Hi all,
I’ve got one great bass left for sale. No trades, please, I’m trying to be a net seller in terms of both $$ invested and sheer amount of gear.
John Kallas Jazzmaster Bass: Shipped CONUS for $1700
20 more pics in here: Photo by Greg Carlson
Here’s a link to the build process and details on the builder’s site. http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Jazzmaster-Bass.html
As you can see, there are only two others of its kind (or at least there were at the time it was built, which I believe was in 2011--I bought it on TB in 2012). Other details:
*Nordstrand MM 4.4 pickup. It’s a quad coil, with the coils rearranged by John so it could imitate a split-coil P, a reverse P, or have all four coils on. Hum-free in all modes.
*Preamp is a clone of a vintage 2-band StingRay pre built by John for this model.
*Controls: See the bottom picture on the linked page for the complete layout.
*1.5” neck with medium jumbo frets, pearl inlays and white binding.
*Swamp ash body. I forget the precise weight, but the bass is quite light—7.5-8 lbs.
*Gorgeous Mary Kay finish with no scratches. I’m the second owner. Kept in my smoke-free, climate-controlled home. Never gigged, though I took it to band practice once or twice.
*One thing to note is that the battery for the pre is under the pickguard. Also, the guard is not cut by the heel of the neck, so it needs to be taken off to access the truss rod.
JohnK posted soundclips in this thread:
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/jazzmaster-basses.744605/
Here are direct links to the soundclips:
http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/jazzmasterbass/audio/bass1.mp3
http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/jazzmasterbass/audio/bass2.mp3
Quoting John's post for this one:
"here's a super quick clip that i just made of the gold one with TI jazz flats on it. this clip isn't recorded directly into the H4n's line inputs, but instead, i used my amp (UA 6176 set flat with no compression/crown xti2000 into a whappo jr cab). i never use a pick but for a change i thought i'd use one on this clip since it seems to magnify the different pickup settings a little more. please excuse the sloppy playing and clams. it was recorded with the H4n's stereo microphone sitting on my knee in front of the cab.
the clip's settings are:
first 4 bars- split P
second 4 bars- reverse P
third 4 bars- all coils parallel
fourth 4 bars- all coils series
fifth 4 bars- back to the split P again (my favorite setting on the bass
)
http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/jazzmasterbass/audio/goldbasswithpic.mp3"
The bass comes in the same gig bag (labelled New York Pro, it’s in excellent condition) it had when I purchased it. There is what looks to be a decent strap in the pocket, which I’ve never used. The bass sold new for about $3K. I’ll ask less than I paid for it: $1700 shipped CONUS.
The Fender is sold, just leaving the ad up for posterity.
1983 (Fullerton-era) Fender ’57 AVRI Precision: Sold! Shipped CONUS for $1500
I bought this bass in 2007 on TB from M5Yates. He lived in Austin, and said the bass saw a fair bit of studio time. I still have his emails from when I bought it, here are the key parts of his description:
"Somehow it got the vintage '62 pickup instead of the raised pole '57. The original owner says it was that way when he bought it. It came with a very beat, 1983 Fender hard plastic case. The best part - it weighs 7.75 pounds on my postal scale. The serial number is V010xxx (all '83 Fullerton reissues have a serial number that starts with V01xxxx, '82 usually have V00xxx). It's extremely clean except for some buckle marks near the neck plate. The neck and the frets are like new. The only wear area is the light buckle rash on the back. The back is also not quite as shiny as the front." I would add that the buckle rash looks to have been painted over, but as you can see from the pics, the painter did a good job.
He also told me that the bass was refretted by Ed Reynolds, a highly acclaimed Austin luthier who helped Lakland early on with its prototyping and fretwork. (I've seen one or two of his Lakland protos for sale online.) Indeed, I took the bass to Carl Pedigo, a luthier who works part-time for Lakland (he’s their former head luthier) after I first got it and he said it looked to be Ed's fretwork (and he said it was a great job).
Carl is the only person who has worked on this bass in the time I've owned it. He replaced the nut (which I believe was original, I will include it with the bass) with a bone nut, and later put in new foam under the pickup. Other than that, he took care of the fret sprout that resulted from the bass coming from Texas to Chicago in the middle of winter, and set it up for me several times--including recently. It's strung with DR Sunbeams (nickels). It’s mostly been played in my smoke-free home, though I did take it to practice a few times. (Nobody in the band smokes, just to be clear.)
Everything else is original, to my knowledge, except for the ashtrays. As the previous seller said, it's extremely light. The neck will slide to about a horizontal position or a little below at times when I'm wearing the bass, but a good strap takes care of that issue. The tuners can get sticky (the G string tuner needs to be oiled regularly), but they are original.
The neck is 1.75” wide at the nut, but it’s quite slim front-to-back, so it should be extremely comfortable for most. And the action can get quite low without any buzzing.
I will sell the bass with the plastic hard case (two of the three buckles work) for $1500 shipped CONUS.
