Sandberg California Ida Nielsen Signature Bass, Soft Aged Black Gloss

Player's Perspective

Made with the finest German engineering, this Sandberg bass will slap a smile on your face that you just can't shake. This one, perhaps moreso than most. Goddess of slap, Ida Nielsen, is best known for her work with The Purple One, The High Priest of Pop, His Royal Badness, the one and only Prince, in the most recent iteration of his band before he passed away. Now she's got a Sandberg signature bass all of her own and it absolutely rocks! It's hard to see in the photos but this bass is very lightly and respectfully aged with a relic treatment as well.

The bass is flashy, sexy, and classy all in one. It commands attention without stealing the spotlight. Everything from the obvious gold hardware and Asian silk pickguard to the birdseye figuring on the fretboard makes this a bass that will sound amazing and look just as good under the bright lights. The Soft Aging treatment done on this is just that; it's not at all over the top and is hardly even noticeable from a distance. It looks basically brand new until you get up close and see the subtle checking lines and some light signs of wear to make it look like the bass has been on the road, seen some things, and has some stories to tell. But they've left the majority of the relic job for you to do so you can build your own memories with it. This is Sandberg's lowest level of aging.

This signature model of the TM bass has the black label pickups for added punch and a bit more of a funky old-school vibe than the Delano pickups that come on other TM models. Ida's favorite position on the pickup blend knob is marked with a very small dot just slightly forward of the center detent so you know exactly where to go if you want to copy her tone. She likes to favor the neck pickup slightly for a sound that straddles vintage and modern really nicely.

Additional features that you won't see, but absolutely add to the value, comfort, feel, and sound of this bass is the vibration treatment that Sandberg gives each of these. This has a genuine impact on the resins and crystals in the wood in the body and along with ending up with a lightweight bass, you get a bass that sounds like it's broken in while still looking mostly shiny and new! You can really feel the resonance and vibration of every single note against the body of the bass. It's thoroughly impressive!

You don't need to want to sound like Ida Nielsen to appreciate this bass... Heck, you don't even need to know who she is to realize what a beast of an instrument this is. If you like a jazz bass on steroids kind of sound and want immaculate construction in a package that isn't afraid to turn some heads with the way it looks... this is exactly what comes to mind. This is a full-on funk and rock machine!

Item Specifics

"I have had the great opportunity to create my own signature bass with Sandberg guitars. It was a natural choice for me since I have been playing (and loving it) the California VM hardcore aged masterpiece for many years and I know the bass + the nice people at Sandberg very well. I wanted to make a bass that fit the music I played with PRINCE as well as my own music. So basically a bass with a nice rock and funk tone with an ability to sound more old school and some extra options when it comes to create different solo sounds. I think we built a very beautiful bass with lots of different sound options, but most importantly – a bass that is super funky sounding! I hope you think it is as beautiful as I do" - Ida Nielsen