The bass guitar heritage is evident in the scale length of 34" (rather than the over 40" of a typical string bass) and the construction, a maple neck with rosewood fingerboard bolted onto an alder body. The instrument looks like it should belong to George Jetson with its modern lines. The body has a cutaway on the G string side to allow access to the upper part of the fingerboard when played horizontally. Oh, that's the other part of the bass guitar heritage, you can play this on your lap or with a strap, like a guitar. Or, of course, you can stand it up, either on a telescoping peg or an optional tripod.

The result of this mixing of string bass and bass guitar features is that string bassists will probably dislike this bass immensely. Not only does the short scale length require adjusting, the fact that the heel has been moved forward makes the neck a "G" neck (when you hand hits the heel, your pinky falls on the octave of the G string). Most string basses have "D or "Eb" necks, so this is a big difference in feel. More interestingly, the cutaway allows playing in upper registers without resorting to using thumb position techniques. These two things make the bass feel alien to an string bass player, although remove some obstacles that bass guitarists come up against when switching to the string bass.

To use in the upright position, Zeta uses a telescoping endpin and a "bout extension" (which simulates the feel of leaning against the string bass' deep body). The extension feels very comfortable and puts the bass in the right location for playing; kudos for the engineering on this one. Playing in the upright position is quite comfortable. The "horizontal" position, on a strap is also comfortable as the bass weighs no more than an average bass guitar, but on your lap it's a bit more precarious due to the narrow width of the body. A leg rest like Steinberger uses would be helpful here.

How does it sound? Well, here's the good/bad news. It sounds much more like a fretless bass guitar than a string bass. This is probably due to the use of the solid body more than any other factor, there are none of the resonances of a hollow-bodied string bass. This is only a bad thing if you want the sound of a string bass, of course. When bowed, it does have a sound all its own, not as rich and complex as a string bass but keep in mind you can't bow a fretless bass guitar, period. I did find the bow sound to be both louder than the plucked sound and also much brighter, to the point of annoying scratchiness. This can be touched up a bit by tweaking the EQ to favor more bass and less treble, but I would find it necessary to at least have a volume pedal in order to be able to switch between fingers and bow mid-song on a gig. There is also nowhere to hang a bow quiver on the body.

Some of the scratchiness is no doubt due to the strings. After all, bass guitar strings are not designed with bowing in mind! On the string bass, some strings respond to the bow with a scratchier tone. Thomastik Spirocores are notorious in that regard, so perhaps it's not surprising that the bow tone of the Zeta was scratchy. It's possible that with other strings, the bow tone could be improved (trying a set of nylon wounds would be interesting, to see if it darkened the tone enough).

In the final analysis, I can't recommend the Zeta Crossover to string bass players looking for an electric version of their acoustic instrument. The compromises in the ergonomics plus the tonal limitations make it a poor choice for that application.

For bass guitarists looking to move to the upright, either for the fretless nature of the beast or the ability to bow, it's a nice instrument. However if you then move to a string bass, you will have to "relearn" the instrument.

For those already doubling on bass guitar and string bass, it's a toss-up as to whether this bass would be useful to you. As a replacement for the string bass in applications requiring high amplification or extreme portability, the only plus the Crossover has over a fretless bass guitar is the ability to use a bow; however the bow tone was not good enough for me to warranty owning the instrument in addition to fretless bass guitars which I already own.

Price of the Zeta Crossover is just under $3000 list, including a case. Five and six string versions are available for more money. The peg and upper bout are each a $90 option, although Zeta has in the past run promotions where they throw them in free. The tripod stand is an additional $300. Some dealers may offer significant discounts, and used instruments would be less; the one I used was offered for $1500 including the peg and bout.

Construction	100%
Playability	85%
(would be higher for non-string bass players)
Appearance	90%
Sound	70%
(poor bow tone, sounds too guitar-like)
Value	80%
(would be higher for non-string bass players)
Cust. Service	100%
Overall	85%