It is impossible really for me to fault this bass. It makes me feel quite inadequate, to think that somebody (Hugh Manson) can start with some pieces of wood and make them into something both as functional and as tasteful as this, (and he is always so casual about his instruments). Open the case, the vibration sets the strings going and it is ringing like four bells as you lift the lid, so you can tell before you touch it that it is that well put together. It hums as if it is ready to go and it deserves better than me.

This is only the third headless bass that Manson have made. The first two were taken to this year's Frankfurt show although one was already sold. Due to an oversight, that one was sold again at the show and the other was promised to two people so this had had to be made for the English customer, Foulds of Nottingham, and a fourth is being made to go to Germany. As they have made several odder bases (five, six and eight string, + double-neck) making a headless seems to present no problem (although I quite like the shape of a Manson headstock) and it is rare to find something as hi-tech, as distinctively 'eighties' as this, which by the use of traditional techniques and materials has a quality which will long outlast the fashions that will govern its first few users. A headless bass made of wood is rare, but the quality of this makes it special.

The pieces of wood that this used to be, were ash for the sides of the body, rock maple for the neck with three ebony laminates, one through the neck and two more through the body. Another laminate between the sides and top gives the visual effect of binding but without the uncomfortable edges — there is no edge on this bass except on the sound. The top is quilted maple which would look like water if it was not maple coloured. It is a beautiful piece of wood which draws your attention towards the body. It has none of that self-conscious minimalism of some headless instruments you see shuffling about with their headstocks underneath their tremolo arms.

If it looks like water, I can not resist saying that it sounds like oil; smooth, penetrating, dark and explosive. It also sounds like an expensive modern bass which all to the good. The pickups are Kent Armstrong, standard on a Manson. The one nearer the neck gives a very full bass sound. Roots enough, but there is enough space between the pick-up and the neck (which is two octaves) for the funk event finger athletes. The bridge pick-up is very near the bridge and very bright. The tone control operates both pick-ups but they have separate volumes and with the push-pull pot on the tone, which switches the pick-ups from single coil to humbuckers, all the richness of tone you could want is there without a single switch. The difference between the humbucking and single coil sounds is startling enough to make you mistake it for an active bass, which it just doesn't need to be.

The obvious bass with which to compare this is the Status which it most resembles, being a slightly streamlined version of Manson's usual Kestrel shape, but that is really where the similarity ends. The fact that one is carbon graphite and the other is wood means that they feel different in nearly every respect, but both are of a very high quality. The Manson obviously feels like wood. It is not heavy but it is heavier than the Status. Some people prefer the weight of graphite but it does seem to make it too insubstantial to trust. (Although I don't want to sound like a luddite). I have seen very few bass players dance well enough to justify the 'I can move around more' argument either.

The neck is much thinner than the Status, (again I find the wide flat neck incongruous with the weight of graphite) and therefore to me, more playable although that is just opinion and it would be absurd to say categorically that one is better than the other. The main difference in construction between the two, is that because it is wood, the Manson has an adjustable truss rod. I realise that the claim is that the carbon graphite does not need a truss rod, but some people would argue (Hugh did) that the pressure of different gauges of strings over years of use... and what with tuning the E string down these days... well... as they are still new, we don't know anyone with a trusty old graphite bass yet, so it depends how inclined you are to believe marketing men.

If you want to look a real bobby-dazzler and have a fine bass, and you don't mind old stuff like wood and truss rods, I bet you could talk Foulds into knocking off a bit for cash now that some reviewer has had his hands on it.

MANSON HEADLESS BASS rrp £803