- Fretless
- Y
Important note: This is a private sale of personally-owned electric bass equipment, and is not associated with my music store in any way (which specializes in upright bass gear).
This is my own personally owned gear, inherited from the estate of my dad, Bob, who owned it for many years. While I'm definitely keeping some of his most treasured instruments, this is one of the ones that needs to go to a new home where it will be used/played/enjoyed.
This bass combines a semi-hollow body with f-hole with piezo equipped acoustic-style bridge and a Fender Lace Sensor P-Bass pickup to create an interesting hybrid-toned bass that some say can even get close to an upright bass timbre.
The pickups are all original, but due to the shortcomings (and if I remember correctly, electronic failure) of the preamp circuit, Bob gutted the electronics cavity and started over. It was originally equipped with a volume, pickup balance, and a weird detented tone control. Bob subsequently replaced the preamp with a special blending two-channel preamp sourced from K&K Sound in Oregon. This changes the knob setup to a single volume for each element on the front of the bass (the tone knob is now a "dummy" knob) and access to Bass/Mid/Treble/Gain mini-pots for each pickup through small holes in the control cavity plate - a small micro screwdriver is provided for adjustment and lives on a velcro patch mounted at the neck heel. He also laminated a visual guide on the back so you know what mini-pot is what (see photos). So the tonal flexibility (and volume-matching between the pickups) is greatly improved, and the input impedance for the piezo pickup has been properly buffered for much more even response - no "quackiness" from the piezo undersaddle pickup.
The bass sounds and plays really well. It was definitely a "player" - not a museum piece. It has (at least) the requisite dings and minor finish chunks you'd expect to find on a 30-year-old bass guitar that's been regularly gigged. While it doesn't look so bad from 8 feet away, as the finish is pretty decent, it's clearly taken some bumps and bruises in its lifetime. I tried to capture some of the most notable in the photos. The fingerboard has a small amount of surface wear, faint string marks, really - no ruts or anything like that. Structurally, the bass is quite solid, neck is straight, etc.
The neck is really playable - the MIJ basses of this era had some great necks, and this one is no exception. Dad had it set up well, and it plays really nice. Hardware is in good shape - a little tarnished, but should shine up. No pitting that I can see.
Other specs: 1992 (M Serial, MIJ) Precision Bass A/E Fretless, Natural Finish Solid, quarter-inch spruce deck over chambered body, multi-piece mahogany back. Maple neck with rosewood skunk stripe and fingerboard. Beveled heel makes it a little less blocky when you get high up on the neck.
Pricing: Nice versions of these have gone for well over $1k recently, and some are listed (a little overly optimistically) at $1600 and up. I know that this bass - modified and not remotely minty fresh - isn't worth that, but I'm a little torn as to what to ask for this somewhat rare bird. Ultimately, it was my dad's personal bass and I just want to get it into the hands of a bassist who will enjoy it. So, consider the asking price a guide, but I'm open to reasonable offers (no trades, please - I'm trying to thin the herd) so have at it.
Actual shipping costs will use my commercial UPS account and will be discounted from retail rates. I can include a nice lightweight foam-core semi-hard case for $50.
This is my own personally owned gear, inherited from the estate of my dad, Bob, who owned it for many years. While I'm definitely keeping some of his most treasured instruments, this is one of the ones that needs to go to a new home where it will be used/played/enjoyed.
This bass combines a semi-hollow body with f-hole with piezo equipped acoustic-style bridge and a Fender Lace Sensor P-Bass pickup to create an interesting hybrid-toned bass that some say can even get close to an upright bass timbre.
The pickups are all original, but due to the shortcomings (and if I remember correctly, electronic failure) of the preamp circuit, Bob gutted the electronics cavity and started over. It was originally equipped with a volume, pickup balance, and a weird detented tone control. Bob subsequently replaced the preamp with a special blending two-channel preamp sourced from K&K Sound in Oregon. This changes the knob setup to a single volume for each element on the front of the bass (the tone knob is now a "dummy" knob) and access to Bass/Mid/Treble/Gain mini-pots for each pickup through small holes in the control cavity plate - a small micro screwdriver is provided for adjustment and lives on a velcro patch mounted at the neck heel. He also laminated a visual guide on the back so you know what mini-pot is what (see photos). So the tonal flexibility (and volume-matching between the pickups) is greatly improved, and the input impedance for the piezo pickup has been properly buffered for much more even response - no "quackiness" from the piezo undersaddle pickup.
The bass sounds and plays really well. It was definitely a "player" - not a museum piece. It has (at least) the requisite dings and minor finish chunks you'd expect to find on a 30-year-old bass guitar that's been regularly gigged. While it doesn't look so bad from 8 feet away, as the finish is pretty decent, it's clearly taken some bumps and bruises in its lifetime. I tried to capture some of the most notable in the photos. The fingerboard has a small amount of surface wear, faint string marks, really - no ruts or anything like that. Structurally, the bass is quite solid, neck is straight, etc.
The neck is really playable - the MIJ basses of this era had some great necks, and this one is no exception. Dad had it set up well, and it plays really nice. Hardware is in good shape - a little tarnished, but should shine up. No pitting that I can see.
Other specs: 1992 (M Serial, MIJ) Precision Bass A/E Fretless, Natural Finish Solid, quarter-inch spruce deck over chambered body, multi-piece mahogany back. Maple neck with rosewood skunk stripe and fingerboard. Beveled heel makes it a little less blocky when you get high up on the neck.
Pricing: Nice versions of these have gone for well over $1k recently, and some are listed (a little overly optimistically) at $1600 and up. I know that this bass - modified and not remotely minty fresh - isn't worth that, but I'm a little torn as to what to ask for this somewhat rare bird. Ultimately, it was my dad's personal bass and I just want to get it into the hands of a bassist who will enjoy it. So, consider the asking price a guide, but I'm open to reasonable offers (no trades, please - I'm trying to thin the herd) so have at it.
Actual shipping costs will use my commercial UPS account and will be discounted from retail rates. I can include a nice lightweight foam-core semi-hard case for $50.
