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Any info on THIS bass? ("Rickenbacker" content)

Jjango

Jjango

Nov 16, 2007
1,329
116
Los Angeles, CA
#1
Rickenbacker 4005 style hollow body. This picture was posted on TB a month or two ago, with no further information:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I Googled for "Waterstone bass", but couldn't find even a single word or image pertaining to this model – including on the Waterstone website.

Any clues? Model name? Price? Anything?!?
 
#3
As great as they look, and even though there is a small cadre of fanatics who love them, and even though I myself have a 4002 which was my gigging bass for years until some old injuries started coming back to haunt me and I had to get a custom fanned fret bass to keep playing, they aren't the best basses for tone. Even Mr. JH himself doesn't care for the design, being effectively just an elongated 360 guitar, and has even referred to the upper horn as a "donkey schlong." Don't look for any "new" or "reissues" anytime soon, maybe even in this lifetime.
 
#8
I did a little search and stumbled across a neat post on the Rickresource forum.

i am new here and have a small guitar company called waterstone. my favorite bass is my 4005. i designed a waterstone model after it which can be seen here:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the link does not work.

I would be interested to know the specifications. Robert doesn't have an actual account on the Rickresource forum so I couldn't search through his posts to find more information. I thought it was called the ME-2 because of the link, but when I search Waterstone ME-2, it's a completely different bass.
 
#11
Josh Pelican said:
I thought it was called the ME-2 because of the link, but when I search Waterstone ME-2, it's a completely different bass.
Click to expand...
I Googled for "Waterstone ME-2" and came up with this (and you're right, it is a different, though similar bass):

35349.jpg
 
#13
Waterstone claim to make this:

Waterstone%20Skelly%20Bass%20CSB%20Close.jpg


However I've never this model, called the "Skelly", advertised around the place. Infact some people on this forum thought it was 'vapourware', a product that was all but released and held back at the last moment with all the trade material being produced, sort of like how the Fender Maurauder turned up in catalogues at the time.

Those two basses OP posted seem definitely lurid, akin to what Rickenbacker might have done in the late '60s or early '70s.
 
#14
Jjango said:
I Googled for "Waterstone ME-2" and came up with this (and you're right, it is a different, though similar bass):

35349.jpg
Click to expand...

They may have changed the body shape, hardware, etc to that more Gibson look to avoid infringement issues.
The change in pickup placement will make a completely different sounding bass, I'm sure.
The pink and green examples may have been prototypes, since they do look to be very close copies of the 4005.

Luckily I've never had 4005 GAS. The prices they sell for are just crazy now.
 
#17
The Skelly bass has been for sale for a while. Waterstone was blowing prototypes out on eBay recently for well under $200 each.

The ME-2 IS the 4005-inspired bass. The latest production version was the greenburst and pinkburst style, but it's not coming out in those finishes to my knowledge. I've also seen a natural version of that one. I thought those were going to show at the July NAMM, but they weren't in the booth.

Waterstone also has a really cool bass called the Meaden, which is inspired by the early '60s RIC 360F guitars...checkerboard binding and all. That is a medium scale model currently for sale and clocks in at under $700 in black, natural and burgundy.
 

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