Wendler Electrocoustic 5-String Fretless Bass

Hand made in USA. 34" scale mahogany neck (comfortable flattened oval profile) w/ unlined pau ferro fretless fingerboard and standard side dot markers. Other options available (35" scale, lined fingerboard, custom neck dimensions, etc.) Tilt-back headstock in 3-over-2 configuration. Hipshot Ultralight tuners. Western red cedar body (heavily carved and beautifully finished in satin cherry). Wendler MagPi transducer system (Kent Armstrong humbucking magnetic pickup in neck position passively blended w/ custom piezo pickup in bridge). Tortoise shell pickguard acts as control cover for electronics (pickup blend and volume knobs). Hand carved cocobolo tailpiece. Thomastic Infeld Jazz Flat strings (these use a round core instead of hex and contribute to the upright-like feel as well as tone). A Kaces gig bag was included.

I have played basses from a number of other manufacturers that are going for the upright sound, and none have nailed it like the Wendler. The sensitivity of the piezo/wood combination creates an amazing range of tonality based on right hand positioning alone. The piezo also has a nice plucky bump in the attack. The tone is extremely natural and responsive and makes the instrument fun to play. The magnetic pickup and blend knob give you tonal versatility that piezo-only instruments don't have. Plucking close to neck gets very deep, and the tone gets progressively more woody as you move towards the bridge. Of course this is the case on any bass, but on the Wendler it is dramatic. The B string is also excellent. It sounds huge and the tone is consistent with the other 4 strings. I've had the same experience with the sound of this bass in my home studio w/ reference monitors and headphones and my live rig with a Hughes and Kettner BassBase 600 and Epifani UL212T cabinet.

Volume and tonal response across the strings is superb, which seems to not always be the case with piezo equipped instruments. The neck is beautifully shaped, one of the most comfortable I have played. This is the lightest instrument I have ever held. The body is, surprisingly, larger (specifically, longer) than any instrument I'm familiar with. This is not a complaint, however, as the bass sits well in your lap and balances nicely on a strap with the upper horn extending the way it does. With a body this light, the instrument is slightly neck heavy, but this is subtle enough that the weight of your plucking arm compensates and you don't have to compensate at all with your fretting hand. With a strap the balance is perfect. I did not buy this instrument firsthand (I expect it to go down in history as my greatest Ebay score ever), so I did not have the opportunity to request a specific action. Given Dave Wendler's excellent customer service I can only imagine the bass was set up to the original customer's specifications. The action is higher than I would normally like, as I like a very low action, and the bridge is not adjustable. However, the action does, I suspect, contribute to the uprighty thump of the tone, and that, for me, is the reason to own this bass, so I am happy with it. The fingerboard is beautifully dressed so I have no doubt that Wendler could accommodate any action requested. The finish is both beautiful and unique.

Everything on this bass feels solidly constructed. The Western red cedar body is, however, more similar to the woods used in acoustic guitars, and therefore more delicate, than the ash, alder, etc. commonly used in electric bases. That, of course, is integral to the tone and design of the bass.

I am a secondhand buyer and I've received faster, more attentive customer support from Dave Wendler than nearly any manufacturer I have ever dealt with.

I have been playing for 22 years. My other main bass is a beautiful Elrick fretless 5 custom (my favorite for the solid-body electric sound). A also have a fretted MTD Grendel 5 and a Pedulla Pentabuzz. I don't want to criticize any of the other luthiers that are going for the upright sound; most are independent craftsmen working hard to build unique instruments. Having tried others, however, I find that the Wendler is the best sounding of the lot. If it was stolen I would immediately place an order for a new one. As I said above, I purchased this bass secondhand; it was a very lucky find. Dave Wendler only sells direct, so most potential buyers (for now at least) won't have the opportunity to play before buying. After experiencing both the quality of the instrument and customer service, however, I would have no worries.

