This bass came to me needing a little TLC and will leave in much nicer shape than I found her. Nothing too major: cleaned everything, took some rust off the pickup poles, polished the frets, cleaned/lubed the truss bullet threads, gave her a setup. Managed to get the action where I like it (sort of medium-low) without needing to employ the micro-tilt, so there's room to move there. Truss rod functions as it should. Width at the nut is 1 11/16". Frets are nice and level but have obviously been dressed a few times over the years. They still have life and feel great by my standards. The neck itself is in fantastic shape, fast, beautiful finish, some nice flame and a bit of birdseye. There are some very small chips to the finish just under the strings at the butt end of the neck and some minor wear along the top of the headstock, nothing out of the ordinary for a bass this old. Currently strung with D'Addario XL rounds (45-65-80-100). I don't have the most accurate scale, but the weight is somewhere between 8.5 and 9 lbs by my best estimation.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Aside from a brass nut (clearly a pro job), everything is original on this bass except it has been refinished in black (appears to have been red originally) and the body was contoured, presumably at the same time. It's a convincing refin (the contours actually tipped me off). Has a few scratches and dings, but no gouges. There are a couple of cracks near the neck pocket, but when I had the neck off I confirmed these are only in the finish. Electronics work as they should, but the tone pot is a tad scratchy. Just needs a shot of cleaner and I'll take care of this before shipping it out.
The body shows a date of 10/28/82, which, according to those with more knowledge than I, would make this one of the first to roll out of the factory. No date on the neck, but I'm sure it's original. I actually inquired on another forum as to whether the body might have been contoured at the factory given the date could qualify this as a "prototype" model and one expert said it's entirely possible with G&L. However, I'm pretty convinced it was contoured at the time of the refin. The "belly cut" in particular looks a bit more subtle than every factory job I've seen, like it was carefully sanded by hand.
About the pics: I've tried to showcase the contours in some of these. In general, the finish looks better than the glare of the lights would suggest. Sorry for the photo quality, but my wife "misplaced" the newer camera and also these were taken indoors on a cruddy day. Will try to snap some pics in natural light if this stays up long enough, and can provide more on request.
Price is $700 shipped (CONUS) in the hard-to-find OHSC which is in the nicest shape of any I've come across from this era. PayPal is acceptable.
This is an absolute tone monster. Looking of a J with snarl? Love the old SB-2 style but don't like slab bodies? This is your dog.
Thanks for looking! PM with questions or offers.
