Barrington basses

[worldhater]

Hi everyone. I'm looking for any info on these basses. I know they were made in the U.S.A, used by Randy Coven and TM Stevens and there's one review on harmony central which doesn't give much info away. Does anyone here knows something about them? have anyone tried/owned one of them? or maybe can contact me with someone that knows about them?? please anything, the name of the luthier, I don't know. Thanks in advance.

http://www.randycovensite.com/displayImage.php?imageID=110

 

[Louie Mudd]

Well since you said "anything", I'll post what I know, which isn't much.

In 1990/91 I was an exchange student to the USA. I lived in West Chicago and there was a sort of musical instruments fair in the area.

I remember trying a Barrington bass, which I loved. I don't remember any details very clearly. Except that it was a dark wood body with a natural finish. Somewhat like the finish on Warwick basses (which at the time I only know from ads in Bass Player Magazine)

I remember I liked the sound and feel of the bass. I was really impressed. After I came back to Brazil I told my friends all about this bass.

Anyway, some time after the fair there was a story in the Chicago Tribune about luthiers and "the barrington guy" was featured. Barrington is a city in Illinois after wich he named his instruments.

Maybe the Chicago Tribune has an archive which you can search. I'm not sure exactly when the story was printed, but it was between august 1990 and July 1991. More likely in 1990.

Hope this helps

LM

 

[LifeIsBass]

I'd like some info on these basses, too.

I've actually got one. I bought it in a pawn shop years ago. It's an active 4-string fretless with soapbar pickups. The body is very jazz-like and is an off-white color with gold hardware. I never play it because it needs some work (I'm assuming a new nut). The open A string just goes "clunk" when strummed. It's a decent bass, nothing special. Nice jazz bass tone, but noisy electronics.

 

[engedi]

Good bass, bad electronics. If I recall the story, Barrington guitars was owned by Peter La Placa (father of actress Allison La Placa) see http://pjlamusic.com/about.htm for some more background.

The workmanship on the instruments where quit good. It was the quality of the electronics that were lacking. I think their strategy was to invest in the craftsmanship but skimp on the electronics. I had a friend that worked at Barrington (and then LA Sax) for a while and I recall him saying that if you found one that was wired correctly, you got lucky.

I was one of the lucky ones, sort of. When I first got it back in the early 90's, it played ok. I didn't expect much from it at the time (the band I was in played alot of Police and this fit the bill nicely). Over the years I've been playing this more and more to the point that the cheesey-cheapo electronics just don't cut it anymore. It that has since been moded w/ Bartolini electronics and a badass bridge. I've gone Manring on it w/ the uber lite strings and boy does it sound sweeetttt. It will sound better when I get around to replacing the pickup's.

(Side note: does anyone know why one would angle the neck pickup? It kinda sucks when I want a little more low out of my D and G. I think its lacking that extra umph because of the angle.)

My recommendation is to anyone that finds one is to pick it up if it's not to dinged or unplayable do to conditioning (i.e. warped neck, cracked body, etc..) and replace the electronics. It could be your next work horse.

(Pre-badass pic)
Invalid Link Removed

 

[pre-cbs]

I owned a 5 string Barrington, bought it new from Rudy's in NYC around 1989. I brought it across the street to Sadowsky's shop and had the electronics switched to Sadowsky's. It was a great sounding bass, played pretty well but had a neck dive.

 

[Thonk]

NECRO BUMP !

So after 30 years of looking i finally managed to track down a Barrington NTB-332 Newport Bass in japan ! (listed as an Aria)

It's Currently at Zenmarkets Warehouse awatting packing for Air shipping, so should be with me in about a week or so.

Unfortunately the front of the body has been engraved looks like a nice job just not my thing...also looks like it needs a DEEP clean.

Not sure how deep carve this will be but if it's just in the clear i'll take it down level and re-clear coat it, if it's deeper and into the top i think i'll fill,level and refinish it in magenta pearl (like Sammy- Randy Coven Barrington sig)

Im really interested in checking out the Laminated neck

I've read a few diffrent takes on the make up on these necks with some stating they are Maple/Walnut, but during a bit of a deep drive i read about Barrington's Jazz boxes with the same neck makeup stated that they are infact Oak/Walnut, to me it "looks" more like Oak/Walnut, i guess the weight will be a dead give away once it arrives!

Fretboard is listed as "Carbonal" ? Never heard of this before so im thinking its some type of Ritchlite/Ebonal but with carbon fiber? anyone got any idea ?

So im sure people will want to know the cost of getting hold of this one? List on these was $1200 in 1989 (today that $3.2k) this inc shipping/taxes landed in the UK will be about $300/£250 !, now you can see why im to to worried about that engraving i can only think the person who owned this had Zero idea of what it is.....

More pics Once Zenmarket take a few for me before packing it up and more pics and info once it arrives (will be a new thread id say)

Laters

Barrington Owners Club?

