One of the most encouraging things to have happened on the guitar scene during the past five or six years has been the emergence of so many fine British craftsman makers. With few exceptions they offer instruments of unsurpassed quality, often at prices which appear exceptionally fair.

The 'big league' of British makers is rapidly expanding in prestige, and when you look at the names of just the larger makers (like Manson, Overwater, Jaydee, WAL, Gordon Smith and Chris Eccleshall) it makes you realise just how prominent British guitars have now become. Ten years ago, you'd have been hard-pressed to have named just two or three British guitar manufacturers, a sure sign of how things have changed!

Recently a new name has been added - Stoke-on-Trent based Doug Wilkes, whose guitars first began to appear at the end of last Summer. Doug's range of instruments already includes more models than it's easy to take in from a glance at his impressive catalogue - options ranging from custom Explorer-like 'Extrovert' models through 'traditional' models (including a beautiful Les Paul Junior replica which I hope to be trying shortly), semi-acoustics, Strat-like solids and various others, like the wild-looking 'Sluts' and many own-designed basses and guitars.

For a newcomer, Doug is also proving to be a courageous innovator - his original concepts including such ideas as 'percussive plates' on some fretless bass models. These are electronically wired-in brass plates which can be struck to add percussive effects when a fretless bass is played a la thumb and finger-style. Yet another Wilkes I'll have to check-out, I guess!

Anyway, before I start running out of space, how about the sample B1 'Twin' Bass which I borrowed from Doug for this review?

The Wilkes B1 Bass is part of the large family of Doug's basses, ranging from single humbucker-equipped passive models, through to the active Twin type, which I've just put down to write-up my impressions. How to put these impressions into written words is the problem - and it really is difficult. I'm certain you know how it is. Some instruments (however good they look on paper) feel just o.k., but nothing special, while others, for no particular reason that you can put your finger on, somehow feel 'right' - they just fit and work - and it's hard to explain why. Well, that's how the Wilkes hit me, and I'll dodge the problem of justifying my words for the time being by covering the physical details first, before attempting to explain why I was so smitten with this superlative instrument.

On that physical level, the Wilkes bass is typical of Doug's products in its use of luxury-class materials - a solid, heavy Honduras mahogany body (one of the classic guitar making woods, but also one of the most scarce these days). To this is applied a mixture of natural cellulose and melamine lacquers, avoiding the synthetic 'plasticky' gloss finish associated with mass produced instruments. This is a more traditional (and far preferable) vintage American-style look, which will age beautifully as the cellulose sinks into the grain, giving an improvement in tone and a lovely 'antique' finish in time.

The neck (held in place with four sturdy bolts) is of Rock maple, to which is fitted an excellent quality rosewood fingerboard, with perfectly lapped medium/fat frets.

Uniquely (for a bass) the back of the neck on the B1 is V-profiled, coming to a mildly pointed 'V', a concept which originated with a short series of Strats in the early/mid 1950s. The point of this is that a 'V' will fit the natural shape of the left hand better - especially if the player uses his thumb to stop some notes. That maybe isn't a style which all bass players would adopt (although some would) but this unusual shaping certainly makes the neck one of the most comfortable I've tried in a long while, and beautifully fast to play. It's definitely an experience which bass playing readers should give themselves!

In terms of playability, the neck is made even more comfortable by the easy access it provides to the top (20th) fret on the 34" scale. True, a 'straight-through' type or (some) glued joints might be even easier, but I experienced no problems whatsoever in picking high octave notes against riffs started low down - and I'm sure you wouldn't either.

Open Schaller (gold plated) machines are used on this model in a staggered arrangement (for good balance) on the headstock, along with their fine bass bridge (also gold plated). This is certainly one of the best proprietary types on the market, offering excellent sustain transmission, full adjustment for string length (intonation), individual string height adjustment and even string spacing alteration via roller saddles operating on a side-to-side threaded screw. Schaller JBX pickups (loosely modelled on Jazz bass types) are fitted, wired to two Gibson-type volume controls, a large selector switch and two small active tone pots.

The active circuitry on the Wilkes is as impressive as the rest of this bass's qualities. Far too often active instruments sound active. Either they have many sounds which are quite unusable (hollow 'electronic' sounding mids, tinny highs and so on) or they suffer all sorts of electronic whistles, hums, clicks etc. The Wilkes, however, is perfect in both respects. In fact, when I first began to try it, I wasn't sure that was an active - it was only the tone controls, offering far more Eq. than any passive, that gave it away. Hiss was non-existent, none of the parametric 'glitches' were present - just a canyonwide range of tones, from a hard, biting funky attack (perfect for slapping styles) to a warm, deep bass. Overall the Wilkes just sounds natural and beautifully 'woody'. Sustain, too, is quite extraordinary for a bass with a bolt-on neck and overall the Wilkes delivers a tremendously usable performance which should please any player.

If this model is representative of the quality and value for money of Doug Wilkes' instruments (it has an RRP of just £490 in this version, for all its gold plated hardware) then I'm sure we're about to witness the emergence of a major new force in British guitar making.

If you're looking for a new bass with great potential, at a price not far off that being asked for many (sometimes far lesser) imported basses, then I can certainly recommend the Wilkes B1 Active to you as one which you really should try. Obviously, tastes vary and it may not be the perfect instrument for you - but, whatever you eventually decide on, I'm sure that you'll end-up agreeing with me that this beautiful instrument represents outstanding value for money.

RRP £490 inc. VAT

More details from Wilkes Guitars Ltd., (Contact Details).