Stagg Fusion Fretless

This is a review of a Stagg "Fusion" fretless 4-string bass which I bought new on eBay for 87 pounds sterling.

I bought this in 2005. No way of knowing when or where it was made as there's nothing anywhere to say.

It has a hardwood body in a "natural wood" finish and in a "freelance" twin-cut-away design with long upper and short lower horns. The body is covered in deep layers of satin varnish. There are two pick-ups: a JB-style bridge pick-up and a PB-style front pick-up. Each of these has its own volume control and there's a single tone knob. The knobs are all very positive in their action and give a nice, even response. The bridge is a simple JB-style affair. The pick-up covers and other fittings are all finished in black.

The neck is made of smooth, pale maple and has a black rosewood fretboard.

The head stock has two, long tuning heads per side.

This instrument is a standard scale bass and came with no accessories.

I play in a wide variety of styles and intend to use this bass for jazz, blues, soul and folk music. It should fit in just fine in any of the different bands that I play with.

As others have noted, the pick-ups give out a fairly mild signal and are about equal in level to those on my Fender USA Jazz. The instrument has no electrical buzzes. There is a slight rattle an as yet unidentified fitting when I play at very low volume, but I should be able to sort that out when I've worked out where the problem is!

The tone controls don't give a great variety of tone, but I'm very happy with the overall sound of the instrument. The strings give out an even volume, and the tone is warm is smooth.

I'm playing the bass through an Ashdown 200 Watt head plugged into an Ashdown cab housing a single 15" speaker. I'm not using any effects and the sound I'm getting will suit my needs very well in the different contexts in which I play.

The bass played beautifully out of the box. The action is low and the pick-ups are fine.

This thing looks just great. It is light to carry and pleasantly balanced.

My only slight concern is over the tuning heads, which seem to have a slight amount of "slack" in them, by which I mean that you have to turn them a little before anything happens to the string. So far they've kept in tune perfectly.

Overall, I'm delighted with the look, feel and playability of this instrument. For the price, it's simply sensational.

The instrument looks solid enough for gigging, though I guess that only time will tell in this category!

The strap buttons seem fine.

I would never gig any instrument without a back-up!

This bass came with a 12-month guarantee from the retailer who have so far been friendly and extremely efficient.

This instrument only arrived today. I'm absolutely thrilled with it. It is a joy to play and was astonishingly cheap.

Bought this for my wife. Natural satin finish, black hardware, 4 string fretless bass. 1 Jazz pickup, one Precision pickup (both passive), each with individual volume, and 1 master tone. Light weight and comfortable.

Considering the price, I give it a 9.

The tone is warm and responsive, however there isn't a lot of signal output from the instrument. This may be in part the elctronics rather than the pickups (it was cheap, so I imagine several corners were cut in the electronics).

Haven't settled on a bass amp yet, so right now we're routing it through my BadCat Black Cat 30R guitar amp and out to a bass cab. The sound is incredible, doing this.

Eventually I'd like to find an old 2x15 Fender combo, or maybe a Carvin Redeye combo.

This was the reason I bought it on a whim. This was not only as beautiful as any high-end bass, but on picking it up I found the weight, feel, and action to be beyond any reproach--which is odd, because there were 50 Stagg guitars in this place and they all played and sounded like crap.

For the price, out of this world. Price no object, still amazing.

No clue. Other reviewers have mentioned poor tunign stability. Hasn't been a problem yet, but may be in the future.

Fantastic value is right for $300. The tone is good, its beautiful and plays like a dream, and its fretless which is something I was looking for. I've been playing electric and acoustic guitar since '97, and this is the first bass I've owned but far from the first that I've played. My guitars are Gibson & G&L, and I play pop (ala Natalie Imbruglia & Shawn Colvin), rock, and jazz, and this will fill the bill.

My wife sings in a band, and I felt that she'd have an easier time showing me what she wants me to play like if she could play me a bassline. If she doesn't stick with it, I'll happily keep it for myself.

I think my bass was made in 2002 or 2003 and I think it was made in China. It is a four string fretless however has the equivilent range of 24 frets. This is definately a strong point as the the large range makes the fretboard very accessible. It has a P bass pick up and a Jazz bass pick up (I assume this means they are replicas of the fender pick ups)Both are passive. I dont like the bridge pick up much at all. It gives the bass a twangy sound so I have it off most of the time. I do like the other pick up however, the sound is smooth and warm and has surprisingly good tone. The pick ups have individual volume knobs and there is one overall tone knob. The controls are not very good quality and should be replaced. The body looks a little like the fender jazz bass but has a longer top "horn" and is generally more sleek. Mine is finished in sunburst and looks surprisingly good for the price of the instrument. The machine heads are not very good. This is the first thing I am going to replace whe I get back to the UK. They cause it to go out of tune quite qickly and the D string is a bit tricky to get in tune.

This bass, (considering its price) has an absolutely increidble sound. The sound is in my opinion much better than the Fender squire P basses which are around 30 pounds more expensive. The sound is springy and warm from the neck pickup and the bridge one isnt too bad if you like that type of sound. I am not pretending that the sound is on par with a "non budget" bass but I prefer this to basses I tried costing twice as much. The only complaint I really have about the sound is that the bridge pick up lacks depth when the E and A strings are played. It suits world / fusion music very well. With low guage strings the sound is articulate yet warm. The sound is far too thin for heavier music though.

