And another one! (my "boutique")

I mentioned in another thread that the old Cort I gave to my son 15 years ago came back to me last weekend. Well, this evening we got a message from a friend of ours who needed some money fast that she was trying to sell her bass. She built it over 20+ years ago, using an old Precision neck from the late 60s/70s, and a poplar and walnut blank cut to her own design. It's a little odd, but the pickup configuration is even odder -- a P split-coil and 2 Js. But the Js are actually two separate wound single coils (like the P pu, but placed end-to-end), and little switches can change the configuration of each from series (straight single coil) to parallel (humbucking). Does that make sense? Plays nice, and lots of tonal variations.

The price? $100. It's like these things are dropping from the sky!

Anyhow, here it is (this picture is from her website -- I haven't even had time to take photos yet):

 

That's what I figured (but maybe not 10x). The truss rod does work, and frets are nicely leveled and dressed. That, and the bridge, the tuners, the pickups -- how could I go wrong even just for parts?

 

Well, it was never my intention to "part it out" when I bought it. But as to the value of the parts individually surpassing the purchase price -- I'm just saying . . .

I seriously doubt she'll have any interest in buying it back, even if I was inclined to offer. She knows I'll get much more use from it than she ever would, and has tried to sell it before -- just at a higher asking price. Let's face it: it's not a name brand instrument, it's not made by a known luthier, and it has some flaws. Not really a high demand item. That said, despite these negative factors, I do appreciate the bass it for what it is, a decent quality, one-of-a kind instrument that has a quite versatile tonal palette.

Here are some more pictures: