Convention bucking -- not what you'd expect from a British luthier, maybe, but then again Rees Electric Guitars does have a picture of a rabbit lasciviously eyeing a guitar on their website homepage. Whether or not I'm reading into the rabbit's intentions, I'm sure of my own intentions towards the new Rees F-Light bass, a svelte take on the traditional P-Bass idea.

Common wisdom would have us believe that a heavier bass makes for a heavier tone, but Rees doesn't buy into that jibber-jabber. Rees believes that the traditional deep electric bass tone resides in string length, which is why the F-Light sports a 34" scale neck. Yet this bass does without a traditional design's girth. With its narrow body waist and koa tonewood, the F-Light weighs only about six pounds. . . about three pounds less than most full-scale basses.

To reinforce the traditional tone, the F-Light makes use of a single Seymour Duncan Basslines Quarter-Pounder split single-coil pickup. For an even more traditional tone, vintage-spec p-bass pickups are available. The electronics are also suitably simple: single volume and single tone for transparent, woody thump.

The koa body is also notable for its sculpted bevels. Relief on the backside of the body brings the bass closer to the musician, and top bevels provide ergonomic resting points for your hands -- not to mention they makes the F-Light a pretty handsome-looking instrument, with a modern flair. The koa adds attack, sustain and depth to the bass's acoustic tone.

Not only is the lightweight F-Light easy on your back, but it's price will be easy on your wallet. £595 base price with body finish and fingerboard options available. That translates to about $850 US. . . still not bad.