Sandberg Ken Taylor Custom 5-String Fretless

This 5 string Fretless version was made for me, to my spec's. The standard Ken Taylor being a fretted version. It has a beutiful hand picked, book matched Imbuia top on an oiled mahogony body. The fretboard is Ebony,on a honeyd maple neck. The headstock has matching Imbuia face. Body shape is Fender "ish".
All hardware is Sandbergs own.
There are Two "Huge" humbucking Delano p/ups, three band active tone controls, Master volume with active defeat,p/up pan control,and a coil tap switch.
A very nice Sandberg gig bag was included.

I play in a Classic Rock covers band,and the bass is only used on 3 of the tracks, but it makes a lot of difference. The two Delano's give ample output,with a wide range of sounds from deep bass, to "Jazz" type highs. and the tone controls, although not as fierce as the stingray give a nice range of sounds. I use it through an E.B.S Fafner rig, and the only effect i use is the E.B.S Chorus. With this set up i have been able to get as near as damn it to the "Palladino" sound.
There was a slight crackling when first using the controls, but it seems to have settled down now.
It was delivered direct from the Luthiers, in Germany, and the set up was spot on, although i was disappointed that they had fitted round wound strings. I have since restrung it with Rotosound halfwounds, and that fretless wowl is now more apparent.
The playability is superb, and the neck is a revelation, so comfortable and easy to play, and i was suprised at that because the board is flat.

I chose black hardware for this bass because it suited the Imbuia finish, and because my hands perspire. I havn't spotted any flaws in the finish, and everything is as i would expect from a hand made bass. and to be honest, at the price i paid for a custom hand made instrument, i wouldn't have minded the odd little flaw, but there aint none.
I can't say if it is dependable yet, but i have played it a lot for 3 months, and it hasn't even gone out of tune yet

I did need to contact the company to queery the slightly noisy controls, and they arranged immediatly to have the bass checked. I got it back in a week.
It took 8 weeks to build, and i was kept up to date all through the process, sent several pictures of wood samples to choose from, and had all the advise i needed.

I have been playing for over 30 years, and at present also own an Alembic Stanley Clarke Custom, and a 5 string Spector. I play through an E.B.S Fafner head, E.B.S Pro 4x10h and 1x15h, Audio Technics radio system, and an E.B.S Chorus pedal.
If it were lost or stolen i would definately buy another, in fact i will be buying the fretted version within the next 12 months.
I can't really compare it with other fretless basses, except to say, i have tried all the ones available around this price range, and was not impressed with any, thats why i had one made. I did take a risk, because Sandbergs are not available in Englang, so i could not try one first hand, but i visited thier web site and was impressed with the models there.
All the ratings i have given are based on the Quality of the bass, for the price paid.