Okay, progress report ... I've had the WAV for a couple of weeks now, in the same amberburst finish as pictured by Wilfred. I tried out the blue and amber versions side by side, and preferred the playability and sound of the amber one - lucky for me, as the metallic blue see-through really didn't do it for me.
Superficial comments first ... The dark recesses of the peghead are finished poorly, and there are some rough filing marks on the inside - and they're at eye-height - but hey, check out the price tag! The stripey maple is pleasant to look at, but of course it's only a thin laminate. You can only wonder what a genuine piece of flame maple would look like when carved like this, as the top follows the curve of the fingerboard. The ebony fingerboard looks pretty solid - not quite as nice as the pitch black piece (as it was originally) on my Epic, just some small patches that have light streaks, and no knots anywhere on the surface.
The action was a little low, and in higher positions the strings were choking on the end of the fingerboard. (Same on both WAVs I tried out.) Joey's golden rules of setup dictate that in this case you first try to straighten out the neck with the trussrod - but for that you need a 3/16 allen key, which was not included in the package (remember the price tag). If you live in a country under the imperial ruler, that probably means a brief visit to the hardware store but here in metric land we have to wait until your friendly music shop owner can find one for you. We have 5 and 6 mm drivers that nearly fit - but the 5 is just too small and the 6 is just too big.
For the time being, I raised the bridge - an excercise which revealed that the backplate is an area where NS should really consider improving things. The back plate on the WAV is a single metal plate that is screwed into the body, with two small openings for adjusting the bridge height, and four openings for hooking up true DB strings (the standard strings end just behind the holes that you can see in Wilfred's picture, but you can install 3/4 size DB strings as well). With a screwdriver, I could just reach the bridge height adjustment screws, which were not in line with the openings in the back plate. I nearly removed the backplate, until it dawned on me that you shouldn't unscrew the back plate too often if you ever want to use real DB strings ...
With the bridge raised a little, the strings no longer choke and the action is still comfortable. The back of the neck is huge compared to a BG, but you soon adjust. (The top-of-the-range NS has a concave neck profile - sounds like an interesting idea.) The back of the neck is satinized for the most part - it looks a bit odd with the dark finish but the satin feel is very nice. As a side-effect, you absolutely fly when you take up a teeny-weeny bass guitar again ...
Rick mentioned that sensation of the note warming and expanding after it is played is a function of real acoustic basses which doesn't happen on the solid electrics - I find that a hint of left-hand vibrato (lengthways) can make some of that blooming sound happen, but you soon get into fretless mwah territory if you're not careful. There are Alembic-like amounts of sustain - this IS a big log of wood after all - and there are hints of the deep DB sound, with some sweet spots on the A and D, but the E string seems to lack a bit of fundamental, and the G string is a bit nasal. I'm pretty sure/hoping/guessing that these are weaknesses of the standard strings.
When plucking strings, only the down position (pizz) of the polarity switch gives you a decent sound. In the up position (arco) I can try all sorts of ways of plucking the string - sideways, index and middle finger together, striking down - but it's no use, there's a nice acoustic attack and 'air' to the note but there is little to no sustain, and you can forget about using the G string. Perhaps this setting works for bowing but it's useless for plucking. The pizz position is more BG-like in nature, but you can definitely tell it's not a BG. On the upmarket instruments, they've recently replaced the pizz/arco toggle with a blend control - but those have a pre-amp, and the WAV is passive.
The tone control is interesting in that it seems to be a soft-shouldered LPF. And you do need the roll-off for the highs, because this EUB sounds bright beyond reason. Perhaps in a band setting you might turn it up over one third, but in any case the bottom range of the tone control is very useful. On my SWR Workingman's 12, I switch off the tweeter completely, and set the treble control at 9 o'clock, with the tone control on the WAV nearly shut - and still it has enough treble. I'm hoping to try out darker sounding DB strings soon.
So far, I'm very happy with the instrument. The tripod stand is holding up fine in my living room, with the bass at a jaunty angle - the E is just leaning over as on a full-bodied DB - but I have no way of telling what life on the road might be (stand-wise). The bass does dance a little on the stand as I play, but it feels perfectly natural.
Re Paris - I couldn't help but noticing the policemen armed with machine guns, patroling the Gare du Nord, then two weeks later there are clashes with protesters at the Gare du Nord after the police arrested someone who jumped over a ticket fence.
(Message edited by adriaan on April 02, 2007)
