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For sale Swan Omicron - Satin Macassar Ebony 6 strings 30.75” Scale 18mm string spacing

Sold
$4,600.00
Strings
6
Status
This item has been sold and is no longer available!

Details

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Got this recently on a 'WTH, why not get a little wacky with that part of my bass roster I don't use a whole lot'.

The bass I traded away was an MTD 634 I wasn't using, and enter this beautiful oddity.
An offer I probably should've refused, but I'm glad that I didn't.

I get why there's a 'boutique extended range short scale 5 and 6-String', 'thing' going on in the bass world.

I was blown away by the combination of features I'm used to and like ... wider string spacing being the big one ... with all a few features I normally don't like all that much (overly complicated EQ's with too many switches) and topped off by a completely new experience for me:

- a headless design with these 'hoody whoppers' on the end to tune

- a 30.75" scale.

It really works on this instrument.

Everything comes together here, and with the Mike Pope Pre, it has (to me) a lot of 'Fodera Vibes' from what I'm used to hearing from those instruments, while retaining it's own unique flavor.

- low-mid-rich, articulate fingerstle tones, on any pickup setting
- compressed, 'modern' slap tone because the Wenge board/Ebony top/EQ options
- dozens of actually useful tone options with the EQ/pickup taps.

Here's a link to the OP:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/fi...ngs-30-75”-scale-18mm-string-spacing.1622119/

Specs from that thread:

Body: Mahogany
Top: Macassar Ebony
Neck: Maple 3 pcs
Fingerboard: Wenge
Scale: 30.75” / 26 frets
18mm string spacing
Preamp: Mike Pope Flexcore 4 band
Pickup: Lake triple agent (3 pickup tappings)
Strap Lock: Dunlop Flush
Nut: Brass
Dots: Abalone
Trust Rod: Double action
Bridge: Headless Hipshot
Premium Swan custom case
Brand new Magma strings 30-125
Removable ramp included
9.7lbs (chunky baby)


I'll have more pics an impressions, but here's the reasons I'm selling, and the long/short of it:

1) I enjoyed this foray into short scales, but the oddness of going back and forth between this and my normal 34" Sadowsky/Olinto/etc is too weird

2) I still don't think I'll ever use a 6 string outside of a practice room. I've tried and always end up fumbling over that C-string and wishing for a 5 string

3) My interaction with this Mike Pope Pre, and how versatile and dynamic it is with all the coil tap options/EQ, just made me realize that I've had a unfulfilled Fodera GAS in the back of my mind for years now.

I'm looking for cash on this deal. NO TRADES but then I'm a nice feller who's up for a little PM back and forth either way.


Thanks!

Luke
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Comments

ElMon

ElMon

Supporting Member
May 30, 2004
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Another 'revelatory moment' happened for me with this bass ...

I found a way to make a single-cut design feel comfortable worn low on the strap. I prefer a low-slung bass in general, contrary to most folks I think, who wear it up high.

This bass does 'make more sense' when worn that way, but feels pretty would when placed down by your hips.
 
ElMon

ElMon

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May 30, 2004
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I need to get some clips up to prove it but yes it does. Very tight and pitch articulate

ergonomically, it is one of the most comfortable playing experiences I’ve had.
 
ElMon

ElMon

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May 30, 2004
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The Pope pre and the pickup switching options really blew me olde wig back guvna.

Anyone could conceivably and musically rip off Jaco, Marcus AND Jamerson on the same gig, with an Anthony Jackson flair, which I always aspire to do every song and especially on ballads
 
ElMon

ElMon

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May 30, 2004
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This one's on my 'if it does NOT sell, I'm not mad about it' list.

The more and more I play it: it's definitely outside of my wheelhouse, but in the best of ways.
 
ElMon

ElMon

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May 30, 2004
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Oklahoma City, OK
SELLER'S GUARANTEE. JANUARY 10TH, 2024

I posit that a soon-to-be-sold bass, left in it's case, begins to atrophy, and that the wood begins to contract, because it is the vibrations of finger against string, sending sweet bass tones through the body, that is the mana to this instruments soul, and nourishment for its body.

