Sandberg Forty Eight Exclusive Finish Bass, Metallic Black w/ Neon Green Stripes

Player's Perspective

Music Store Live is proud to be an official Sandberg dealer and offer up this thoroughly rockin' Forty Eight bass. We collaborated with the Sandberg team to come up with this exclusive run and finish just for our shop. It looked great when they sent us in-progress photos, but it is no exaggeration to say that this looks even better in person. The subtle metallic shimmer in the black finish is awesome and this bass has Sandberg's lightest relic treatment done to it, which is a soft aging process.

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 bass has a classic and timeless look to it, 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 much easier and the ease of playability almost feels like it makes you, the bassist, a better player.

The design of this bass is absolutely rockin'. It balances really well and doesn't at all feel heavy nor does it have any neck dive! So this beauty will be a joy to play whether you have a long studio session, a long gig standing up on stage, or a long rehearsal/jam session with some friends. An alder body, maple neck, and rosewood fretboard combine for a tried and true classic sound. The tonewoods combine to give a full and warm bottom end along with some good snap and pop in the treble frequencies. Plus, the pickups and preamp in this help you dial in a huge array of tones.

As well as being effortless to play, this Sandberg Forty Eight comes loaded with some powerful and thoroughly kickass electronics. Under those pickup covers lies the same pickup configuration found in the VM models. A reverse split-P pickup in the neck and a big ol' MM style humbucker by the bridge. 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 it will never be muddy or indistinct. Add to that, the zero fret which eliminates that discrepancy between the way your fretted and open strings sound, and you truly have a bass with even response and tone across all strings and notes.

It doesn't get much more rock n' roll than this beauty! Another clear example of why Sandberg basses are such favorites here at the shop.

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 Forty Eight body shape. The body is made out of European ash and the neck is Canadian hard rock maple with a pau ferro fretboard. Sandberg reverse split-coil and power humbucking pickups, as well as a great sounding Sandberg 2-band preamp, round out the electronics. The preamp can be bypassed by pulling up on the volume knob. In passive mode, the treble EQ knob serves as a passive tone control.

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.