The latest news on the Matsika Series II is I have completed all the work on the circuit and pickups so that the bass is working as a Series II should. I also was able to purchase a rack mount power supply with a 5 pin cable, so the bass is now complete. It has been a long month getting everything sorted electronically on the bass, but it is now sounding quite amazing, and of course the playability is beyond outstanding. One last note. I reluctantly had to add a small string tree to the face of the headstock since the inner strings simply needed it to stay in place more securely. I found that it was possible to have the D string pop out of the nut if I was bending the string for vibrato. I used a gold plated Hipshot two string tree that matches the finish of the tuners, and allows for easy string changes. It ended up looking great and like it was meant to be there. The lack of deep headstock angle on this bass simply required this addition. I also installed vintage Alembic style Kluson strap buttons in gold. These look like the old Stars Guitars buttons Alembic used back in the day, and they really finish the bass off nicely. I turned some dowels out of rosewood to fill the previous screw holes, since the rosewood allows for a much better material for the new screws to grasp and be supported by. I also modified one of my bass support stands to allow for this bass to be played with no strap around my neck. It just floats in the air at the perfect angle which makes playing a 12 pound bass possible for three hours. I also find that I can move my body farther down the neck so that one of these long scale "point" body basses does not feel like I am reaching to get to the first fret. Having the bass mounted to the stand really makes for a comfortable gig, and I have found that most folks in the audience never even notice that there is a stand holding the bass up.
