Well, I guess I've got it bad. Either that, or this was just too good a deal to pass up on. Anyway, one of my local guitar shops just recently acquired a bass which made me salivate. I've been looking at it for a couple of weeks and finally took it down to play and check out. Man, it is a dream, absolutely wonderful. It sounds fantatstic. Of course, I knew it just had to be waaay out of my price range. Well, I finally got up the courage to ask, and found that although it's not cheap, it is priced much lower than I had imagined. So, I plunked down a deposit, and will be paying for it on time.

Yes, I know, you want to know what it is. Well, it is called a ZON Sonus 4. My bass hero, Mel Schacher plays one, and it is through him that I originally heard of them. When originally introduced, they were dubbed "the jazz bass for the Nineties." This one has a dark, I believe Walnut, face, and is loaded with Bartolini pickups and ZON's active circuitry.

ZON Sonus 4

The centerpiece of this bass is its neck. The neck itself is a composite, based on carbon fiber, with wood and other materials combined to get just the right flavor. The fingerboard itself is made of something ZON calls phenowood, which helps give the bass a warm tone. Of all the electrics I've ever played, this is the closest thing I've heard to an upright bass. It is actually uncanny!

More on ZON's neck construction

With a price tag that more than rivals a Fender American Jazz, it's going to be a little while before it actually gets to come home with me, but I have been assured that I can come and play it any time I want.

Anyway, it looks similar to the bass below, although the coloring of the top is a little different because of the wood.

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