Carruthers basses are not well-known, but they are superb:
TREVOR LINDSEY SLAPPING A CARRUTHERS SILLY!!
John Carruthers has over 40 years as a maker, repairman, design consultant and teacher of luthiary arts. He has consulted for Fender, Ibanez, Yamaha and others, has published extensively in Guitar Player, and his state-of-the-art shop is is a treat - check out
www.carruthersguitars.com. I suspect that you all don't see that many of these basses because John has no need to crank them out -they are only one element of his many activities.
This particular bass is a 2-year-old example of his CB-4 design; I'm the original owner, and the only sign of use is some light scuffing on the headstock, shown in the pictures:
http://gallery.me.com/joebone1
Beyond the standard features, it sports a one-piece mahogany body (actually I suspect the wood is avodire, a West African form of mahogany) that resonates for days, but which is surprisingly light - the bass weighs less than 9 pounds, and hangs beautifully on a strap.
Other features include:
Maple neck w/ quarter-sawn Macassar Ebony fingerboard.
34" Scale
22 frets
1.625" at the nut
EMG 35-TW Double Coils w/individual coil splitters (push/pull pots for each)
18V setup, EMG BQC Preamp - Volume, Volume, Bass, Treble, Mid w/Sweep
Badass II Bridge - black (19mm at the bridge)
Hipshot Ultralight Tuners - black
In arranging for this instrument, I asked John to maximize for fatness of sound. He selected a piece of maple for the neck that has beautiful cathedral spires marching up the back, and which is stiff and resonant. And the mahogany body has a great sound. I've had a lot of good feedback from other musicians when I bring this out - it sounds great, and is also quite attractive, with black hardware against the thin root-beer finish.
It also comes with a TKL tolex case that is in excellent condition (I use a gig bag in taking this axe around).
If it's so hot, then why am I selling it? I've shifted -- suddenly but decisively -- to 5-strings, and it's not getting played. I thought about duplicating it in the CB-5 version, but John's 5-strings are 34.5 inch/19mm instruments, which do not work well for me.
I know sales are slow on Talkbass -- which is why I've gone straight to ebay in selling several axes over the last few months -- but this one is really special and I'd like to see it stay in the Talkbass community.
Asking $1900 shipped CONUS.
