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New bass day! A Birdsong HY5 (and I have never seen or heard about this little thing before). And you guys had a club!
This little 5 string beauty came up for sale... I had no idea what this thing was but bought it for $1150 as I liked the looks of it and was in the market for a 5-string (not expecting to end up with a 31"). The guy I bought it from did not even play bass and knew nothing about the bass at all. He had it in his livingroom for decorations as he obviously liked the way it looked. It had gotten no love what so ever and was dirty and in a mess when I got it, so I spend the best part of the morning trying to get it up and running before rehearsal today. Lots of cleaning, adjustments and new strings. I put on a set of GHS pressurewounds as the strings are a little bit stiffer than roundwounds. What a big sound! And, it had loads of sounds, just a slight turn on the volume knob and it changed completely It felt like an old analogue synth in the loads of options it had.
And, I was not used to neither the tight string spacing nor the B-string as I only have 4-string basses so I need to learn how to play properly on this thing (I needed a 5-string for backup, as I get hired for all sorts of gigs). But it will definetly see its fair share of daylight!
The 6 way Varitone was a bit scratchy so I opened up the cavity to look inside, and it was a handwritten message there. Do they still do that? And, it says 9H-020 HY5, does that mean that this bass is from 2009, is number 20 produced in this series and the model is the HY5? Does anyone know?
This little 5 string beauty came up for sale... I had no idea what this thing was but bought it for $1150 as I liked the looks of it and was in the market for a 5-string (not expecting to end up with a 31"). The guy I bought it from did not even play bass and knew nothing about the bass at all. He had it in his livingroom for decorations as he obviously liked the way it looked. It had gotten no love what so ever and was dirty and in a mess when I got it, so I spend the best part of the morning trying to get it up and running before rehearsal today. Lots of cleaning, adjustments and new strings. I put on a set of GHS pressurewounds as the strings are a little bit stiffer than roundwounds. What a big sound! And, it had loads of sounds, just a slight turn on the volume knob and it changed completely It felt like an old analogue synth in the loads of options it had.
And, I was not used to neither the tight string spacing nor the B-string as I only have 4-string basses so I need to learn how to play properly on this thing (I needed a 5-string for backup, as I get hired for all sorts of gigs). But it will definetly see its fair share of daylight!
The 6 way Varitone was a bit scratchy so I opened up the cavity to look inside, and it was a handwritten message there. Do they still do that? And, it says 9H-020 HY5, does that mean that this bass is from 2009, is number 20 produced in this series and the model is the HY5? Does anyone know?
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Beautiful!. I have a 5er on the way in the Spring, and have a 4 string Cortobass already. You'll love it. You should drop Scott an email n tell him what you told us. I think he likes to know where his babies go. You got a steal. Wish I knew how it ended up in a non-player's hands in that condition. Gotta be a story...
Yes, that is how to read the serial number.
You got an absolute steal, and best of all the instrument got a good home! Scott would be thrilled to hear of this.
Play it loud and proud!
He should reply, he's usually pretty good about that, hit him on Facebook Messenger if you want a quicker response.
He will still make that shape upon request, as well as variations on other models, 5 string Skyriders and Sadhanas are out there.
He did change the body style on the 5 strings. I am getting a 5er this spring. He has not started it yet... I like the old body style, and asked if he'd gimme a throwback body style... he said he'd look and see if he still had the template around.
Scott will probably reply at some point, but he'd rather talk on the phone (but no texting). 512.395.5126
My five string in alder should get moving soon. Number 94 on the website.
I placed the order before Covid back in like October/November of 2019 lol. My request for alder delayed it quite a bit though as the last time he tried to get alder he said the supply wasn't great so my build got bumped.
I placed the order before Covid back in like October/November of 2019 lol. My request for alder delayed it quite a bit though as the last time he tried to get alder he said the supply wasn't great so my build got bumped.
At least you're on the build page... I think there are about 10 more Cortos that have to be added to the build page (much less be built) before mine gets there.
Yeah I know the feeling. Tom Petty said it best, the waiting is the hardest part!
I originally placed an open order for a build just so I could get in for 2020 since Scott told me he was shifting his schedule after he hurt his knee and would be doing a pre summer batch and a post summer batch. If I remember correctly I later asked him to do an alder five which kind of delayed my build until he could get some good wood to work with.
@Peltor - welcome to the family. If you'd like, I can get you a "club number."
Lot of love around here for Birdsong and Scott Beckwith's work (and attitude). That one was special not just for the discontinued body shape but for that bridge. I'd forgotten he was doing those.
Also - know that the varitone is ALSO a bit of a throwback. Originally, he was getting the varitone kits from a third party vendor. Said-vendor had a rough patch and then went under completely. I think Scott briefly did a period where he was putting together his own, then moved to his preferred tone-knob wiring. That had to be 2009 or 2010.
So that bass is a treasure and well worth the cleanup/love you put into it.
Lot of love around here for Birdsong and Scott Beckwith's work (and attitude). That one was special not just for the discontinued body shape but for that bridge. I'd forgotten he was doing those.
Also - know that the varitone is ALSO a bit of a throwback. Originally, he was getting the varitone kits from a third party vendor. Said-vendor had a rough patch and then went under completely. I think Scott briefly did a period where he was putting together his own, then moved to his preferred tone-knob wiring. That had to be 2009 or 2010.
So that bass is a treasure and well worth the cleanup/love you put into it.
Thanks for the club number.
So do you (or any of you other guys here) recon I should throw out the varitone and put in a regular tone control with those Kent Armstrong soap bars? What do you guys prefer?
I would actually prefer the varitone for most things. I'm (somewhat) sad that they're no longer the norm. That sucker is a collectors item now.
Torres Engineering did two varitones - "guitar" and "bass" - I use quotes because Scott used the guitar varitone in most basses. He used the bass varitone in his "BBoxes" (wood-craft boxes with the varitone built in) and a couple of basses (the Fusion prototype being the only one I know of personally).
My feeling is that you have 5 totally musical, valuable sound settings available to you without having to go "where did I have the knob precisely" when something gets bumped.
Of course, your preferences may differ drastically. I spent 2007-2015 playing a two-pickup fretless Birdsong with volume knobs but no tone knob, and 2015-2020 playing a single pickup fretless with just volume. I used my BBox if I wanted more tone control than I could get with technique.
But like I said, that varitone bass is a collector's item.
But like I said, that varitone bass is a collector's item.