Keeping that in mind, and until this bass is sold by me, I vow to any prospective buyer that I will, on a daily basis, take said instrument out of it's case, and that I will play ONLY the type of indulgent, 'look-at-me' bass runs, that span the entire fretboard, so that every 'fiber' of this instruments living/breathing 'body', receives these life-giving, vibratory 'feedings'.

Where possible, I will play four note chords in odd patterns that never sound as good as, say, a regular guitar, and I might get up to some slapping, but rest-assured, I have a protocol here.

Your friend,

ElMon
 
ElMon

ElMon

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May 30, 2004
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Oklahoma City, OK
With a short-scale, extended range bass like this, you are much less likely, and this is just an objective fact, to smack the guitar player or singer in the face, when they snap around quickly to tell you that you missed that last chord, or that you should stop playing Alt #13 extensions on the upper strings whilst they are trying to scat into a microphone.

'Extended' scales, in my case 34", coinciding with the longer Fender-esque headstock, have very nearly caused instant jaw correction in a bandmate or two, over the years. The only differences between my initial 'what if', and my own actual experiences over the years, is that singers and guitar players only turn to me like that to tell me how nice my hair looks, and how handsome I appear under stage-lighting.
 
ElMon

ElMon

Supporting Member
May 30, 2004
7,364
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Oklahoma City, OK
You're on a Delta flight.
An unruly passenger begins to have an anxiety attack that manifests as Rick Flair whoops and imitations of the Axel Rose scream.
Polite discourse and the communal, unspoken rules of the plane, has been broken by pure chaos.

And yet you, who had a short-scale 6-string bass that was compact enough to put into the overhead bin, snap into action.
You open the hatch, remove the case, and amidst bewildered and stressed out passengers, you open the lid to your FONK stick.

Human brains that are used to not paying attention to 'the bass' look upon this compact thing with no comprehension.

Until you lean into the raving, wild-eyed passenger, and begin playing extended 9-chord patterns high up on the neck, while you croon softly in long tones along to the chord changes. It's barely loud enough to hear, but the singing confuses the mad man in his seat, as does the FONK stick, with it's odd top and controls and that landing-strip fretboard.

You begin to solo in a modal part of a major key, and manage to calm the beast.

Try that @#$% with an extended scale.
Not even Southwest would allow that.
 
ElMon

ElMon

Supporting Member
May 30, 2004
7,364
6,345
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Oklahoma City, OK
You don't necessarily have to grow a long, flowing pony-tail once you receive this bass, but I highly-recommend it.
My locks are 3-years into the process, and I feel that much hipper, or dare I say 'smooth-jazzier', whilst strapping this bass high-up, so that the elegant contour of the bass fits right underneath my well-developed left pectoral muscle, and with my XXL Kangol hat worn backwards.

For my follicily-challenged brethren, I will include a 'Davy Crockett' style raccoon-skin cap, specially designed to resemble a human head of hair on top, with the typical 'flared and puffy tale' design. Not recommended for warm/tropical climates unfortunately, so I'm thinking primarily about my Cleveland/St.Paul/Decatur/Michigan/Indiana TB'ers.

Balding Floridians, hit me up and we'll work something out.
Skullets and bald-ponytail guys: I'll knock a full 10% off of my asking price if you send me a picture via PM.
 
mrperkolator

mrperkolator

Jan 4, 2020
2,691
4,306
Nope
Very cool bass. Typically that many strings doesn’t draw me.

Outside my skill and price range tho… :unsure:
 
ElMon

ElMon

Supporting Member
May 30, 2004
7,364
6,345
44
Oklahoma City, OK
PENDING SALE

No ponytails were harmed in the transaction.
Future owner is committed to playing 'angrily-melodic Emo-Core' (he could've said Emu) with this bass slung slow, his left-hand pinky with a jagged piece of a beer bottle, covering the finger and ready for Mark Sandman of Morphine-level slide bass melodies, whilst he continues to comp/hold down the groove.

I said: send me picture of all of that (but no audio please) as part of the deal.

This, is how you get deals done.

Your friend

ElMon

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(not an actual picture. just a screenshot)
 

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