Reviewer Eric Platt
Manufacturer Rick Turner
Model Electroline 2
Price Between $1800-$2300

Neck Type Bird's eye Maple, one main piece, two graphite
bars installed next to truss rod, with added splice for headstock,
and four back laminates, one front laminate
Fingerboard Ebony, 21 frets, abalone dots
Body Type Swamp Ash
Finish Silver sparkle paint (custom order)
Pickup(s) One Piezo in bridge, one Turner Diamond T pickup in body, active
Controls Volume, Balance, tone (passive)
Rick Turner has different ideas of how basses should look and sound. Possibly the first thing you notice on an Electroline 2 is that the only pickup visible is a large diamond-shaped pickup in the area where a Jazz bass neck pickup would sit. The other pickup, a piezo, is built into the bridge (a modified Wikinson). Turner also uses a zero fret. While not radically different, few U.S. builders seem to use this method.

While the pickups are active (with an 18 volt circuit), the tone control is passive. This is to keep the signal as clean as possible to the amp.

Okay, so how does it sound? In a word fantastic. I have owned more basses than I would have liked over the past 20 some odd years. Everything from Danelectro to Alembic, and the Turner is by far and away the best bass I have ever owned. Body balance is perfect, you don't even need a strap to hold the bass while sitting. The body contours and Hipshot lightweight tuners help see to that. The electronics of the bass rival anybody else, at any price. With the balance pot set to the center detent, the bass has a wonderfully warm, full yet clear sound. Much cleaner than almost all other basses on the market. With the balance control cranked to the piezo pickup side, and playing with a light touch, I can fool myself into thinking I own an electrified acoustic bass viol (but with better intonation). Other cool items include a stepped volume pot, and unlike most passive basses, the volume pot does not have to be kept wide open.

The retail on this particular bass was higher than typical because it has a custom paint job (supposedly one of only two in silver) and it has a white Tolex hard case (most Turner basses have Blue Heron gig bags).

So yes, what you have been hearing is true, Rick Turner has pushed the envelope with these basses, and I think has made a great stab at the state of the art.

Construction 100%
Playability 100%
Appearance 99%
Sound 100%
Value 100%
Cust. Service 100%
Overall 100%
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