I have for sale a '72 JSII with DarkStar DS-1 pickups and a custom solid-brass harp bridge (bridge was made by Mr. Marko Ursin).
Here are some details about the bass...
The Good:
- The bass has a fresh set of EXL-170S nickel rounds on it, a new bone nut, and has fast med-low action
- The custom bridge is an absolute work of art - solid-brass (plated baseplate), and mounts to a large 7mm thick brass block routed into the body. The new bridge allowed for proper intonation and ringing sustain. If you've ever played a stock JSII, this is not that bass.
- Original parts all in good functional shape - tuners, truss rod, electronics. I kept the original harness, pots, choke, suck-switch in there.
- Frets and fingerboard are in great shape
- Gorgeous piece of mahog for the body!
The Bad:
- There appears to be a small repaired (glued) hairline crack 3-4cm long running parallel along the center neck lamination under the nut (see pics). It's minor, and in the time I've had the bass it has remained perfectly stable. There are no signs that it extended into the truss rod cavity.
- Strap button was relocated to the neck, and original strap button on lower bout was pulled. The Guilds have this funky, conical end-pin type strap button that leaves a big hole when removed, and so that hole was doweled/filled, and dunlop straploks installed. Not sure this is a
bad thing, but its non-original.
The Ugly:
- Bass has plenty of road rash, dings, etc... Definitely a player.
- The brass saddles on the bridge have some extra meat on them, and they are cut deep to get a proper setup. It's all done nicely and functions perfectly... not
ugly per se, but my OCD tells me the saddles could be ground down to a more conventional height and polished out.
- The plastic TRC was cracked when I got it, and the mounting screw closest to the nut was missing. There was actually nothing for a replacement screw to mount to - as the truss rod bolt is right underneath it. That being the case, I simply nipped off a replacement screw's head and used a dab of epoxy on the underside of the TRC to hold it in place - just for cosmetics. The top screw hold the TRC securely in place.
At any rate, the pics will tell the story. This is a great playing and sounding bass, and I enjoyed it a great deal when I first bought and modified it. Other basses that make similar enough sounds eventually kinda took over, and this one just hasn't been getting the playtime it deserves.
Asking $1250 shipped/Paypal'ed in the CONUS. I have a non-original HSC to ship it in (not pretty, but it works and will help protect it).
Pricing this is difficult since its kind of unique, and it might be a case of the parts being worth more than the whole - unless it finds the right buyer. Yes, you could probably get a stock JSII for less, but the pickups and bridge take this bass to a completely different level - and you'd spend more than this trying to replicate that. I thought I might give it a shot here and see if there is any interest.
Not interested in trades at this time, as I'm selling to help pay for an old Ric I just picked up. I'll give it a couple days here, and then I'll probably drop other pickups into it and auction the bass and DS-1s separately. Hate to part out such a nice bass, but really need to recoup my investment in it.
Thanks for looking!
