“Hungarian Homemade, and Just as Delicious as Pálinka” – Fibenare bolt-on Globe 5 Fretted and Fretless Basses

The fretboards have a “conical” radius, which is a non-constant radius from the nut end to the body end, which essentially makes a conical shape as it goes from 8” at the nut to 15” at the body. Fibenare believes the conical fretboard allows for better action settings and also wilder string bending capabilities on their guitars. The neck shape is a standard “C,” and uses a double-action truss rod (also made by them in-house). The bodies are both made of alder, though the fretted model has a much more exotic woodgrain to it. The scale length is 34”.

Now for what’s different. This fretted model is more of a “premier” instrument, where the fretless is a bit more “basic.” For example, on the fretted model, the EQ knobs are a little smaller than the volume and pan/blend controls, the fingerboard and pickup covers are padauk, the neck is a 5-piece lamination of flamed maple and padauk laminates, the top is highly figured maple with a thin accent laminate between it and the body (something light in color, maybe maple, but it’s not documented), and it has a headstock that matches the figured top on the body. There are also 24 vintage regular nickel silver frets (1.2mm x 2.5mm). The fretless model sports ebony for the fingerboard and pickup covers, with maple inlays where the frets would otherwise be located. Interestingly, they also place the side markers ON the fret lines instead of between them as they would be on a fretted bass (or most other fretless instruments, in my experience). Finally, the fretless model has the usual conical strap buttons, but the fretted model has Dunlop Dual Design Straploks®.

Fit and Finish

These are beautifully hand-crafted instruments that nicely serve both artistic, as well as functional, masters. The fretwork and nut work are both excellent, and the neck joint is excellent, with a flowing curve on the neck heel into the sculpted body contour where the neck is received. Even the bolts holding the neck on look great with the brass inserts in the body and the smooth, oval, chrome screw heads, which are perfectly flush with the back of the bass. The finish is deep and rich, and really brings the figure out in the fretted model. All the hardware works perfectly; the bass takes a great setup, and it stays in tune, despite a lot of time, climate change, and/or transport. I can find no flaws on either of these basses. The closer you look, the more impressed you are with what they do in their little shop.

On the gig

These basses have the top horn button right at the 12^th fret, making them balance perfectly on a strap, and the lower cutaway design allows both for easy access to the higher frets, as well as a comfortable seated playing position, resting the bass on the right leg. The neck feels very pleasant and “slender” to me; very easy to play and move around on. The fretless side markers being on the fret lines (instead of between them, as I’m used to) really ended up being harder for me to get used to than I thought they would. I’m sure that’s just me being set in my ways, however. Logically, it does make more sense to be on the lines.

Tonally, wow! What a palette of sound! Despite the very broad spectrum of tones available on both instruments, I never felt overwhelmed at the controls. I always felt I knew how to get exactly what I wanted with very little fiddling around. What you get when you make a change to the coil configuration or EQ settings is exactly what you expect. I even found myself doing a lot of blending between different coil configurations, such as series for the neck pickup and either single or parallel for the bridge pickup. What pleasantly surprised me with the series mode, is while it expectedly had higher output than single or dual mode, did not present a difficult balancing challenge. I was able to get a pretty darn good “P-type” sound by putting the neck pickup in series mode, for classic rock and blues, while going single or dual for both pickups for a more modern funk/slap tone. And for that burpy bridge sound, pretty much all settings left me smiling. I also like that they used both of the “forward” coils in single mode, because that keeps the bridge pickup from being too narrow or thin sounding, and then by having the neck pickup use its “furthest” coil, allows for a broader tonal blending capability.

The fretted model weighs in at 9.6 pounds, where the fretless model weighs in at 8.5. This makes the fretted bass a bit on the heavy side for my taste, and the fretless bass right in my wheelhouse. That said, the ergonomics are such on these basses that I didn’t really feel like the fretted bass was overly heavy, so keep that in mind. The cases are surprisingly strong for their thin profile due to the fiberglass construction, and easy to carry, as a result. However, their unique shape makes them a bit of a challenge when it comes to storage at home in a closet or packing with other gear in a vehicle. Very minor issue, however.

I should point out that our Technical Editor, Phil Maneri, did get an opportunity to review the fretted Globe 5, but he has not seen the fretless, so there is only one Bass Lab technical review associated with this “in-hand” review.

The Bottom Line

1-5 (unacceptable to impeccable)

Low: Rich, round, and full
Mids: Focused and punchy
Highs: Clear and sweet

1-5 (unacceptable to impeccable)

Low: Rich, round, and full
Mids: Focused and punchy
Highs: Clear and sweet