"MANLY BASS"
I just thought this ad was too funny! I dont have any association to this seller and am not promoting the ad other than to say... WTH?!?!?! $1500.00 FOR THAT?!?!?!
I love the line "I will point out--this is a MANLY BASS--that is to say, if you're looking for a featherweight, look elsewhere. It weighs in excess of 10 pounds."
hahaha
Merry Christmas everyone!
Here is the text from the ad:
"
ONE OF A KIND HANDMADE BASS GUITAR..............with many unique attributes............
This instrument was built in the mid 80's. At that time, we were producing solid body guitars and basses in our very well-equipped shop. Bodies and necks were made on a Bridgeport milling machine. This bass was the pet project of one of our apprentices under the supervision of our master craftsman. The basic "principles" of our methods of construction are all on display here along with a few additional touches added by the apprentice (who had already been producing instruments on his own). He was known around the shop as "Perfect Paul", which should start to give you an idea of what went into this bass. I freely admit--this instrument is not a "known commodity"..................not a pre-CBS Fender, or a collectible vintage instrument. On the other hand, it has attributes and QUALITY features which were never even in the imagination of Fender--and I can say with complete complete assurance that large-scale, major instrument builders NEVER came close to equaling the qualities of this instrument:
THE BODY...............one piece ash. From a local (Norwalk) tree--the wood was air-dried for 12 years prior to construction.
THE NECK...............perhaps the single most important feature. All of our necks were constructed along these lines--look closely at photo #3. You will see that this neck is a 9 piece laminate. The maple is quarter sawn, straight grain (not cross grain as in virtually all production instruments). Quarter sawn wood is significantly stronger and more stable, and the multiple laminations contribute even further to the strength of the neck. There is a truss rod of course, but it is in fact, completely superfluous. Over the years, this neck has never moved even a hair and never will. In terms of stability, it's the last word. The integrity of this neck is further enhanced by the very thick slab
HONDURAN MAHOGANY FINGERBOARD............which also has some very nice looking figure
THE NECK JOINT................Fender NEVER executed a neck joint to match this. There is no gap. None. We used to have a big fun by removing the neck screws with the instrument strung and tuned to pitch. Remove those bolts and nothing moved!! You could actually have the instrument tuned to pitch and play merrily along with absolutely no shifting, no wiggle. Which is pretty astounding!
THE BRIDGE...................on the surface nothing special here. A Badass bridge. However, a Badass with a twist! That bridge normally mounts (a la Fender), by screwing wood screws directly into the body. And there's really nothing wrong with that. However, Perfect Paul wasn't having any of that! No--he insisted on routing a channel through the body, inserting a SOLID BRASS BLOCK (milled on the Bridgeport), and tapping machine screws to mount the bridge. OK--maybe not the greatest innovation of all time, yet an indication of the THOUGHT that went into the design of this bass.
ELECTRONICS..............EMG PJ setup. Great sounding pickups of course--even better in the case of this instrument however, due to 1) the natural resonance of the AIR DRIED one piece ash body 2) the solidity of the neck joint for effective string energy transfer and 3) the Badass bolted to a solid brass block.
One more cute feature, I will mention--notice the battery compartment. It has a little button, to pop it off easily (without having to resort to prying it off with a screwdriver and dinging up the body). Once again, this is not the greatest thing since sliced bread, yet it shows thought and attention to detail.
As you see in the photos, the instrument is in pristine condition..............no dings, very, very clean.
I will point out--this is a MANLY BASS--that is to say, if you're looking for a featherweight, look elsewhere. It weighs in excess of 10 pounds.
The instrument comes with a gig bag--I can offer a hs case option--to be discussed................"
