StarForce 7005

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

There were some dodgy "cowboy's in space" movies made. The lasers guns fired light bullets, one at a time, and the baddies always missed.

Around the same time but not quite so far away, well at least in the same Galaxy; and even the same Planet, but on the other side to Ukulele Corner, there was StarForce! 

What has been invited to Ukulele Corner today is a fretless 4 string Bass dating from the late 80's, made at the Samick works in Korea and branded by some Miami distributor as a StarForce 7005. I'm not sure exactly the year of manufacture but the brand started in 1988 and at some point became StarForce USA with the headstock logo reflecting this. Mine must be early as it doesn't have the USA added, but it does have little Saturn type planets as all of its fret markers which are quite cute. These, along with the lines where the frets would normally be will be very necessary or I would have no idea where to put my fingers?  I've never really played a fretless Bass before so I'm quite looking forward to it arriving and who knows, it might make me a better Bass player?

Now it's arrived at Ukulele Corner and I am a better Bass player?

Marginally, and that is mainly due to the fact that with no metal frets there is none of the rattle and fret buzz I usually get when I hit the strings improperly, (of course "practice makes perfect" and I have been practicing a bit with it since it arrived too). The Bass itself looks very nice, you wouldn't think it was 30 years old unless you looked really close. All of the knobs, pickup protectors and other plastic bits look pristine, as does the finish on the body and headstock. All that shows its age is a little pitting on the bridge block, a little tarnish on the neck plate and some odd wear marks on the fretboard.