Meta Guitars Meta Veil B4 Midscale

Meta Guitars: Boutique Lutherie from France

Meta Guitars is the work of Fred, a French luthier who left school at fifteen to dedicate himself to building stringed instruments. The Meta philosophy is “beyond” – beyond the conventional shapes, beyond the standard headstock, beyond what most builders are willing to attempt with a bass body. Almost every Meta bass is headless, single-cutaway, and 100% hand-sculpted with no flat surfaces, and the result is one of the most ergonomic playing experiences in modern bass design.

Body, Neck & Woods

The red alder body brings the kind of balanced, open midrange that’s made alder a benchmark for serious bass tone for over half a century. It’s not as dark as mahogany, not as bright as ash – it sits in a sweet spot where every note has weight without sounding heavy, and the upper mids retain enough clarity to cut through a band. The see-through Céleste Blue high gloss lets the alder grain show through while giving the bass a striking, modern presence on stage.

Here’s where the Veil gets unusual: the neck is quartersawn wild cherry, and the fingerboard is part of the same piece of wood. No glue line, no different species sitting on top – the playing surface and the neck shaft are one continuous slab of cherry. The 24 Jescar Medium Jumbo stainless steel frets give you a fast, polished feel with the kind of fret life that outlasts everything around it. And then there’s the multiscale: 35″ on the low E, tapering to 33.5″ on the G. The longer low string gives you tight, defined fundamentals all the way down, while the shorter G keeps the upper register easy to play and lyrical.

Electronics, Sound & Feel

A single Nordstrand Power Blade sits in the bridge position with a clean white cover that matches the pickguard. The Power Blade combines ceramic magnets with a thick steel blade and an optimized wind, delivering authoritative low-end punch and a smooth, controlled top end – the kind of pickup that hits hard without ever feeling harsh. The simple Volume/Tone control layout gets out of the way and lets the bass speak for itself.

At 3.1 kg this bass is genuinely light, but the design is what really stands out the moment you strap it on. The hand-sculpted body has no flat areas – every curve is shaped to sit naturally against your body, and the headless layout shifts the balance forward so there’s zero neck dive even on the lightest strap. The multiscale takes a few minutes to adapt to and then disappears. What you’re left with is a punchy, articulate, modern-voiced bass with a strong fundamental, a clean attack, and the kind of mid-forward clarity that sits perfectly in a dense mix. This is a bass for players who want something genuinely different – one of the most original boutique builds we carry.