This is the real deal. Designed with JAE's input before he sold his soul to the Warwick devil. Bolt on, active electronics, thin profile graphite Precision width with very little taper (17mm string spacing at the bridge) neck. Super Jumbo, perfectly crowned, low frets with action to match. The body definitely seems to me a combo of Precision at the neck and Thunderbird at the bridge end. It's a BIG bass because of that and the extended range but not too heavy.
Previous owner had a mishap. Structurally sound now but the bass will get a body refin. It's polyurethane, something I don't do, so I'm looking for a finisher to shoot it in Dakota Red. I emailed Marty Bell (thanks for the assist, Mark!), haven't heard back yet.
Knobs from the neck: master vol, blend, midrange boost sweep with switch to disable, treble (above) and bass (below). With the bass set flat the output is pretty nondescript on the Status "Hyperactive" pickups but add a little bass boost and it roars. No noise at all from the pre/pup combo, very hifi. I've been joking with my customer I'm going to see what the pre does to a set of ThunderBuckers when I pull it during paint prep.
Carbon fiber shows thru the clear. I love zero frets but 26 total playable seems like overkill...unless you REALLY need that high A on the G. But it plays flawlessly all the way up there, even after 15+ years of gigging.
Getting to play a bass that JAE "designed" has been great!