 Features: 34" scale, natural satin, semi-acoustic, Red Cedar carved body, unlined fretless maple neck, 15" radius ebony fretboard, back tilted headstock with 3/2 string posts configuration,1, 3/4" width graphite nut, Hipshot tuners, passive electronics,magnetic and piezo pickups, wooden floating bridge with aluminium one-piece saddle, cocobolo tailpiece, tortoise shell pickguard, Graph Tech V shape strap buttons, Thomastic-Infeld Jazz flatwound strings, padded gigbag included.
  Contact: Learnt about the bass at Dave Wendler?s web page (www.electrocoustic.com). This was accidental as I was gathering information about Thomastic-Infeld Jazz Flatwound Strings. Pictures and sound samples available in the website. E-mail: dave@electrocoustic.com

Construction: 9.5 .- This is an acoustic-electric instrument built on the issue of providing a non upright bass alternative for those coming from the electric bass guitar world. It consists of an american red cedar body made up of two pieces of carved wood which are so resonating that made me believe at first that it was a semi-hollow instrument. The result is an extremely light weight body with astounding and natural sound reproduction features. There?s nothing more to the sound than wood, strings, fingers and feeling. Crafting is superb, offering a no compromise mixture of caring handcraft and ?industrial? refinement in everything regarding finish ?natural satin-by the way-, which lets the nice veneers show up. As for the neck, I talked things over with Dave and he offered me two alternatives: a handmade neck with either a mahogany or Douglas fir option with an ebony fingerboard, or a Carvin maple neck with the same fingerboard and inner graphite reinforcements which would take price down 150 bucks. I took the second option on account of the fact that if it satisfied Dave?s demands, I was no one to object. There are side dots on the top side of the neck and the finish is tung oil to allow for smooth and sliding playing comfort. The overall instrument aesthetics are gorgeous, with a cross breed of traditional bowed instruments look and modern state of the art efficiency.
Electronics: 9.5 .- I don?t know if this is an upcoming tendency in the world of instrument lutherie, but one of the secrets of this bass is that electronics are passive. Both pickups are ?to my knowledge- custom. One is a magnetic one at the neck position; the other being a piezoelectric embedded in the wooden bridge that resembles a double bass one. Signal blend is achieved through a simple two-pot control box fixed under the tortoise shell floating pickguard. The pots correspond to volume and magnetic-piezo balance (Dave calls this ?Bias?). Dave explained that the philosophy behind this setup was to make the signal path as short as possible, thus preserving the original nature of the sound.

I am aware of the fact that it is almost impossible to reproduce the sound of an upright out of an instrument with a physical size and string scale several times smaller, but I never thought you could ever get this close. No dead spots or scratchy rubbing finger noise, clarity, immediateness, warmth, body, growl, fatness, character, straight-forwardness, fundamentals, likeness of unplugged and plugged sound... this is what comes to mind on plucking the strings and just listening

I insisted on low action at first. After a short change of impressions Dave convinced me of the convenience of keeping a not so low action to improve dynamics, stronger presence, tone control and intonation. My yielding was just another winner. He threw in an extra shorter bridge saddle free of charge in case I kept on preferring a lower action, but I don?t think I?ll ever use it. Playability is a dream.

I?ve had it only for three weeks, but it has a lifetime warranty. Backup??!!

You get the impression that you are ordering your bass at your own living-room (which was the case), talking to someone you always felt familiar with. E-mail answers took less than half an hour to arrive on some occasions. He?s got very clear ideas about the needs of this kind of instrument, but he?ll pay attention and keep an open attitude to your requests

This IS a glowing review, but it's not my fault. Saying 10 means everything?s done already, and I don?t conceive things that way. This is an honest instrument that has fulfilled all my expectations. Someday someone will come up with something better (maybe Dave himself), but for the time being I doubt you can get a instrument of this kind with higher quality and return, both in absolute terms and in comparison with others that cost 150% more dough.