Custom Ristola Exotic 2010 natural

This is a custom Ristola 5 string fretless bass that I purchased directly from Brian about 6 years ago when he was still really into making instruments, before he got into long distance hiking. Brian and I became good friends even before I bought the bass from our love of cycling. We did many fun rides in the NH hills and woods together. I played several of his instruments and decided I wanted to have him make me a bass. We went through a lot of different woods, finally settling on a mahogany body, with an ebony fingerboard. The neck is maple with bubinga stringers. He matched the string spacing to my early 70's jazz bass neck, of course adding in the other string. I listened to many pickup combinations on his other basses, finally settling on a P/J set of Nordstrands that Carey custom wound for that string spacing. I got the Audere preamp, which I've been generally happy with. The bass was born as a fretted instrument, and for some reason it just didn't speak to me - tho I have recordings that it sounds great on. I was planning on selling it to get a fretless 5, when my friend Boston luthier Jim Mouradian, suggested that I let him turn it into a fretless. I figured I had little to loose and let him do it. It turned from an OK fretted 5, to an amazingly nice fretless 5! In addition I had Brian make some special knobs to replace the original ones. They used a piece of the remainder wood from the actual bass top and have knurled barrels. The neck is a 34" scale length and it weighs ~9.4 pounds - according to my digital bathroom scale.

IMO the bass has a very nice warm sound that works in many many styles. I've played it on many jazz, folk, blues, funk and even rock gigs! And yes, it can get THAT Jaco sound. 

I have attached a series of pictures that were taken very recently. While overall it is in very good shape, there are definitely some nicks and dings in it. It has been gigged regularly since I had it made, often 3-5 nites a week. The neck is in perfect condition and feels incredible. There is only an oiled finish on the neck, which gives it a very warm feeling to play. There is very little string wear on the neck, in spite of my only using round wound strings. I currently have medium light gage Fodera strings on it (44-125), however it would certainly take heavier strings easily.

I live in northern New Hampshire, but could meet with someone in the Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut for pickup. I am willing to ship it, but the buyer would need to pay shipping. No International sales please! If you wish to talk directly, please PM me and I'll give you my phone number.