Bacchus Craft WL4-FM Custom II Amber Brown Oil

Description

Bacchus Craft WL4-FM Custom II Amber Brown Oil

Why we love it

The WL4-FM Custom basses were a flagship in the Craft Series and are a shop favorite for a reason. Superb handmade in Japan construction, fabulous neck, mahogany body, and innovative use of materials add up to a tremendous bass with a boutique feel and tone at a mid-level price point. Bacchus Craft series instruments punch WAY above their price. Bacchus has discontinued the Craft Series and most regular production made in Japan guitars and basses. These are becoming rarer finds by the day and offer premium tone and playing experience.

Condition

This bass is in Excellent overall condition with a couple very small dents identified on the side of the lower bout near the controls, a tiny mark between the neck pickup and controls, and light surface patina on the hardware. The electronics are in good condition and function properly. Frets show little sign of wear and have a lot of life left. The neck shows no signs of warping or waviness and should be capable of an arrow straight very low action setup should you be so inclined. The truss rod is buttery smooth and in good working order with plenty of adjustment left. The string height has been set to medium-low (around 2mm E) with no buzzing. There are no noticeable signs of modification.

Overview

The WL4-FM is based on a Fender Jazz-style design but features a slightly smaller and more contoured body. Beautiful details abound with beautifully executed pearloid binding around the neck and body and block inlays on the neck. The neck feels familiar with 38mm width at the nut with a fast and comfortable modern “C” profile. The real bone nut and fretwork are best in class and rival much more expensive builds. Techwood is used for the fretboard, looking very much like a rosewood board and losing nothing in terms of feel or tone.

The body is absolutely stunning with amber brown oil showcasing the highly figured flame maple top as well as enveloping the mahogany in a rich brown low gloss finish. High quality hardware is used throughout for tuners, bridge, and pots. This bass weighs approximately 9.5 pounds.

Electronics and Tone

The WL4 is equipped with fantastic Bacchus Original J Bass pickups. While this is a purely passive configuration, the tone has a decidedly electric and “active” sound, offering focused and articulate lows, detailed and complex midrange, and smooth yet detailed highs. The mahogany body contributes to a slightly round and warm treble profile compared to the ash bodied version of these basses which sounds distinctly high end, focused, and pleasing to the ear. The neck pickup is round and warm while still retaining plenty of focus and girth. The bridge pickup provides great J-bass growl and detail without having too much honk or strident treble. Controls consist of neck and bridge pickup volume and master tone. The tone knob doubles as a series/parallel switch for “Turbo mode”, running the two single coils like a humbucker.

The WL4-FM is a fantastic instrument that will leave a smile on your face. It will arrive ready to rock out of the box. It has been inspected and set up, including cleaning, string replacement, truss rod adjustment, intonation, and string height adjustment upon arrival here at Professor Nigel’s.

Specifications

Body: Flame Maple (top), Mahogany (back)

Neck: Maple

Fingerboard: Techwood

Scale: 34 inch

Frets: 21

Nut: Bone

Width at Nut: 38 mm

Fingerboard Radius:12 in / 310R

Pitch between strings at bridge: 18.0mm

Bridge: YP-06N

Tuners: RM 1475NR

Controls: 2Vol, 1Tone (Pull up Turbo SW)

Pickup: Bacchus Original J Bass

Year of manufacture: 2018

Country of manufacture: Japan

Accessories: Gig bag, tools

Serial Number: C08630

Weight: 7.5 lbs / 3.4 kg