New Bass Day – Tom Martinson “Nessie”

Totally out of the blue, my wife surprised me and bought me a new fretless 5 string, made by Tom Martinson (originally from TN, now in FL). I have frequently remarked how interesting I find Tom’s designs, both body style and burl/resin looks, so when my wife saw this bass online she said, “I’d like to buy this for you”!

The bass arrived today, and frankly, I’m not sure how he does it! The bass was a discounted price, even less than Tom’s normal low pricing. It is, in the simplest of terms, beautiful!

Yes, yes, yes, I’m well aware of some of the prior issues folks have had with Tom Martinson. I had previously played 2 Martinson basses and both were excellent players, to my knowledge there were no major issues with either of them. I’m not dismissive of issues others may have had, but I can only base my opinions on direct knowledge and personal experience.

This 5 string fretless Nessie is a wonderful example of what Tom Martinson does. The bass is extremely well constructed. Neck pocket is clean and well set. The neck itself is maybe a little bit chunky, but it’s exactly what I prefer coming from a lifelong double bass background. Unlined Mexican ebony fingerboard, no lumps, bumps or humps to be found. 35” scale. Side dots are spot on, in the standard fretless position (in other words, not a converted fretted neck), and intonation is dead accurate.

The bass has Hipshot tuners, the bridge is a standard “fender-esque” bent plate. Strap buttons are unremarkable, I will replace them with Dunlop StrapLocks. Action is currently set low, very near where I will eventually set it, with plenty of room for adjustment. Everything is properly aligned, there are no set up surprises.

Electronics are kindergarten simple … single Wilkinson passive soap bar pickup, 2 knob Vol/Tone controls, the simplicity of a typical P-bass style electronics setup. I have read that previous reviews stated the poles didn’t align with the strings, not the case here!

Again, for MY purposes, it’s perfect!

The bass is visually stunning, assuming you like this type of woodwork & treatment (I do!). It balances on the knee or on the strap wonderfully, no neck dive of any sort. It’s a relatively light 8.8 pounds, which surprised me considering the resin treatment. The body is white ash with a buckeye burl top, maple neck with an ebony fingerboard. The nut appears to be a GraphTech Tusq, but I’m not sure about that. Whatever it is, it’s fine and seems properly slotted.

I don’t know what the strings are, and I don’t care … they’ll be changed out for LaBella 760M-B flats very shortly.

If I wanted to nit-pick, could I find faults on this bass? Yes, but it would be minor nit-picking in the most nit-picking way possible. This is not a $6500 Sadowsky or an $8000 Ken Smith, where you wouldn’t expect to see minor (really minor) flaws. Based on what’s in my hands I would have guessed this bass to be a mid-$2K+ cost and would have thought it to be a bargain …

I will be gigging this bass for a set on 9/23 and will report back regarding playability, etc. I’ll record some clips in a band setting for reference. I’m not sure just how often I’ll be gigging this bass, since my current situation is ideally suited for my acoustic basses. But hey, you never know …

My wife is well aware that this Martinson bass will likely not be my primary, but she really loves the appearance and wall art potential. For the money, you really can’t beat this 5 string Nessie!