The action was a little too high for my taste when I first got this but I easily lowered it and now it feels great. It sounded pretty much fine straight out of the box. There are no significant design flaws but there were some chips in the finish around the access panel which I am paranoid will grow and ruin my lovely paint job. Otherwise there are no problems which you can complain about for a bass of this price. The knobs crackled a little when I turned them but i think this was due to the bass being on display for a long time.

If its treated properly and the machine heads are replaced, there is no reason that this bass could not survive live playing. I have had no problems using it very frequently for recording however I havnt gigged with it. If there is a chip in the finish, it tends to flake around the edges a little but as long as there are no serious dents in it the finish is very durable. The strap buttons are nothing wonderful but do the job. I replaced them though. I would definately gig on it without a back up.

It came with a years guarantee. I havnt ad any problems with it yet so I cant write anything else here.

I have been involved in music for around 6 years and have been an active drummer and percussionist however it is within the last 3 years or so I have played bass. I would defiately buy this bass again if it were lost or stolen: the value for money is incredible and the bass can definately hold its own. I really like the basses neck pickup and the body is beautiful. I chose this bass because it was the best instrument in its price range and out performed guitars costing twice this. I wish the machine heads were stronger and the elctronics were better quality.

This bass was made i think last year, thats 2003! The newest guitar ive ever owned!!!
It is a fretless bass with four strings, would be awfully good if it had 5 strings i must say.
It is a cheap guitar so its made i think of a few peices of hard wood stuck together, i couldnt possibly comment as its painted gloss black so there is little chance of being able to tell. I know for certain though that the body is made of hardwood. The body is simple, comprising 1 pb and 1 jb pickup, of which each have 1 volume pot and a single tone pot for the two pickups.
The neck is maple with a satin black, stained finger board, at first the excess stain comes off and onto your fingers but this soon goes away. That coupled with the black body and black hardware looks somewhat modest and clean cut. All the hardware is cheap, as you would expect for #115 but none the less stands up to the job well.
All my ratings i give are basing how good it is for #115, not against other basses of varying prices.

I wouldnt say it wholey suits my style but thats not why i bought it, therefore irrelevant. I found with a chorus effect and a bit of reverb you can certainly make this bass sound better. Although with a good lead and a play with the tone and volume pots, you can again improve the sound when clean. When in this state you can notice the buzzing, i suggest this is a bad earth possibly?? The variety of this bass' sounds is fairly limited. Again you need to play with the volume and tone, to make it sound more than you would expect for the price. The first thing that hit me about thid bass is the low out put of the pickups. If they were active or just higher output pickups then the improvement would be very welcome. The fact that it is fretless also kills off the sustain abit but then it is a fretless, so you get the fretless sound instead. If the pickups were louder and the earth sorted then i would give it a 9 at least. #115 though, musnt grumble.

The action was fine straight from the box, it was even in tune after been bashed about in transit. Im not at all put off by the action, im impressed for a cheap guitar. These are the only flaws i can find, they are quite small, im being really critical here:
1. The lower horn on the body is a bit short so is liable to slip off your leg if you sit with your guitars/basses. Its not too much of a problem, very small niggle.
2. The grooves in the nut are all the same size, the lowest string only just fits and the highest string looks to small for the groove. This doesnt affect its playing though.
3. There are white collars on the machine head pegs, on the right hand side the plastic collars are ivory white, the left they are a more opaque white. Small problem but enough to piss you off.
4. The 3 of the 4 washers on the machine heads are very slightly loose and have a tendancy to buzz. You can not hear this when the bass is plugged in.
5. The satin wood stain comes off on to your fingers from the fingerboard at first.
Other than that the finish is good, on par with an Ibanez. As any educated people know, Ibanez are poor in terms of finish and build quality for the price they command. check out www.edroman.com for more details. Again for the money i was very impressed when i took it out of the box, better than i expected.

This thing would withstand live playing if you are prepared to fight against the low output pickups or learn how to set it up so this isnt a problem. For bedroom use the hardware will last but so long as you dont go hardcore on it it will behave. Look after your bass and your bass will look after you. The strap buttons seem quite thin and cheap, for a few quid it would be a wise investment to upgrade them to something tougher. The finish on the body and neck looks really quite substantial, i think it has been subjected to lots of coats in factory, overall it is no handmade bass.

Never needed to get in contact

I have been playing guitar for around 8+ years and own about ten guitars, all vary in style, i even own an indian RS sitar. I am currently building a mahogany strat bodied, sitar bridged, baritone necked guitar without any electrics. I like something different thats why i got this and its worth every penny. I also wrote this as there is a distinct lack in reviews for this bass. Please dont be put off by the fact that it is a Stagg, its as good as basses made Ibanez for a couple hundred quid more in terms of quality. I know this as my mate has one. If you are woundering about getting one then dont - just buy it as it is excellent value for money. I would be surprised if you could get a new fretless as good as this for the price.
If you want any more info email me!