1999 Special Edition Lakland basses

[mflatau]

Hey everyone! I just picked up a 1999 special edition Lakland 55-94 with quilted maple top, awesome bem fret board and gold hardware. It also has the Bartolini pups and electronics. I have tried to find out more about this limited series, but there isn't much out there. It seems that they were a 5 year anniversary run of basses with highly quilted tops and high quality figured bem necks (where applicable), hand selected bodies for tone and weight, and that there was 40 made (20 4-string and 20 5-string). I believe that they all came with gold hardware too. The main way to tell is the serial number which ranged from 99-01 to 99-20. Mine is 99-19.

So, who else out there has one? Show some pics and share what you know.

 

[mflatau]

No Flash:

With flash:

Birds Eye Maple fretboard (doesn't do the bass justice):

Back without flash (so shiny you can see the reflection of my drums)

Back with flash:

Gold tuners:

Serial Number:

 

[mflatau]

I hit up Lakland for some info on this run of basses. This is the response I got:

"OK - I found out they were essentially our 55-94 model, but with gold hardware and extra fancy quilt tops."

 

[basspraiser]

major congrats on a stunner!!!!

come on over the LOG thread here for more lakie fun!

 

[bassarama]

I had been a dealer at the time and got #09.
It was a ridiculous bass in every way.
EASILY one of the best basses I have ever played in history.
It was 3TSB

The next order was from a forest ranger in Eastern Canada for her fiancé !!!!!
I think it was #013. This was even MORE beautiful than the first one (#09) in appearance.

There is another one here in Toronto that I did not sell, that the owner found on the internet.

Then I saw a ridiculous Natural Quilted Maple 5 that I kick myself for not buying at only $1700 two years ago.
Never did see any 4 string ones though ???

Awesome bass you got there and if you ever wanna sell or trade it...lemme know...I got a lot of nice pieces

 

[mark beem]

NICE!!! That top looks 3-D!! Beautiful bass!

 

[mflatau]

Thanks basspraiser and Mark! The finish on the bass is truly stunning.

I had been a dealer at the time and got #09.
It was a ridiculous bass in every way.
EASILY one of the best basses I have ever played in history.
It was 3TSB

The next order was from a forest ranger in Eastern Canada for her fiancé !!!!!
I think it was #013. This was even MORE beautiful than the first one (#09) in appearance.

There is another one here in Toronto that I did not sell, that the owner found on the internet.

Then I saw a ridiculous Natural Quilted Maple 5 that I kick myself for not buying at only $1700 two years ago.
Never did see any 4 string ones though ???

Awesome bass you got there and if you ever wanna sell or trade it...lemme know...I got a lot of nice pieces

Thanks for the info bassarama. Good to see some other folks recognize our remember these basses. I got a pretty darn good deal on this one too. I plan on holding on to it for a while.

I saw an old FS ad for a four string with a rosewood fretboard from a year or two ago, but that's it. Pretty cool that you have been in contact with 20% of the 5 string models that were made.