 

[TeeSee]

Never heard of 'em but I grew up in the 80's gigging with Japanese basses, wish I'd have hung in to them but we tend to be fools as kids.
That's a lovely looking bass tho' and if it plays anywhere as near good as what I has back then, I know you'll cherish it regardless of your doubts. Solid engineering

 

[T. Brookins]

Here is my Japanese-American queen, the deep blue 1988 ESP Barrington TMS-5 delight. 8.3lbs, upgraded with Hipshot Ultralight tuners (no neck dive) and a two band preamp with the treble portion snipped and passive tone installed instead. Treble boost on the original preamp was harsh and redundant, especially with how crisp, direct, and bright this bass is. It’s basically a great sounding 24 fret Jazz Bass with a modern zing of needed. The custom Gotoh pickups are fairly quiet while soloed for being single coils. The striped ebony board and carved alder body impart a very immediate and defined tone unlike anything I’ve heard— and I’ve heard a lot! The neck is almost dead straight, and is capable of extremely low action. The Gotoh 206 bridge is very solid and rattle free, although quite fiddly to setup. I found it on marketplace for a steal, and it appeared to have been sitting outside a case without strings for quite a long time. So much dust and grime. If I could ever find another, I’d very highly recommend it for anyone looking for a Sadowsky Jazz 24 or a rare vintage-yet-modern take on the Ibanez Mode bass. This bass is at a very high level in terms of solidity, definition, build, and mojo. The Japanese way. I can’t say enough good about it! If you are ever fortunate enough see one for sale, get it and keep it healthy!

 

[T. Brookins]

Here is my Japanese-American queen, the deep blue 1988 ESP Barrington TMS-5 delight. 8.3lbs, upgraded with Hipshot Ultralight tuners (no neck dive) and a two band preamp with the treble portion snipped and passive tone installed instead. Treble boost on the original preamp was harsh and redundant, especially with how crisp, direct, and bright this bass is. It’s basically a great sounding 24 fret Jazz Bass with a modern zing of needed. The custom Gotoh pickups are fairly quiet while soloed for being single coils. The striped ebony board and carved alder body impart a very immediate and defined tone unlike anything I’ve heard— and I’ve heard a lot! The neck is almost dead straight, and is capable of extremely low action. The Gotoh 206 bridge is very solid and rattle free, although quite fiddly to setup. I found it on marketplace for a steal, and it appeared to have been sitting outside a case without strings for quite a long time. So much dust and grime. If I could ever find another, I’d very highly recommend it for anyone looking for a Sadowsky Jazz 24 or a rare vintage-yet-modern take on the Ibanez Mode bass. This bass is at a very high level in terms of solidity, definition, build, and mojo. The Japanese way. I can’t say enough good about it! If you are ever fortunate enough see one for sale, get it and keep it healthy!

Made by Terada, not ESP, it looks like.

 

[Thonk]

Here is my Japanese-American queen, the deep blue 1988 ESP Barrington TMS-5 delight. 8.3lbs, upgraded with Hipshot Ultralight tuners (no neck dive) and a two band preamp with the treble portion snipped and passive tone installed instead. Treble boost on the original preamp was harsh and redundant, especially with how crisp, direct, and bright this bass is. It’s basically a great sounding 24 fret Jazz Bass with a modern zing of needed. The custom Gotoh pickups are fairly quiet while soloed for being single coils. The striped ebony board and carved alder body impart a very immediate and defined tone unlike anything I’ve heard— and I’ve heard a lot! The neck is almost dead straight, and is capable of extremely low action. The Gotoh 206 bridge is very solid and rattle free, although quite fiddly to setup. I found it on marketplace for a steal, and it appeared to have been sitting outside a case without strings for quite a long time. So much dust and grime. If I could ever find another, I’d very highly recommend it for anyone looking for a Sadowsky Jazz 24 or a rare vintage-yet-modern take on the Ibanez Mode bass. This bass is at a very high level in terms of solidity, definition, build, and mojo. The Japanese way. I can’t say enough good about it! If you are ever fortunate enough see one for sale, get it and keep it healthy!

Love the Look of those TM Stevens, Never seen one pop up this side of the Pond (UK) but given that it's almost 40 years old it puts some of the "modern" J Shape to shame, thank's for the post very cool...Plz Go join my Barrington Owner club thread

My 4 String Newport is still in a box traveling across the world from JP to the UK......SURFACE SHIPPING...I had to back it down to Surface because ZenMarkets Air quote was WAY WAY off the mark, Before i bought the bass and had it shipped to their warehouse their Shipping Caculator gave be a Ballpark of $71/£50 for 6 Day AIR.....Great...After the bass arived and was package (99% the same Size/weight id estimated for) shipping at Check out jump to £180/$242! Air.....***

Surface was the only option i was will to pay for $85/£63 upto 3 Months.wait...that or lose the Bass, I had a bit of a go with Zenmarket's CS Via messages and the "team" have made some changes to the Estimation Caculator...It's still off by a good $30/£20 based on what i paided vs their estimates are so be warry of what looks like to good to be true shipping costs from these Japanese reshippers because once your order they have you over a barrel.

Cheers