Build and features

Hutchins instruments are slowly making their mark on the British guitar market thanks to good design, good build quality, distinctive tonal attributes and competitive pricing. Although most of their basses take on the persona of classic instruments, the Prince II offers a more original look.

With its full-frontal binding on neck and body, double cutaway and nipped-in waist, it presents a stylish, compact appearance, enhanced by a beautiful quilted (veneer) arched maple top. The back is flat and the combination of modest upper cutaway, overlarge headstock and full-scale proportions does mean that the unsupported balance isn’t brilliant, but your right arm rested on the body solves this.

The use of wooden knobs on the four controls makes sense, as they all but disappear at a distance, and the black buttons of the Grover tuners also serve the looks well. The neck proportions are generous for a semi-acoustic bass and give this instrument the sense that it means serious business.

Next: Hutchins Prince II Bass sounds, pros and cons