"It's Pronounced, 'mon-de-AL'..."

[Bongolation]

Someone had to finally get one, so I guess it's me. I've been looking for a long deal since they were introduced and I finally found it. SO...I have one of these coming in tomorrow.

[doc540]

Strangely alluring in a ghey kind of way.

But in a good ghey kind of way.

[Mikey]

I had to go to the site to figure out what all the knobs were for. Just one pick up? Oh, then I saw it has a bridge piezo as well. I actually think it's kind of cool looking, I wouldn't want one though, I like the plank of wood styles.

[Bongolation]

I actually think it's kind of cool looking, I wouldn't want one though, I like the plank of wood styles.

I have enough of those already. Anyway, this is, I believe, a plank of wood disguised as a hollowbody.

[Cogs]

This looks wild. It is functional art:

[photoweborama]

Adjustable thumb rest.. nice..

[Bongolation]

Strangely alluring in a ghey kind of way.

No, THIS is "ghey."

[Bongolation]

This looks wild. It is functional art

There's enough mother of toilet seat to kill half of LA in some of these Italias. I keep figuring that eventually it'll have to lift and peel, especially on the necks. Fortunately, the Mondials have no MOTO.

[moonpie]

Hey they look cool!!!!! Kind of reminds me of Hagstrom in the early 60s.:yay

[Bongolation]

One review referred to the Italia look as "'60s diner kitsch," which I think is pretty accurate, except they're about a decade late.

These are all Trevor Wilkinson designs, which should make for passibly functional instruments. The Maronello bass seems to be quite popular. I've never heard anything bad about these except from one idiot who didn't understand that by definition you couldn't mix active and passive circuits.

[Cogs]

Hey they look cool!!!!! Kind of reminds me of Hagstrom in the early 60s.:yay

Or those National guitars.

[Fripperton]

The Italia's are pretty nicel. I've been carrying them in my shop for about 2 years now. The Modulo bass is kind of cool especially with the 4 lipstick pickups, one for each string and the faux alligator backside.

[doc540]

Must be little bitty gators to take faux of 'em to do the back.

[Fripperton]

And pronounced like that, they must be from N'awlins.

[Bongolation]

Well, it arrived.

Looks just like the picture. What else can I say? Sounds OK, except for a sympathetic rattle somewhere inside when I hit a D on the E string. Sounds like a spring on the battery box, maybe. I'll eventually shake it loose.

Looks better in the flesh than I expected from seeing some hideous photos on eBay of them. Neck's big.

Strangest bass I've ever seen, though. Nothing like it in my experience.

[doc540]

Now you need some Stacy Adams to match!

[Bongolation]

Upon closer inspection, it has some problems, all of which would be trivial to rectify in a different, more conventional, design.

Even with proper neck relief, the action is very high, and the rosewood piezo bridge doesn't adjust any lower, though it will jack up high enough to roll a golf ball under the strings, if that's your preference. Shimming the neck would lower the action, but would increase the scale length just enough to throw off the intonation (which is otherwise right-on) on the fixed-saddle piezo bridge. I think the eventual solution would be to shave the separate rosewood base on the bridge, but I wouldn't do that until I checked to see if the neck angle was changed to intonate the Fender 9050MLs that are on it (intonation through neck angle - what a concept!) by the previous owner or his "guitar tech."

A lot of problematic misdesigned geometry going on here, and I didn't think anything in the world could possibly be worse than the "Sting" bass. This isn't, but it's close - with the same problem: All available adjustment pegged out in one direction to just eke through a useable setup.

Sharpest frets in the universe. The thing has had virtually no use, and I imagine that's why. Conservative fret-end detailing is not hard, but it's tedious handwork.

If I keep it, it's going to have to have some serious bench time here, but I got it for a song and it sounds fine - a pretty interesting range of active- and passive-mode sounds, including a passible hollowbody simulation.

Confirming Doc's gaydar, the previous owner is in West Hollywood.