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Crafter BA400 Fretless Bass

 

Review of the Crafter BA400 Fretless Bass by The Man in the Jar

 

Features of the Crafter BA400 Fretless Bass

Tuners - Crafter-branded sealed mini-bass tuners with wingnut knobs performed smoothly.

Headstock - A nice compact two-a-side pinch-waisted headstock with an elegant gabled end.

Nut - The white plastic nut abuts the fretboard and is tidily finished.

Neck - The neck is made from what looks like mahogany or at least a close relative. Although there's enough heft in this neck to confirm that you are dealing with a bass guitar, it is surprising comfortable and easy to play. The slim depth of the neck has a parallel profile down its length and the heel starts behind the octave position.

Fretboard - On a fretless bass the quality of the fingerboard (as it should be called due to the absence of frets) is at its most crucial because the actual wood plays so much more of a part in producing the notes. The chocolate-coloured rosewood fingerboard on the Crafter is faultless and the feeling of luxury is enhanced by the white fingerboard binding. On a fretless bass "fret markers" become "position markers". The dot markers on the Crafter are placed where the fret would be rather than midway as they would be on a fretted instrument. The octave position carries two dots.  

Action - Nice and low, as good as many electric basses I've played.

Body - The single-cut acoustic body of the BA400 is actually slightly smaller than a Dreadnought acoustic. The back and sides are made from ashwood, a cinnamon brown wood with a striking wavy grain. The top is made from lovely blonde spruce with an oval sound-hole decorated with a pinstripe rosette. The body is bound front and back with white binding finished with a triple and double pinstripe. Down the centre of the back you'll find an attractive stripe of faux marquetry. 

Bridge - The simple rosewood bridge carries a simple blade saddle. The strings are anchored with over-sized bridge pins.

Pickups - An LR Baggs pickup drives a LR-T Pro preamp.

Controls - The control panel sits on the top edge in the upper bout. As well as the battery compartment it houses a three band EQ with Bass, Middle and Treble sliders  together with a slider for "Scoop". There's a rotary Volume and a pushbutton Phase switch. The onboard chromatic tuner has an on/off pushbutton as well. When the tuner is turned on the instrument is muted.

Strap-buttons - One large strap button sits on the base of the instrument.

Output Jack - On the lower edge of the body.

Finish - This is well-finished Korean-made instrument.

 

Sound of the Crafter BA400 Fretless Bass

Acoustically the Crafter's tone has a surprising depth in the bottom end and enough volume to comfortably accompany a vocalist with a six-string acoustic. But plugged up is where the delicious nature of this beast becomes apparent. The acoustic tone translates well through the amplifier. I had only minimal jiggling on the EQ before I was happy with the natural-sounding amplified voice. The Scoop adds an interesting quirk to the mid-range but I liked the un-scooped sound better. With the response added by amplification the sheer physical pleasure of playing a fretless instrument quickly takes over. The feeling of actually producing the notes is a sensual and sexy thing, and the dynamics of bends and vibrato take on an added significance.   

 

Overall Impressions of the Crafter BA400 Fretless Bass

Ok, so it's not easy and yes, it will take a lot of practise before you can banish the bum-note to the dustbin of history. But if you play bass then you should at least own a fretless of some description. The Crafter BA400 is a lovely quality, mid-priced opportunity to discover the joys of the fretless sound.  

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