Jack Read Custom 5 string semi-acoustic bass.
 

HI All,
I'm putting up for sale my 2003 custom Jack Read 5 string bass. Beautiful bass, used to be my main one before I switched bass to 4 string, in 2008, got an endorsement and started playing radically different types of instruments, which I still do presently. Aesthetically, the bass is in great condition, very minor wear. Sound-wise, it's a killer-sounding bass, thanks to the flexibility of the piezo-magnetic combo and the interior chambering (all hollowed out except for the middle section). I recorded several albums with this bass, including my 2008 debut cd 'the light and other things' which received great international reviews and awards in the field of avant-improv (in the samples, I included a track from this record, 'with the green rectangle', as well as more conventional music to show the versatility of the bass).


Features:
- Mahogany chambered body, figured walnut top (very light-weight thanks to the chambering), thick maple veneer.
- Maple neck, ebony fingerboard, 35' scale
- Bartolini mm pickup and Bartolini preamp
- Individual piezo saddles built by Rick Turner (amazing stuff, and a one-off build for Rick, according to Jack Read).
- Wooden bridge and knobs
- Hipshot Light tuners


Issues:
- The wooden crown of the bridge (cocobolo) broke. Jack glued it first and you could not spot the repair. The crown broke again in 2008 and I glued it, pretty roughly. So you can see the crack clearly now. Functionally, it does not affect the bridge. The crack can be re-glued by a professional or the whole crown can be redone (I'm guessing that a skilled wood-crafter can do it, not even a luthier necessarily, and it should be a cheap work which would make the instrument look perfect again).
- The truss rod is stiff, and I remember not even trying to force it for fear of breaking it when I was still playing it. Jack admittedly said that the truss rod had some lubrication issues (?!) and was going to lubricate it for me before our communication ended, in semi-unfriendly terms.... In all honesty, I was doing fine without adjusting the truss rod at all on this bass. If I was to play this bass again, though, I would bring it to get a professional setup and see what the technician can do about it. The neck is totally straight, has no structural problems of any kind. UPDATE: THE TRUSS ROD WORKS (I HAD A PRO LOOK AT IT), NEEDS NO REPAIR. IT'S JUST STIFFER THAN USUAL.

For this bass in 2003 I paid around $3300. I don't like the idea of such a killer bass still sitting un-played for years. There is a very similar 5 string built by Jack in 2002 for sale at Austin Bass Traders for $2,350, and this bass seems to be also in a very similar shape.
I am asking $1,150. My price keeps in mind that you might want to spend some money to bring it back to spot on condition.

Thanks for reading,
GM

A few more photos

Two more, here showing the cracked bridge crown:

Sound samples:

And two more audio samples:

Nice playing. Sounds good, even on my laptop -- will have to listen with headphones to tell more. Good luck!

thanks man.

Also, trades with amps are considered. Hybrid heads, specifically.

bumping this thread

another bump and reduced price

Bump for a good guy and pro bassist... G some people may be scared away by the fact you have 0 feedback on this site, I can say after talking back and forth for a week or so with this gentleman that he's a stand up dude and a pro. Google Giacomo Merega if you want to hear his work with this bass!

Thanks for the kind words, Nick. It's true, I have never been very proactive in the instruments trade scene. The last bass I sold was a Tobias back in 2003, in Italy....

Hope you sorted out your amp situation!

Bump

Last bump before giving up. If anybody is interested in making an offer that is not completely unreasonable, don't be shy. If anybody is scared by my 0% feedback, as Toastfuzz suggested: please talk to me, I'll fill you in with details and guarantees. My full name is already in the open on this thread and I have no feedback here simply because I have never traded/sold/purchased gear through the web, except when I sold a bass and an amp in back Italy almost 10 years ago. Thanks again for reading, this is a truly great bass, GM

I am thinking about it, get back to you in a few days.

Is the cracked bridge crown only a cosmetic issue with no effect in setup, playability, stability, etc.

It's only a cosmetic issue, does not affect the mechanics of the bridge, as the individual saddles don't move with tension on the strings. As is said, if I was to buy it I would eventually have the crown redone to get rid of the cosmetic flaw and to make it structurally stronger. When Jack Read first glued it, though, it was impossible to spot the crack and lasted for years.

I am going to ask a luthier who has done work for me in the past about the truss rod and what it might take to work on it. I would re-string it E - C, so the rod would have to be functional. I will see him Wed on my holiday travels.

Ok, I can also have it checked by somebody and get from them an exact diagnosis. The fact that I had found the way to do adjustments without needing to adjust the truss-rod does not take away from the fact that it should be completely functional. Please let me know what your luthier says, thanks.

The potential issues he brought up are

1) Has the truss rod bottomed out, that is it can no longer be turned in the required direction? This doesn't sound like the problem you described, but if it is it is an easy fix and inexpensive fix if the truss rod can be screwed out.

2) If the truss rod cannot be removed either the threads have seized or the rod is broken. Both if these require major surgery: removal of the fretboard, rod replacement or repair. Time and cost depends upon how difficult it is to remove/ replace the fretboard and what needs to be done to the truss rod. He would not give an estimate without seeing the bass but I could tell the cost starts in the low hundreds.

I would really like to own this bass but I am not too keen on taking on the repair rsk and unknown cost. I guess there is no chance Jack will look at it since he best understands the neck, etc.