Moses Graphite Jump Bass Fretless Reviews 
5 / 5 based on 1 reviewsBass Northwest [online] $800 with gigbag,
in almost mint condition.
I was just browsing the bassnw used bass
inventory, saw this, and I already knew
what these are, but I had never heard of
a 34" version [all Moses company info
says that their 4 string is 42"].
Weight and balance are terrific, about
7lb and the strap button on the horn is
beyond [leftward] of the octave, so with
no headstock it hangs however you want.
It's also very compact to carry, as the
tophorn pivots down toward the body for
packing and travel.
Tone is very "pure" sounding, nothing
artificial from the active system, and
can be dialed anywhere from thud to honk,
motown to jazzy-stringy fretless mwahh.
There is a master gain and a PU balancer
[fader] knob, much easier than typical
systems with seperate gain for each PU.
Neck profile is super comfortable, wide
and flat, the shape of a good 5 or 6
string neck even though it's a 4. My
aching thumb joint finally has relief.
Neck finish is almost like teflon. It's
a lined fretless, which I prefer.
Headless intruments tune from the bottom
end, which I find very convenient, and
they seem, as a design genre, to stay in
tune much better than conventional tune-
at-the-headstock designs.
I can't put it down. Not just because it
plays so nice, but because it won't fit
any of my various types of guitar stands.
And you can't just lean it up against the
wall or your speakers because the tuning
knobs are the bottom-most protruding part
if you try that.
The control knobs are on the edge of the
body, near your right elbow. I don't
bump them while playing but they are not
convenient to reach. OTOH, you seldom
need to mess with the knobs because most
every sound from this ax is great. I'd
rather have this situation than easy-to-
reach knobs ... but that require constant
twiddling on some basses that you have to
redial for every song to sound decent.
Much is alredy described above, so here's
the rest: Stcked 2-channel EQ next to
the gain knobs, jack on the back edge so
it points straight back near the tuners.
Very dense 1-piece graphite-resin neck and
body with wooden top horn and "Diamondwood"
fingerboard [synthetic wood made from wood
byproducts?]. Very dense neck & body send
string vibrations into players hands and
body. You know it sounds great before you
even plug in.
Four cylindrical tuneable mono-bridges sit
at the rear edge, and a clamping device at
the head of the neck allows usw of normal
34" strings [no need for double ball sets].
PUs are either wide soapbars or fat jazz
PUs. Hard to say. There is a moderate
amount of noise if you set the 2 PU gains
to very different levels, much less than
from most JJ basses but a bit more than I
expect from an exceptional ax like this.
PUs are marked "Moses" but most Moses info
refers to Lace Sensor PUs. Who knows.
Neck-body graphite unit feels like you
could really domolish a wall with it but
I'd suggest removing the wooden top horn
before busting any walls. Not that the
horn is fragile, but it's an attached
moveable part, not integral to the main
graphite structure.
Theres a recessed clamping knob on the
back of the body to lock the moveable top
horn in its traveling or playing position
[or anywhere between]. It's a machine
bolt thread and fits a metal socket in
the body. No great force is needed here.
The fingerboard is very thick, sounds very
hard and resonant when playing, and feels
smoother than plain wood. I think its a
molded product made with wood fiber and a
superhard resin binder. It a full 24 fret
scale but fretless. Nut is some sort of
black plastic, no zero fret :(
Words like "smooth" & "solid" pop to mind
for feel, action, tone, & structure of it.
Very ergonomic in playing position [but
for the control knob location], and seems
unable to produce an unpleasant sound [I
have black nylon covered flats on it].
Beautifully designed and built. Although
the result is not beautiful to look upon,
the beauty is all in the playing, and the
easy load on your shoulder, and small bag
to carry. It's not ugly, just "exotic".
I haven't found a stand for it yet, but
assuming that I will, I rate this ax a 5.
Golem rated this unit
on
2004-05-07.
