Ristola Instruments 5 String Fretless Bass - RARE

This is a custom Ristola 5 string fretless bass that I purchased directly from the builder, Brian Ristola. We went through a lot of different woods, finally settling on a mahogany body, with an ebony fingerboard. The neck is maple with bubinga stringers and 6 bolts. He matched the string spacing to my late 60's jazz bass neck, of course adding in the other string. I listened to many pickup combinations on his other basses, settling on a P/J set of Nordstrands that Carey custom wound for that string spacing. I got the Audere preamp, which I've been generally happy with. The bass was born as a fretted instrument, and for some reason it just didn't speak to me. I was planning on selling it to get a fretless 5, when my dear friend Boston master luthier Jim Mouradian (RIP), suggested that I let him turn it into a fretless. I figured I had little to loose and let him do it. It turned from an OK fretted 5, to an amazingly nice fretless 5! In addition I had Brian make some special knobs to replace the original ones. He used a piece of the remainder wood from the actual bass top and they have knurled barrels. The neck is a 34" scale length and the bass weighs ~9.4 pounds - according to my digital scale.

IMO the bass has a very nice warm sound that works in many styles. I've played it on many jazz, folk, blues, funk and even rock gigs! And yes, it can get THAT Jaco sound. If desired I can send a link to a version of Little Wing that I did here in my studio that I think illustrates it's overall sound. I have included here a video from my personal YouTube channel of me playing it on a Bach piece.

The bass is in quite good shape, tho there are definitely some nicks and dings in it. It has been gigged regularly since I had it made, often 3-4 nites a week. The neck is in perfect condition and feels incredible. This is the thin and fast neck you've always wanted! There an oiled finish on the neck, which gives it a very warm feeling to play. There is very little string wear on the neck, in spite of only using round wound strings. I currently have a recent set of light gauge Ken Smith strings on it (40-120), however it could certainly take heavier strings.

No International sales for this please!

Mahogany Body

Acrylicized Ebony Fingerboard

Maple/Bubinga Neck- 18.5mm spacing

Nordstrand NJ5S and NP5 Pickups (custom)

Audere 3 Band Preamp (rare)

Gotoh Tuners and Hipshot Bridge

What the knobs do, front to back: volume, blend, treble, midrange, bass. I don't know if I ever totally understood the switches. I know that one is for the Audere Z mode, the other one is more tone. I know it sounds strange that I don't know, but Brian talked me into the full package and I just went with it. Honestly I just found a couple of settings that I liked and left it at that.

It will ship in an inexpensive but padded gig bag and of course inside a box.