I’ve got one great bass left for sale. No trades, please, I’m trying to be a net seller in terms of both $$ invested and sheer amount of gear.
John Kallas Jazzmaster Bass: Shipped CONUS for $1700
20 more pics in here: Photo by Greg Carlson
Here’s a link to the build process and details on the builder’s site. http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Jazzmaster-Bass.html
As you can see, there are only two others of its kind (or at least there were at the time it was built, which I believe was in 2011--I bought it on TB in 2012). Other details:
*Nordstrand MM 4.4 pickup. It’s a quad coil, with the coils rearranged by John so it could imitate a split-coil P, a reverse P, or have all four coils on. Hum-free in all modes.
*Preamp is a clone of a vintage 2-band StingRay pre built by John for this model.
*Controls: See the bottom picture on the linked page for the complete layout.
*1.5” neck with medium jumbo frets, pearl inlays and white binding.
*Swamp ash body. I forget the precise weight, but the bass is quite light—7.5-8 lbs.
*Gorgeous Mary Kay finish with no scratches. I’m the second owner. Kept in my smoke-free, climate-controlled home. Never gigged, though I took it to band practice once or twice.
*One thing to note is that the battery for the pre is under the pickguard. Also, the guard is not cut by the heel of the neck, so it needs to be taken off to access the truss rod.
JohnK posted soundclips in this thread:
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/jazzmaster-basses.744605/
Here are direct links to the soundclips:
http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/jazzmasterbass/audio/bass1.mp3
http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/jazzmasterbass/audio/bass2.mp3
Quoting John's post for this one:
"here's a super quick clip that i just made of the gold one with TI jazz flats on it. this clip isn't recorded directly into the H4n's line inputs, but instead, i used my amp (UA 6176 set flat with no compression/crown xti2000 into a whappo jr cab). i never use a pick but for a change i thought i'd use one on this clip since it seems to magnify the different pickup settings a little more. please excuse the sloppy playing and clams. it was recorded with the H4n's stereo microphone sitting on my knee in front of the cab.
the clip's settings are:
first 4 bars- split P
second 4 bars- reverse P
third 4 bars- all coils parallel
fourth 4 bars- all coils series
fifth 4 bars- back to the split P again (my favorite setting on the bass
)http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/jazzmasterbass/audio/goldbasswithpic.mp3"
The bass comes in the same gig bag (labelled New York Pro, it’s in excellent condition) it had when I purchased it. There is what looks to be a decent strap in the pocket, which I’ve never used. The bass sold new for about $3K. I’ll ask less than I paid for it: $1700 shipped CONUS.
The Fender is sold, just leaving the ad up for posterity.
1983 (Fullerton-era) Fender ’57 AVRI Precision: Sold! Shipped CONUS for $1500
I bought this bass in 2007 on TB from M5Yates. He lived in Austin, and said the bass saw a fair bit of studio time. I still have his emails from when I bought it, here are the key parts of his description:
"Somehow it got the vintage '62 pickup instead of the raised pole '57. The original owner says it was that way when he bought it. It came with a very beat, 1983 Fender hard plastic case. The best part - it weighs 7.75 pounds on my postal scale. The serial number is V010xxx (all '83 Fullerton reissues have a serial number that starts with V01xxxx, '82 usually have V00xxx). It's extremely clean except for some buckle marks near the neck plate. The neck and the frets are like new. The only wear area is the light buckle rash on the back. The back is also not quite as shiny as the front." I would add that the buckle rash looks to have been painted over, but as you can see from the pics, the painter did a good job.
He also told me that the bass was refretted by Ed Reynolds, a highly acclaimed Austin luthier who helped Lakland early on with its prototyping and fretwork. (I've seen one or two of his Lakland protos for sale online.) Indeed, I took the bass to Carl Pedigo, a luthier who works part-time for Lakland (he’s their former head luthier) after I first got it and he said it looked to be Ed's fretwork (and he said it was a great job).
Carl is the only person who has worked on this bass in the time I've owned it. He replaced the nut (which I believe was original, I will include it with the bass) with a bone nut, and later put in new foam under the pickup. Other than that, he took care of the fret sprout that resulted from the bass coming from Texas to Chicago in the middle of winter, and set it up for me several times--including recently. It's strung with DR Sunbeams (nickels). It’s mostly been played in my smoke-free home, though I did take it to practice a few times. (Nobody in the band smokes, just to be clear.)
Everything else is original, to my knowledge, except for the ashtrays. As the previous seller said, it's extremely light. The neck will slide to about a horizontal position or a little below at times when I'm wearing the bass, but a good strap takes care of that issue. The tuners can get sticky (the G string tuner needs to be oiled regularly), but they are original.
The neck is 1.75” wide at the nut, but it’s quite slim front-to-back, so it should be extremely comfortable for most. And the action can get quite low without any buzzing.
I will sell the bass with the plastic hard case (two of the three buckles work) for $1500 shipped CONUS.
