Sandberg California VM-4 Hardcore Aged Bass, Cream (Vintage White) Finish, Rosewood Fretboard, 8.1 lbs.

Music Store Live is proud to be an official Sandberg dealer! Made in Europe, with the finest German engineering, this bass will slap a smile on your face that you just can't shake. The worn-in feel and look of this one is really well done and makes it feel like a long lost friend the minute you get it into your hands. This one is a truly special instrument!

Sandberg basses are already very well known over in Europe and are now gaining popularity here in the U.S. for being some of the finest hand-made boutique basses available. The playability is just simply off the charts. The lightly sanded neck feels amazing and is a real playground for your fretting hand. It definitely has a j-bass neck type of feel to it. Extremely comfortable and easy to play on for hours and hours on end, the neck alone helps make this an instrument you'll never want to put down. The fact that it only weighs 8.1 lbs. without sacrificing any resonance or sustain certainly helps too.

The bass looks really cool, too. The relic job on this one is done just right and in all the right spots. But the fun really starts once you put it in your hands. Along from the simply divine neck, you'll notice a very flat fretboard on there. This makes grooving or playing fast licks a breeze up and down the fretboard. Runs that require string skipping are a breeze and even if you make your living on just the first 5 frets, you'll want to explore the entire neck/fretboard on this because it's just so easy to do so.

As well as being effortless to play, this Sandberg VM-4 comes loaded with some powerful and thoroughly versatile electronics. The first thing you're likely to notice are the huge pole pieces on the P-style pickup. Next you'll probably notice that the split-coil pickup is placed in opposite orientation that you might traditionally find it. This is a brilliant adaptation of a tried and true design. By placing the E, and A string pole pieces closer to the bridge, you end up with a tighter, punchier, and more focused tone on the bass strings while having a slightly fuller and rounder sound out of the D and G treble strings. The resulting tone is one that will sit perfectly in a mix, no matter how many other instruments are playing along with you, and will never be muddy or indistinct. Add to that, the zero fret, and you truly have a bass with even response across all strings AND fretted as well as open strings. Rest assured, you can still achieve traditional P-bass tones with this as well. And when you're in passive mode, the treble EQ knob serves as a tone knob that is 100% open at the center detent and goes to 0% as you roll it back.

Overall, along with tightening up the bass response and providing fuller treble response, the giant pole pieces on the pickups help produce a powerful and punchy tone that is rich with just enough mid-range while still having loads of that P-bass wooliness we've all come to know and love. Located directly behind that reverse-P pickup is a big MM-style humbucker to add bite, growl, and attack to your notes. By adding that humbucker close to the bridge, you can achieve growly and barky articulate notes that compliment the P-pickup's wooliness or stand out on their own and cut right to the front of the mix with lots of mid-range grunt with the bridge pickup solo'd. The ability to run this in active or passive mode only further adds to the immense versatility found here.

A simple 2-band boost/cut EQ allows you to tweak your sound on the fly, without ever having to turn around and fiddle with your amp knobs. There's enough versatility to get you a bunch of sounds but not enough rope to hang yourself with. All that to say, there's really no way to get a bad sound out of this bass. Every configuration available is usable, musical, and serves a purpose. For a more vintage sound, just pull the volume knob to disengage the preamp and you'll instantly be transported to bass sounds of the 60's and 70's. With the preamp engaged you can really dial in a huge array of tones ranging from modern hi-fi to old-school and vintage.

Perfect for demanding professionals and discerning hobbyists, this bass comes in at a lower price point than a lot of boutique basses out there and easily out-performs a lot of the ones out there that live in the $3k and $4k price range. We're confident you'll agree with that claim.

Sandberg Guitars was founded back in 1986 by Holger Stonjek and Gerd Gorzelke. Since then, they have been producing hand-made instruments at the highest quality. This bass features Sandberg's newest version of the California body shape finished in a Metallic Red color. The alder body’s previously even rear bouts now have a decidedly offset vibe. The lower horn has less mass and the cutaway is deeper. The neck pocket goes a bit deeper into the body as well to help with the transference of vibrations. Overall these will weigh a bit less than older California body shapes and will have excellent balance when worn with a strap standing up.

Music Store Live is proud to be an authorized Sandberg Guitars dealer. Along with our amazing inventory, we can custom order any Sandberg bass or guitar you'd like.

Music Store Live is proud to be an authorized dealer for Sandberg. This California VM-4 Hardcore Aged is 100% brand new and is being sold with a full manufacturer's warranty. Photos are of the exact bass you'll receive.