Musicman Cutlass II (1984)

[i]Features:[/i]
This 34” scale instrument was made in 1984 at the Musicman factory in California. I bought it off Ebay, the bass had some provenance in that the serial was already included on Rod Trussbroken’s database of serial numbers so I felt confident that it hadn’t been created out of spare parts as can sometimes be the case. The bass has 22 frets and 4 strings with an black plastic pickguard and is finished in solid white. For the age, the bass is in remarkably good condition, it looks to have been gigged only in limited amounts.

The bass is active and has two humbucker pickups and a stock MM 2 band eq. The neck pickup differs in design to the bridge pickup in that the magnets are smaller and in 4 pairs like a jazz pickup rather than single fat pole pieces like the standard MM humbucker. This might explain why the pickups are hidden under plastic covers rather than exposed as in the stingray. The controls feature one volume, a later edition stratocaster-style 5 way pickup selector switch with a treble and bass control. Earlier models featured a 3 way selector switch including separate switches for coil phasing and treble boost.

The body is made from alder or ash and features no date stamp but the neck pocket has the initials GG and EV in pencil. The bass has a body style is the same as the sabre shape so features body chamfers in contrast to the slab bodied pre-EB stingray. The neck joint has 4 bolts and doesn’t have the microtilt feature from the 3 bolt models.

The neck dimensions are a cross between a jazz and precision bass in width although The neck has a slight bow in it – at least to me and I’m used to playing basses with very straight necks. Others perhaps with stronger hands find the action and playing height very comfortable. I can play the bass without any problem but for faster passages moving up the neck I definitely prefer lower action.

The bridge is standard Musicman Sabre issue, which is very substantial and almost horseshoe shaped. Its of very different construction compared to the plate based design of the stingray bridge but they share two dimensions of movement and top loaded string anchoring. The tuners are classic fender type open backed clover leaf types with conventional gearing. The bass didn’t come with a case but normally I would expect to see it with a hardshell plastic tapered musicman case. The plastic on these cases gets brittle with age and has been known to crack, particularly around the hinges.

[i]Sound:[/i]
The sound of this bass could is very versatile, as versatile as a jazz bass and the sounds are, on the whole, warmer and fuller. The pickups selector has a series of very illogical settings based on the coils numbered 1+2 (bridge pup) and 3+4 (neck pup). All the coils are wired in parallel, similar to Smith basses.

Position (bridge to neck)
1) coil 3
2) coils 1&2&3
3) coils 1&2
4) coils 1&2&3&4
5) coils 3&4

I‘ve grown to really like this bass in a short space of time and my experience gigging with it has made me wonder if Sabres are not highly under rated for what they offer. I guess the looks are a little bit half way between a fender and a stingray and the body is a tad smaller than a stingray too. The only criticism I would make is that I felt the neck pickup could probably be a little fuller. Maybe I should put it closer to the strings but I’ve heard some talk about the neck pick up exerting some string pull and truncating sustain somewhat. I haven’t yet sensed that although I do have the neck pickup further from the strings at the moment.

At the moment I use the bass with Gallien Krueger and Trace valve amps through Gallien Krueger 2x10 and EBS neo 2x12 cabs. It sounds superb through both amps, particularly growly through the GK set up. It also sounds very full through the V8 but I haven’t gigged at full volume with the V8 yet.

[i]Action Fit and Finish:[/i]
The action of this instrument is fairly high for my tastes primarily due to a preset bow in the neck. The feel of this bass however is consistent with the feel of my Cutlass 1 bass. I can’t help but think that if the necks had been manufactured with wooden fingerboards, it would have avoided many of the issues but there again hindsight is a wonderful thing. These graphite necks were produced at a time when there was an abundance of optimism and less understanding than currently exists for composite necks. Otherwise, the finish of components is very good and the bass looks in good condition for an instrument of 1984 vintage.

[i]Reliability/Durability:[/i]
The bass has proven very reliable so far but I’ve only gigged it once. When I recieved the bass, coil number three didn’t work but Andy from Wizard pickups performed a (very) quick rewind on it and the bass performs very well now. The hardware is robust and the neck stable doesn’t seem to flex much. Apart from the issue of action, there have been no issues with the performance of the instrument whatsoever.

[i]Customer Support:[/i]
Its fair to say there’s absolutely none available. Ernie Ball doesn’t stock preEB parts and holds no information on preEB basses.

[i]Overall rating:[/i]
I own a range of other bass gear including Smiths, Musicmans, an Alembic, a Celinder Update P and Pedulla, plus more stuff I’ve sold on. As already mentioned, I think this is an very versatile bass even though it often plays second fiddle to its more idiosyncratic sister bass, the Cutlass I. I note that the neck pickup on HH stingrays also sounds a bit weedy as well. I’m not sure what can be done to remedy this but I’d say that as a player bass, the Cutlass II is way more versatile than a Cutlass I and probably the superior gigging bass. It can do everything the Cutlass I can and then some. I kind of wish they made a 5 string version of the sabre but I guess that’s what the HH SR5 does these days.

Here is mine !

(click to enlarge!)
[attachment=109327:Cutlass II.png]


Serial [size=3][font=Verdana][color=#000000][font=Times New Roman][color=fuchsia]C004246 ;[/color][/font][/color][/font][/size]
[size=4][font=Verdana][font=Times New Roman]referenced on musicman.org [/font][/font][/size]


Awesome bass; neck is a bit up-bowed ( on my Cutlass I , it was back-bowed...); looks like this bass was almost unplayed : frets are like new and fretboard is totally clean . However; the nut was almost dead and i got to replace it ==> Almost no frizz at all with a low action and a really really light gauge (35-90) !!

Also, this bass is quite heavy (5 Kg; while my Cutlass I was around 4,3 Kg)

You can listen it here :
[url="http://soundcloud.com/manfredveber/musicman-cutlass-ii"]http://soundcloud.co...cman-cutlass-ii[/url]

Edited June 3, 2012 by Manfred741