This was an ebay rescue bass. I played one of these a few years back and resolved to grab one when the opportunity arose. The seller, while not dishonest, wasn't exactly lavish on the details in the listing, but I bought it anyway and it arrived with only one pickup working and the whole bass looking like it had been handled by a small child who'd recently eaten barbecue.
Caveat emptor.
The short version is it cleaned up nicely and I had enough parts in the bin to replace the aging satin chrome hardware with black (or, in the case of the Carvin/Hipshot bridge, black and gold.)
I found a NOS DeArmond preamp (again, on ebay) and everything now works as it should. While I was at it I shielded both the pickup and preamp cavities with shielding paint.
You'll also notice I removed the headstock logo. Nothing against Fender/DeArmond, it was just dirty and started to come up when I was cleaning it, so I opted to remove it completely. The fingerboard was cleaned and oiled and the body, headstock and back of the neck got a few coats of satin Wipe-On Poly for good measure. There are still a few dings on the body and neck that I opted to leave.
So that's the story. Here are some specs:
- 35" scale
- Ash body wings
- 5-piece neck
- rosewood fingerboard
- DeArmond pickups and preamp (3-band)
- Carvin/Hipshot bridge (16mm spacing)
- currently strung with D'Addario ProSteels
- Gotoh tuners
- Schaller staplocks
I don't have a case for it, but it'll be packed well. It's a fine bass that listed for over $1000 when the line first debuted. I'm looking for [DEL]$350[/DEL] $275 shipped.
SOLD!
Thanks!
J.
Caveat emptor.
The short version is it cleaned up nicely and I had enough parts in the bin to replace the aging satin chrome hardware with black (or, in the case of the Carvin/Hipshot bridge, black and gold.)
I found a NOS DeArmond preamp (again, on ebay) and everything now works as it should. While I was at it I shielded both the pickup and preamp cavities with shielding paint.
You'll also notice I removed the headstock logo. Nothing against Fender/DeArmond, it was just dirty and started to come up when I was cleaning it, so I opted to remove it completely. The fingerboard was cleaned and oiled and the body, headstock and back of the neck got a few coats of satin Wipe-On Poly for good measure. There are still a few dings on the body and neck that I opted to leave.
So that's the story. Here are some specs:
- 35" scale
- Ash body wings
- 5-piece neck
- rosewood fingerboard
- DeArmond pickups and preamp (3-band)
- Carvin/Hipshot bridge (16mm spacing)
- currently strung with D'Addario ProSteels
- Gotoh tuners
- Schaller staplocks
I don't have a case for it, but it'll be packed well. It's a fine bass that listed for over $1000 when the line first debuted. I'm looking for [DEL]$350[/DEL] $275 shipped.
SOLD!
Thanks!
J.
