Brice HXB-405 5-String Fretless Bass Review

History:

Purchase: I'm a New Jersey native who lives now in California. In 2003, I was in NJ for a visit and stopped in at one of my favorite stores, Rondo Music in Union, NJ, where I had bought gear as a teenager. I tried the Brice HXB-405 5-string fretless bass, liked it, and since Rondo handles Brice in the US, bought the bass to be shipped back to California. The price was $250.

Pros: Good tone with active pickups switched on. Quality, ultra-smooth fretless rosewood finger board. Light weight, well balanced. Bridge is obviously cheap yet works surprisingly well; string-through-body design helps. Tuners are solid and reliable. Neck is straight and true. Full 34-inch scale gives nice fat sound.



Cons: No complaints, none at all. Oh, perhaps I might have preferred a higher quality wood for the body, but really this doesn't detract from the instrument's overall quality.

HXB-405 5-String Fretless Bass Quality: Six-bolt neck is amazingly well anchored. Fairly short headstock reduces the distance from nut to tuning capstan, increases string bearing pressure; with roundwound strings (such as Fender Original Bass 7150s), sustain is amazing! Nut is well made, giving low action at the first "fret," reducing the sharpness that is common otherwise. I can play fretless without having to make intonation adjustments due to poor design in the instrument (a problem that is too often necessary on fretless basses).

Brice Summary: An amazing value for the money! About the only change that I may make some day is a replacement neck with an ebony finger board, since I use roundwound strings and ebony is nearly indestructible. Buying a more expensive bass may give you more return on your long-term investment in terms of higher resale value, but not that much in terms of having a fine bass to play.

Rating of this product: 4

This Brice Bass Guitars Review Submitted By: Thomas E. Braun

Date: 2004-03-11

Usefulness Rating: 4.68182 out of 5. 22 reader(s) voted.