Lakland Decade – Skyline model now available

The Decade was born in 2005 – ten years after the inception of Lakland (hence the name – Decade). The inspiration came from a new pickup we discovered called the Darkstar, a modern reproduction of the venerable Hagstrom Bi-Sonic, commonly seen in Guild Starfire basses of the 1960′s. The pickup is a single coil design and produces some of the best tone we had ever heard. We created a new body shape that is ½ EBO and ½ Fender bass VI.

We began manufacturing our own pickups around the same time we started designing and launching the original Dark Star equipped Decade, so naturally, we began work on our own version of the classic Hagstrom design. 1 year later the Chi-Sonic was born, with a few improvements. Although it seemed cool at first – we found the adjustable/exposed poles on the originals to be problematic. We have been very happy with the results of flat across poles when the pickup is manufactured correctly and the pickup heights are set correctly. Time and time again we would see Darkstar equipped Decades with the pole pieces adjusted all over the place. In almost all cases we put the poles flat across and for the best sound. The other half of the problem is the exposed poles themselves, so we decided to change that aspect of the design as well, switching to a full pickup cover without exposed poles. The reason for this is because this particular pickup design has over twice the magnetic pull of a standard J-pickup, making it easier for the string to make contact with the pole piece if digging in or slapping. The sound of the string hitting the pole piece is loud and awful. With the non-expose pole we can raise the pickup closer to the string and not worry about the strings hitting the pole piece.

Another major benefit of designing the Chi-Sonic was the addition of 5 string versions as well as Humbuckers in both 4 and 5 string configurations. Dark Stars are available in 4-string single-coil versions only.

The Decade bass itself has a very comfortable, well balanced body; matched with our slim taper Joe Osborn style neck. It also has a true neck pickup, meaning it is positioned as far forward (north) as possible. We went with a wheel adjustment for the truss rod to give us the furthest northern most location without have to make the neck a headstock adjustment. The neck pickup soloed is huge sounding. The bridge pickup has a very tight Jaco-esque tone. The 2 pickups together produce an amazing full range of tones unlike anything we’ve heard.

Although developed as a passive instrument, we have also added an active version. This has 2 hum-cancelled Chi-Sonics (switch able to single coil). This bass also features our LH3 preamp which gives the player three bands of tonal control. The results were even more than we expected!

For more info and  full specification please visit www.lakland.com

(Text used with permission from Lakland)