Allright i have here for you the dark lord of the bass world. A Kiesel Vader 5 string, in left handed dexterity.
I am big supporter of this brand and sing their praises whenever i can. Kiesel as you know makes custom instruments direct to the public with no retail middle men. Keeping their product high quality with less markup. Which results in a top tier instrument of the highest "bracket".
This one is in great shape with a beautiful finish, i cannot find any noteworthy blemishes. Looks very close to me, perhaps some very faint signs of play can be seen but it's at least a 9.5/10. It's a 2017 build. The electronics are working like they should. This is an active passive pickup system with a 9V preamp. Another condition note that i am happy to report is the setup and playability is outstanding here. Kiesel really dials that in, their fretwork and neck stability is fantastic. So expect a well playing bass.
So this one is pretty straight forward. You have a flamed maple top, i believe the body wood is Alder. The neck thru neck is maple, and fretboard is Ebony. The frets are nickel silver either jumbo or medium jumbo and they have little to no wear on them. The color is very nice, sort of a transparent black to grey burst.
The Vader body is actually very useful as a bass and i will tell you why. It keeps the weight down, but does not make it sound like a weight relieved bass as it has no chambering, no extra thin body. Just a concise build with no headstock and no elongation of the body. So it sounds nice and full and resonant and big, but is a fairly nimble and lithe instrument to handle.
The 5 string make is nice as well. The extra string certainly gives you a powerful and thick low end without making the neck to wide to play comfortable. The low 5th string is like an extra tool in the toolbox to get a bigger tone with an organic sound.
So overall i would describe this as a very nice specimen from an exceptional company. And it has a nice dark contemporary look. It's eye catching.
It's not really an inexpensive instrument, but when you look at it critically you will find that it is probably one of the best pure values around for the quality, workmanship, and tone. It's a USA made 2017 custom shop instrument. And it absolutely lives up to that billing. So that's the story on this one. I will ship it out with the strings slightly detuned. Well packed, boxed with it's ultimate soft case ( these are great cases). And it will be fully insured.
