Brian Scherzer
04-28-2007, 11:08 AM
Having previously owned a Lakland USA Joe Osborne model that was an excellent bass, I wanted to give the Lakland Skyline series basses a try to see how they stack up. To explain the difference between the Skyline and USA series basses, I have copied a paragraph from Lakland's website:
"Most Skylines arrive [from S. Korea] at the Lakland factory fully finished, except for electronics. Lakland luthiers inspect each bass and do refinements according to an incredibly thorough set-up procedure that ensures each bass has proper string alignment, neck relief, fretting, tuner installation integrity, etc. The Skylines are then installed with the same electronics as the US models (except for the 01 models which are shipped with Korean electronics.) No Skyline bass leaves the Lakland facility until it’s properly set up and in prime playing condition."
The fit and finish of the bass is excellent, with a tight neck pocket and smooth feeling back of the neck. This is essentially a replica of Duck Dunn's famous Candy Apple Red P-Bass, so a fair comparison would be against Fender P-Basses. The tone and controls are as simple as you can get....the bass has a volume and tone control.....period! If you're looking for onboard tone variation, you need to look at another bass. A P-Bass is meant to be what it is, a one trick pony........but it does that one trick exceptionally well!
Having owned a '66 P-Bass, the tone of the Duck Dunn is as close as I have gotten to the old school Precisions for under $1400. A major difference is the neck on the Duck Dunn model. Rather than the beefier P-Bass neck, the Duck Dunn model has a J-Bass style neck, with binding and block inlays. Yet, I don't notice any loss of bottom end that you might expect from a neck that has less mass than the typical 1960s P-Bass. There were no dead spots on the neck, the frets were happily not sticking out of the fretboard, and I found the neck carve to be very comfortable, even for someone with large hands. A number of Skyline basses tend to be on the heavy side. This one is lighter than I typically have found, which makes it comfortable to play for extended periods of time.
Overall, I feel that this bass was a bargain as regards a price-to-quality ratio. When you add in the fact that, at least to me, this bass has stunning visual appeal, I feel like Lakland has a winner. It certainly fills the bill for a P-Bass and I have no regrets!
http://www.scherzerphoto.com/laklandDunnBass.jpg
"Most Skylines arrive [from S. Korea] at the Lakland factory fully finished, except for electronics. Lakland luthiers inspect each bass and do refinements according to an incredibly thorough set-up procedure that ensures each bass has proper string alignment, neck relief, fretting, tuner installation integrity, etc. The Skylines are then installed with the same electronics as the US models (except for the 01 models which are shipped with Korean electronics.) No Skyline bass leaves the Lakland facility until it’s properly set up and in prime playing condition."
The fit and finish of the bass is excellent, with a tight neck pocket and smooth feeling back of the neck. This is essentially a replica of Duck Dunn's famous Candy Apple Red P-Bass, so a fair comparison would be against Fender P-Basses. The tone and controls are as simple as you can get....the bass has a volume and tone control.....period! If you're looking for onboard tone variation, you need to look at another bass. A P-Bass is meant to be what it is, a one trick pony........but it does that one trick exceptionally well!
Having owned a '66 P-Bass, the tone of the Duck Dunn is as close as I have gotten to the old school Precisions for under $1400. A major difference is the neck on the Duck Dunn model. Rather than the beefier P-Bass neck, the Duck Dunn model has a J-Bass style neck, with binding and block inlays. Yet, I don't notice any loss of bottom end that you might expect from a neck that has less mass than the typical 1960s P-Bass. There were no dead spots on the neck, the frets were happily not sticking out of the fretboard, and I found the neck carve to be very comfortable, even for someone with large hands. A number of Skyline basses tend to be on the heavy side. This one is lighter than I typically have found, which makes it comfortable to play for extended periods of time.
Overall, I feel that this bass was a bargain as regards a price-to-quality ratio. When you add in the fact that, at least to me, this bass has stunning visual appeal, I feel like Lakland has a winner. It certainly fills the bill for a P-Bass and I have no regrets!
http://www.scherzerphoto.com/laklandDunnBass.jpg