Since we last had a look at GMT and the Status bass, things have changed quite drastically for Rob Green and his small company. In the March '84 edition of IM Rob had only produced somewhere in the region of 40 instruments. He now has orders for over 50!

At the time of the first review, Rob had just introduced his carbon graphite weave process into the Series II basses. The bass we're looking at now is a totally moulded carbon graphite weave instrument and 18 months on all the problems with this process have been ironed out. The Series 2000 bass now stands as quite a unique instrument with its totally exposed carbon graphite weave.

Due to the demand of the Status basses, Rob is no longer in production on the six-string side, which is a shame. He has also experimented with carbon graphite weave necks for Fender type guitars and basses, but once again these are presently not available. However, Rob is about to move into new premises in Chelmsford, Essex which will involve two more people being added to his staff and hopefully the six-string guitar and the addon necks should soon be back in production.

Quite honestly, the sky seems the limit for GMT and Status bass. In-roads have already been made into Europe and the States now seem the next aim where great interest is already being shown.

Construction

Where as the Series II bass was noted for its combination of moulded fibre technology and timber with its central spine and timber wings, the Series 2000 is totally moulded. This is an immensely difficult task as the body and neck are moulded in one piece at onetime. The shape, however, remains identical to that of the Series II, with its angular off set horns and chamfered edges. The unique moulding process which combines carbon fibre and other high modulus fibres are pressure moulded at a high temperature to produce a very stiff and yet lightweight instrument. The actual carbon graphite strands are woven into a material and then moulded in resin resulting in this very stunning visual effect. The instrument is then lacquered — in this case it has a 'graphite blue' tint, rather like a sunburst type of finish where the weave is solid at the edges. The quilted effect achieved by the weave is absolutely faultless. The previous Status and other instruments — for example, the Vigier basses — have had an uneven weave. Here, however, I really tried to find an uneven patch, but frankly I couldn't.

The neck shaping on the Status bass is still quite round and for some has proved the biggest criticism on the bass. Certainly the neck profile is quite large, especially towards the top end of the neck by the body. Whether or not this large profile is to do with the moulding process or the stiffness of the material I'm not sure, but certainly this doesn't seem to hold back the success of the bass.

The fingerboard fitted on these instruments is made from phenolic resin — a shiny black material similar in appearance to Ebony but with an obvious absence of grain. 24 frets are fitted to the bass, not including a zero fret, each of a medium gauge and extremely well fitted and polished. As with the Series II instruments, there are no position markers fitted on the face of the board, simply small aluminium dots on the side of the board.

Hardware

The chunky brass hardware of the Status instruments has become quite a bit of a trademark, although Rob actually showed me an experiment he's carried out using a black chrome finish on the hardware, which will more than likely be appearing on the Status basses in the future.

Because of the headless design, obviously we have no machine heads as such — the tuning system is fitted at the base of the guitar. This works in the usual manner with the four knurled tuning knobs connected to the cups which actually hold the string ball ends. The bridge features four saddles with two allen keyed grub screws for height adjustment and as with the previous Status and Steinberger basses, intonation is achieved manually after the saddle locking screws are loosened.

The string anchor at the top of the neck is semi-circular in shape with a small ledge which actually holds the ball ends in position. Above these grooves are four threaded holes which take grub screws to lock the strings in place if a double ball end string is not used. The whole string tuning and attachment system works perfectly; especially the tuners themselves which are smooth and positive in action.

As with the Series II basses, three strap buttons are fitted, one on the top horn and two on either side of the tuning assembly at the bass of the guitar. Strangely, strap locks aren't fitted to the instrument, although I presume that this could be done on request. After all, with a £1000 round you neck, one doesn't really want it to slip off your strap!

Pickups and Electronics

Two GMT 'Hyper-active' pickups are fitted onto this sample, designed by Rob Green and made for him by Kent Armstrong. The units are totally enclosed in black epoxy resin with no pole pieces protruding as on the previous pickups. Each unit has three slot head screws for height and tilt adjustment. The pickups themselves mount directly into the guitar and there is no pickup surround. Strangely, Rob still uses slot-head as opposed to allen keyed or cross head screws for the pickup adjustment.

The control circuitry combines passive and active electronics. In the passive mode, only two of the four controls work — the master volume and the balance control. The balance control has a centre click position to indicate when both pickups are equally balanced. A small toggle switch operates the mode — in the up position we have passive operation and in the down position it's active. Switch on the active indicator and a red LED comes on which will flash when the battery power gets low, slowing down as the battery power decreases further.

The two active tone controls work in a standard fashion, one taking care of treble with a ±15 dB cut or boost and the same on the bass frequency. The input jack is situated below the mode switch on the face of the instrument. There are two brass back plates one giving access to the actual electronics themselves, the other to the battery. As is standard the battery is a 9 volt PP3-type.

Until recently, GMT also offered a parametric circuit but this has now been discontinued.

Sounds and Playability

The guitar I received for the review was extremely well set up, with an action of just under 2mm on the treble side and 2mm on the bass side at the 12th fret.

The bass certainly hangs very well and seems a little lighter than the Series II. In the passive mode, of course, we have no tone control which would indicate that this mode is included purely as a fail safe in the event of battery failure. However in this mode we get the true sound of the bass. One would expect an overtly clinical sound because of the material used for the construction, but this isn't really the case. In the passive mode, the bass has a surprisingly warm sound. When the active mode is introduced, you get a slight amount of hiss and a very, very slight increase in volume even when both active controls are in flat position. When the treble active control is turned up full — which means a 15dB boost — there is a lot of hiss introduced to the sound, but one must remember that this kind of extreme setting would be very rarely used. Certainly, the active controls work very well, providing a great deal of variation right across the frequency range. I had no trouble in selecting very thin sounds or conversely deep Reggae full bass sounds.

I tend to agree with Rob's decision to discontinue the parametric circuit as this circuit is just so logical and easy to use on its own.

The bass plays well and the scale feels somewhat shorter than its 34 inches. Not everyone will be happy with the neck profile as I have already mentioned, although like any other instrument it takes a while to get familiar with it. I do feel that the absence of fret markers in the face of the board is a disadvantage, especially initially, but there again the kind of people who will be buying the Status bass will more than likely be very experienced players who know what they're doing.

The amount of tonal variation is obviously increased with the balance control, although I found that for most uses I kept the balance control in the central position and merely experimented with the active, treble and bass controls. Somehow the bass seemed to have more of a natural sound in this central balance position, but obviously movement of the balance control either towards the neck or bridge pickup increases the tonal variation.

Conclusion

The criticism aimed at the Status 2000 seemed to be two-fold. One pertains to the all plastic guitar for a grand and the other to the neck profile.

On the first count, the Status is not simply a hastily moulded plastic instrument, but one which uses possibly the best available material moulded in a very sound manner both technically and aesthetically. One just has to remember the properties of carbon graphite to realise this — virtual indestructibility, stability in differing temperature and incredible sustain qualities. On the second count — the neck profile — I would possibly follow the criticism that it is a bit bulky and possibly is an area that could be improved upon. However, the quality of sound is extremely high and overall this instrument is faultlessly made.

Cheap it isn't, but let's put this into perspective, it's cheaper than its only rival — the Steinberger — much more attractive and includes a flight case plus, of course, it's made in the UK. What more do you want... blood?!

GMT STATUS BASS SERIES 2000 - RRP: £1095 inc flight case