(Hi guys! I'm new to this forum... I'm a multi-instrumentalist, but I LOVE playing bass and looking forward to some bass talk!)
Alright ladies and gentlemen: Up for sale is my Martin BC-16GTE acoustic / electric bass. I used this to tour with the legendary Lewis Family, "America's First Family of Bluegrass Music". I have been on the fence about selling this nice little piece of bluegrass history, but instruments should be played, not sit in cases (the Lewis Family retired toward the end of 2009). I grew up watching the Lewis Family TV show and ended up being the last bass player for the Lewis Family. I played this instrument on the last handful of shows (maybe a dozen or so). I got this instrument through an artist endorsement (no, they do not give them to you for free). This is the third one they sent. I never saw the first one - heard it was a dinged up demo and the rep sent it back. On the second one, the pickup / pre-amp sounded weak and anemic and also it had a 3-piece back, which bothered me. I also jokingly suggested that they change the body shape to something a little more modern, as Little Roy Lewis said it looked like, "something (...somebody...) would play in a mariachi band". I'm not saying for sure that they took us seriously, but when I got this third one, it was a more squared off, cool shape in the cutaway. I guess they could have changed the design, but, to this day, I have yet to see another BC-16GTE bass - nor any other Martin bass - shaped like this one. Here is a link to some other BC-16GTE basses and NONE of them are shaped like this one...
martin bc-16gte bass - Bing
I thought maybe it was a design change and not a one-off, but Martin's website, even two years later, shows the regular shaped one:
http://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/...p=m&m=BC-16GTE
This instrument has a fairly long neck / long scale (34"); I guess this makes it sound more like an upright. It is much louder, acoustically, than a lesser quality acoustic bass; I picked the deepest model Martin offered because Little Roy liked to rehearse a lot backstage and I needed something loud to hear myself over his '53 Martin D-28 and his '23 Gibson Mastertone banjo! The pickup / pre-amp is a Fishman Prefix Plus-T system and sounds incredible; it also has a built-in tuner. I got many, many, many compliments from hard-core bluegrassers about how if they closed their eyes they couldn't tell it wasn't an upright! I had thought about trying flatwounds on it at one point (supposed to be even more upright-ish), but it sounded so good through the amp / FOH like it was that I never even bothered with it.
Here is a link to some pics and also a few links on the Lewis Family if you are unfamiliar... The hardshell case has some torn tolex spots - all part of being on tour - but functions fine, including all of the latches. There are pics of me playing this instrument with the Lewis Family on some of the last few shows and I'm sure I have some other ones as well.
You won't find a cooler acoustic / electric bass. The new price on one of these is: $2499 list / $1899 street. I am asking $1275 shipped for her. I'd prefer a money order or cashier's check, but I can probably do PayPal if you pay the fees.
Here are some quick shots and I'll be glad to take more if you need something specific. Please note what appears as smudges on the back of the bass is just some funky camera flash... the bass is near mint condition; I take good care of my stuff...
Pictures by 59_Strat - Photobucket
Lewis Family links:
The Lewis Family - Official Website - America's First Family of Bluegrass Gospel Music> The Lewis Family - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia YouTube - ‪Little Roy Lewis reveals "The Splice"‬‏
This isn't me nor the bass, but will give you an idea of the context in which it was used:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vid...R5&FORM=LKVR12
Good luck with your sale!
