Mayones MasterBuilt Patriot 5 Maurizio Rolli Signature 5-String Fretless Bass W/ Piezo, Antique Black Oil Finish

Music Store Live is proud to be an official Mayones dealer. If you haven’t checked these guys out yet, you’re in for a real treat! Their MasterBuilds are always something to behold and this one is no different. Made by the best of the best over there, this is a truly special instrument.

When writing about high-end instruments, it’s often easy to get carried away with hyperbolic statements illustrating how amazing they are. And it is true that, at a certain price point, no matter what you get, it’ll sound good and it’ll play well. So much so that, when something is this head-and-shoulders above the rest of the competition, you can’t help but take notice. Believe me when I say that this one is a cut above the rest.

Never have I found an electric bass that can so passably copy an upright tone. The piezo tone out of this bass is simply unreal! The bass is made with a lot of the same lutherie principles as upright basses. A maple back and spruce top is hardly common on electrics, but can be found very often on upright basses. The entire bass is made out of wood, including the ebony bridge. The result is a truly glorious piezo sound that is round, full, and thumpy. The tone is simply MASSIVE and yet never sounds muddy. It’s big and open in the bottom end with just enough mid-range to keep it clear and distinct. Solo the magnetic pickup and you’re in that Jaco territory. Growly and barky, to say the least, the magnetic pickup sounds like an angry polar bear that’s just stepped on a thumbtack. It’s fierce! Sort of like a hybrid of Jaco’s famous fretless tone and Pino Palladino’s StingRay tone from the 80’s. Perfect for modern jazz or fusion applications.

Blending both the magnetic and piezo pickups together provides an almost acoustic guitar-like timbre to the notes. You get the woofy and thumpy tone from the piezo with the treble response of the magnetic for a truly unique sound that covers a huge sonic spectrum. Whether you’re trying to lay the foundation for your bandmates to play on top of or you’re looking for a cutting tone that will slice through a mix, this bass can do that.

Whether you’re a veteran fretless player or you’re looking to delve into the wonderful world of playing bass without any speed bumps (aka frets), you’ll appreciate the marker lines that start at the top of the fretboard and go to under the B-string. They serve as just enough of a guideline for you to see and use as a reference (after all, playing in tune is pretty important) while also keeping the fingerboard looking clean and sleek (how I wish I had something like this when I was learning fretless!).

Bottom line: This is perhaps the nicest fretless bass I’ve ever come across. It’s certainly got to be up there in the running for the top spot, for sure. You’ll be hard-pressed not to agree with that once you get it in your hands.

Maurizio Rolli is a graduate in double bass and jazz music studies. He is currently teaching electric bass and double bass as well as jazz harmony studies at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese in Pescara, Italy. Over the years he won several music competitions including Barga Jazz, Biennale del Mediterraneo or Roccella Ionica and worked with such acclaimed artists as Jim Hall, Mike Stern, Bob Mintzer or Hiram Bullock. 

Patriot 5 Fretless MR was designed to add a unique clarity to the warm sound of the fretless bass. The combination of excellent tonewood, connected sound chambers equally distributed all over the body and top notch electronics define the new quality in the universe of low frequency.

Mayones guitars and basses are hand-crafted in Poland using traditional European luthier techniques and the finest components available. Professional musicians worldwide depend on their Mayones to provide stunning sound and consistent playability night after night. Mayones artists include Between The Buried And Me, Korn, Katatonia, Limp Bizkit, Paradise Lost, Keith Merrow, Periphery, Jimmy Haslip and many more. Reserve your Mayones today and see how it inspires your own creativity.

Music Store Live is proud to be an authorized dealer for Mayones. This Maurizio Rolli Signature 5 is 100% brand new and is being sold with a full manufacturer’s warranty. Photos are of the exact bass you’ll receive.

Our in-house guitar tech will inspect, test, set up, and clean all of our instruments on site prior to shipping. All of our instruments are guaranteed to be fully functional upon arrival.

We’ve got an excellent in-stock inventory of Mayones basses and guitars, but if you don’t see something you like, hit us up and we can work with you to customize your dream instrument and get a custom build going!