Lakland 55-02 Deluxe Cherry Burst Quilted Maple

55-02 Skyline Deluxe Quilted Maple

Founded by bassist Dan Lakin and luthier Hugh McFarland, Lakland (pronounced “lake-land”) have since 1994 been synonymous with breathtaking bass craftmanship. From their home base in Chicago, Lakland quickly began to take the world of bass by storm with their incredibly high-quality instruments, seeing top-name players like Darryl Jones, Gail Ann Dorsey, Kat Bax, Juan Alderete and Uriah Duffy make Lakland their sonic weapon of choice.

In the early 2000s, Lakland introduced The Skyline Series, which is now made in Indonesia. This series of basses is basically unbeatable when it comes to value for money, which is why Lakland have also become such a well-respected brand amongst the weekend warriors and bedroom rockers.  The basses are all made of North American wood and features the same overall design as the US basses with some small changes in details.

Every single Lakland bass gets quality checked and PLEK’D in Chicago to meet the extremely high standards that everyone has come to expect from Lakland.

The 55-02 models are probably the most modern-sounding of the basses Lakland makes. With that said, it’s not like it’s super modern. Just a perfect balance of tone and features, which also gives you the capabilities to sound more vintage, but without being a cliché.

The bass is very powerful and clean, but make no mistake this beast can dive deep into the mud and throw some seriously dirty bay area funk grooves around with ease. It all comes down to the player and their ability to master the massive sonic depth of this bass!

The bass features a familiar ash body and maple neck, but what is unusual is that the fingerboard is made out of Indian Laurelwood which is new for Lakland. This change in wood is a response to the CITES laws regarding rosewood. The Laurelwood is very similar in sound to rosewood, but it’s a bit harder and faster than rosewood which gives some more growl to it.

The pickups are Laklands own LH3 Alnico Magnetic pickups 1xMM and 1xJ that are wound in the shop in Chicago. The onboard pre-amp is the same as the American model which is very effective and in your face. If you are looking for a super versatile and extremely powerful bass, then there’s no need to look further than the Lakland Skyline Deluxe 55-02!