds that you can produce is sweet, very sweet I play r&b funk jazz fusion type bass, and I must say that this bass can handle any type of sound that you would like and this is just the bass being used as a stand alone without any type of effects being used! now thats a big plus if you can finger out all those beautiful tones with just your hands just think of what is possible for players who use effects!

The action of this bass is nice, its just set up very sweet most insturment makers design there products with the intent on it selling not to lose money with their efforts so considering the name Kawai and what they are known for which is pianos they im sure wouldnt want their name being used negatively.

you shouldnt need any type of backup when playing this bass its built very solid, unless you are prone to dropping things then you may need more then one backup, hardware is nice, finish is nice just nice!

now this area needs more investigating, Im havent tried to contact kawai as of yet but I will do more research on how to or if there is any one out there who knows how or has a email address for them give me a shout!

I've been playing since 1983 and have played on plenty of middle range and lower line of basses, I love the ibanez gear mainly the older stuff like the musician from fenders, to G&L, Gibson, Aria, and I presently own a ken smith BSR6p which is a very very sweet sounding bass but im telling you and this is my opinon that kawai bass comes thru like crazy now to all of the well respected bass players that may read something like this from a small time guy like myself go try one and endorse it and send me some of the money for helping you out!

Nothing new to say here. Everything's stock. I might change replace the pick ups one day but don't see a reason for that right now.

Don't really know how to describe the "style" I'm into but I try to be eum...experimental. This bass is perfect for me 'cause it's not just another dull sounding bass that you use to play boring root notes with. It has a unique sound that may not be ideal for cliche rock stuff. There's nor just one tone though. With the right effects, EQ and amp, the controls and switches cover a wide range of tones. I can get mellow upright bass sorta tones, typical bright alembic tones, everything inbetween and a little more.

When I got it, the set-up wasnt too good. I liked that the action was very low, but there was some fret buzz that I had to get rid of and the pick up height wasnt right had to be adjusted too. Finish is in good shape, but the brass bridge is rusted. You hardly see it and I don't think I would have liked it if the bridge was all shiny and new. There were a couple of other tiny little flaws but nothing serious. After all, the bass must be about 15 yrs old. Like I said, the important stuff is in great shape. neck, frets, electronics, tuners,...

The bridge looks stronger then any other bass I've seen in this price range. The neck that goes thru the body is a big plus too.

don't know.

I've played my kawai thru all kinds of bass heads and combos, nothing fancy though. I'm using my buddy's marshall head and hartke cab untill I find a good amp for myself. Maybe a GK or something simililar, not sure yet.
I tried a MIM standard jazzbass and an OLP stingray.
They're different types of basses but still the kawai came out best.
The jazzbass was everything a guitar player hates about bass guitars. It felt slow and hard to play and it sounded just terrible. The OLP was surprisingly good for it's price and I like the stingray tone, but I like the Alembic tone of my kawai even better.
I originally just wanted something cheap to put some low end into my bedroom demos but then I found this pore man's alembic with active electronics and neck-thru-body. Before I found this bass I thought I could only afford a hunk of fender-shaped poplar with cheesy pick ups and crappy hard-ware. this bass plays like an electric guitar and sounds/looks/feels like no other bass in it's price range. I've hardly touched my guitar since I bought this bass. I wake up with it and go to bed with it. I like playing fast funky or jazzy stuff with it and it's great for chords. I'm not sure if it's because I have really lowet action but I can't seem to get good slap sounds. But I'm no good at slapping/pulling and that's not really my thing anyway

My Kawai is an early version 22 fret, 34 inch scale, Japanese made, hard maple body with Koa laminates on the top and back. The two pickups are Kawai made active soapbars which run through a 3 position toggle switch and are then controlled by 4 knobs (one volume and one tone for each pickup, 18v active) and two mini-toggle "character" switches. The neck is 5 laminate, 3 hard maple, 2 mahogany and runs completely thru the body with a rosewood fingerboard. The bridge is a very heavy one piece brass affair that is fully adjustable, with the strings entering thru the back of the bass. The finish is a thick, glossy polyurethane finish and is styled very heavily after an Alembic Series two (ala Stanley Clarke). Soap bars are black, and everything else is chromed unlike later basses which have a different bridge and gold hardware. It is a very beautiful instrument although the indestructible glossy 80's finish is foggy in some spots now. I have played electric bass non-professionally for nearly twenty years and upright for 5 years.

I concur with the other review...this is a piano in bass clothing. It is very full and bright with rich harmonics, dominant mids and highs, moderate lows, and sharp attack dynamics. Not really warm but very "alive". Think of Stanley Clarke's "School days" or Entwistle's live "My Generation" with more midrange punch. The F2B really cuts though the live mix like a razor (which can be bad or good, depending on your role...you are not going to lurk underneath guitars with this one unless you apply some generous outboard EQ. Even with the tone rolled off completely, you're right up front all the time. There is just an incredible midrange punch and absolutely no muddiness). I tend to use the neck pickup with the tone pot just barely cracked open except for solos when I switch to the combo position on the toggle switch (you get a Jaco-esque tone with the neck pickup still on! The bridge pickup by itself is completely useless in my opinion). With the action set low, I get a little "splatter" off the frets during solos that really puts you out front without turning up the volume, plus a great punchy slap sound. The tone controls merely add high stuff and are impossibly bright above about 50% and the mini' "character" switches are interesting but don't do enough to justify their existence. This bass is ideally suited to the complex lines, double stops, and slapping/popping of jazz/rock fusion. There is no classic, scooped-mid P-bass sound available so don't even try for a classic "bottom feeder" setting. It has a very strong personality that must suit your needs...its not versatile at all but very distinctive and "out front." I swap between the Kawai and an upright acoustic, playing in a rock/jazz group with an electric banjo, mandolin, and full drum kit. The two basses are completely opposite. I use no effects whatsoever, and play through a Hartke kickback 12 that is really for the upright.

