NEZFBD

[bcalla]

New Epiphone Zenith Fretless Bass Day!!!  I love my new toy.   

[Guitafuzz]

Wow!! Congratulations look Beatiful!!

[Leevibe]

Neato!!

[haveyouseenhim]

I LOVE fretless basses.

[jimilee]

I've never even heard of one. How does it sound? Is it hollow, or semi hollow?

[GrindCustoms]

That's a real beauty!

[bcalla]

I've never even heard of one. How does it sound? Is it hollow, or semi hollow?

It has 2 pickups.  There's a magnetic pickup attached to the end of the fretboard (if you look closely at the pictures of the body you'll see it), and a piezo-ish pickup under the saddle (the documentation says it's not piezo, but it picks up the string and body vibrations).  And one of the knobs blends them.  It even has a 2nd jack so you can run each pickup to separate amps - I haven't tried this.  So it ranges from conventional electric bass to a woodier upright sound. 

I always loved the sound of a fretless but never played one until I started shopping for this a few weeks ago.  I was surprised at how easy it is to stay on pitch.  The fret line inlays don't hurt, either...

[RobA]

Is the magnetic one of the NanoMags?

[Clayford]

Yes NanoMag. Just like my Ultra-III. They are awesome.

[RobA]

Yes NanoMag. Just like my Ultra-III. They are awesome.

Ah, very interesting. I've been wanting to try them out for awhile now, but haven't seen them on anything in an in person setting. The video demos of them certainly sound impressive. I'll have to see if anyone local has them on a bass now.

[Clayford]

Yeah I bought mine sight unseen, based on the demos. Couldn't find one to play around here that wasn't black and on the shelf for 2 years with 2 year old strings on it. There are people that gripe and moan about buzzing etc. I saw those reviews after I bought it. I was scared. People recess the nanomag etc in all kinds of weirdness. I don't hear it. I play 10-52's Ernie Balls. It got a bigsby and a proper setup. Plays like an effin dream. But let us not derail from this beautiful Zenith. PM if you want more details.

[derevaun]

That is so sweet!

[RobA]

Yeah I bought mine sight unseen, based on the demos. Couldn't find one to play around here that wasn't black and on the shelf for 2 years with 2 year old strings on it. There are people that gripe and moan about buzzing etc. I saw those reviews after I bought it. I was scared. People recess the nanomag etc in all kinds of weirdness. I don't hear it. I play 10-52's Ernie Balls. It got a bigsby and a proper setup. Plays like an effin dream. But let us not derail from this beautiful Zenith. PM if you want more details.

Thanks for the info. The Zenith does look really nice. I've just been looking at the specs on Epiphone's site (they don't make it easy to find there). I'm going to have to find one to check out in person.

[pickdropper]

That is beautiful.

[bcalla]

I realized that I didn't answer Jimi's second question - it was much too early on a Saturday morning.  It is a chambered solid body.  There are chambers under the f holes and electronics.  It is a very heavy bass - about 10 lbs. - which is strange for something that at first glance looks like an acoustic guitar.  My other bass is an early 70s Aria semi hollow which I used to think was heavy at 8.5 lbs.