It is beautifully constructed and finished and I'm frequently asked if it is a custom of some sort. The neck never needs adjusting and is the smoothest, fastest neck I've ever laid my hands on. It just feels wonderful under your fingers! The controls, tuners, and bridge are all smooth and fully functioning to this day even though the bass came from years of humidity in the Houston area. I can't fault the finish for some foggy areas after this much time and THAT climate. The two flaws do I find are that the pickup screws tend to work loose and occasionally need tightening(Kawai should have some kind of spring tensioning arrangement like most other basses) and the batteries (two 9v) have no carriers. Why would Kawai spend this much care and effort to build a very beautiful bass with all that brass, and then throw the two batteries inside the electronics compartment like an afterthought? I just wrap mine in thin bubble wrap.

This bass is nearly twenty years old and still going strong even after an abusive relationship with a former owner. That 80's polyurethane is nearly indestructable. Everything is still solid and the neck never needs adjustment. Batteries last a loooooong time.

Kawai has one page of specs and two pictures on the internet. I have tried repeatedly to contact them to find out the production year of my bass but they don't answer my e-mails. I hope nothing ever breaks 'cause I might be screwed...
Incidentally, they do still make basses although I can't find out if the F2B is still in production.

The enigma continues! After 6 months, I've sold my Thunderbird reissue. Previous to that I had a Travis Bean and Gibson EB3L. I'm hooked; absolutely in love with the neck and playability of this instrument. The sound you'll either love or hate, so play it through an amp before buying. That Alembic/piano-like tone is something very unique and ever-present so make sure you're into it and that it fits your musical styles and tastes. If you're into fast complex runs, harmonics, and tapping lines, the Kawai won't hold you back. These are fairly rare basses but do show up on ebay every several weeks and seem to sell for between 300 and 500 bucks depending on condition and age although I don't think Kawai changed anything drastically over the years. They are a total steal because most folks can't figure out what they are or what they're worth.
Not many basses have such a strong individual character and the bang for the buck is a great value...just make sure it's the bang you want.

This model is an upscale version manufactured in the early 90's. As all of Kawai's instruments it was made in Japan. It is a 22 fret, neck through 4 string with active electronics. The neck is a 5 piece lamination composed of maple and mahogany. The body wings are laminated as well and have maple cores with zebrawood faces. The body shape is reminiscent of the Alembic right down to the small pointed dimple at the base of the instrument. It is finished in a high gloss polyurethane finish. The neck has a slimmer profile than one would expect in a laminated construction. The width at the graphite nut is 1 19/32" just under what a B neck Precision would be. The fingerboard is a light rosewood with dot markers. Pickups are manufactured by Kawai and are part of an 18v active system. Contols are plentiful creating a wide variety of tones - a 3-way pickup selection switch, volume and tone controls for each pup, a 3-way phase/contour switch for each pickup. The electronics are in a back routed cavity with an anodized gold aluminum cover plate. The bridge is made entirely cast brass and is the heaviest on the market on a 4 string. The bridge is designed to string the bass through the body. Tuners are gold enclosed Gotohs in a 2 x 2 arrangement.

This is quite simply a piano in bass clothing. It offers amazing sustain and upper harmonic volume. In fact, when unplugged and played with D'Addario XL strings, the bass has 2 audible harmonics above the fretted note. Because of this richness, it is perfectly suited to play chords and double stops. The overall tone can only be described as bright. Deep warm tones are possible but probably not from the bass's controls without some help from the amp. Because of the level of brightness, there is some noticeable noise at some settings. This could probably be remedied somewhat with highly shielded cables. This bass would be well suited to the hi-fi sounds of jazz, progressive rock, and fusion.

Fit and finish are flawless. This particular model has an interesting flaw in the wood grain at one particular spot but the flaw only makes it a bit more distinctive. All of the hardware except for the bridge is flawless. The brass of the bridge has been clear coated to retard oxidation but it still has picked up some slight discolorations under the finish. Noticeable, but again, not totally detracting.

Being as well made as it is, this bass won't need to be babied. But you will probably want to since the woods are so beautiful and well assembled. The neck has never had an adjustment and the bass stays in tune for weeks at a time.

When the bass was first purchased on ebay from a vintage dealer, Kawai was contacted about getting some info about the guitar. An initial response was quick along with an offer to precisely date the bass through the serial number. After this contact, subsequent emails directly to the person in charge of the instrument division have gone unanswered. This isn't a big deal since the instrument is out of productiona and was bought second-hand.

I have always wanted an Alembic but have never been able to afford one. When I got back into playing after a 20 year absence, I was always on the look out for basses. I found a lower grade version of the Kawai in a pawn shop and was impressed by it's quality. When this particular one came up for auction, I was driven to have it. It is my dream bass. I own others, and even use others for different types of music but the Kawai is my Alembic. And at the price I paid, who could blame me?