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Kawai FIIB Owners Group, or FOG

Chef

Chef

In Memoriam
May 23, 2004
41,814
18,945
65
Columbia MO
Disclosures
Staff Reviewer; Bass Gear Magazine
#1
Got an FIIB? Love it?
Welcome to FOG!
Here's mine:
kawaifrontwide.jpg

kawaiheadstock.jpg

kawaifrontcu.jpg


Just got it last week. It really was New Old Stock...never been played...
Haven't gigged it yet, but will this week.
So far tho, I live it.
Big, clear, clean piano tone.
I'd been looking for something that could grind harder than a G&L L2000; this may be it.

If you've got one, post your pics and experiences; I'm all ears.
 
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Reactions: Mike Tejeda, mikewalker, Maurizzio13 and 1 other person
#2
I've got 2 now...Your's is identical to my fretted version but I've got a flame maple version that has had the fretboard professionally replaced to be fretless. It also has a Bartolini pup system in it. OMG!!:eek: it's now my favorite fretless - tone out the wazoo!!!

I'm going to get these pro steels off of the fretted and get back to a softer nickel string and that one's going to see more action.

BTW - I've got 2 other RB series Kawai's too!

Congrats on the great snag!!
 
#11
Chef said:
Got an FIIB? Love it?
Welcome to FOG!.

If you've got one, post your pics and experiences; I'm all ears.
Click to expand...
You asked for it. Crappy pics, but the best I have and it's in Tamworth ATM, so I can't take any more.

kawai2.jpg


kawai1.jpg


kawai3.jpg


kawai4.jpg


kawai5.jpg


kawai6.jpg


kawai7.jpg


And last but not least, a gratuitous shot of my Koa and graphite Kawai KRB.

KRB105.jpg


I agree about the tone. This bass completely cured me of any desire to buy a longscale Alembic. It doesn't sound the same, but it's very, very good.
 
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Reactions: Fairfax Aikman, mjm0, Root 5 and 1 other person
#13
Chef said:
See your pic 3?
That's how high I want my pups...:(...sniff...
And I'm too stupid to figger out how to do it!
Click to expand...
That's how it came when I bought it. All I've done is put new strings on it; perfect otherwise.

Dr. Cheese said:
Here's a black one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BASS-GUITAR-KAW...oryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Click to expand...
It'll be interesting to see how much it goes for, but the price is already more than I paid for mine and shipping to Oz IIRC.
 
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#14
I picked up a nice one a couple of years ago. Sounded okay at home through my Ampeg B-100R, took it on a gig and all I had was an abundance of highs. Those active pickups really do their thing. Didn't spend much time trying to fix it or figure out what was up... it was a gig.
 
#16
Chef said:
Thru my eden stuff-whcih has huuuuge eq-it was real easy to add enuff low end to make it "Thun-dah!."
Click to expand...

I operate on the other side of that coin... if I have to dial in something that's completely missing I don't want it. I play too many different basses to deal with that. I gig with my amp's EQ set flat. If the bass doesn't have at least a decent basic sound that way... oh well. OTOH it's a very cool bass for someone who doesn't mind tweaking.
:)
 
#19
The dark mark on the zebra is a natural flaw under the finish. It's one thing that attracted me to the bass in first place. Bought it 6 or so years ago from a vintage place in Virginia Beach VA on ebay for $475. The fretless was another ebay deal just this past October and it lightened my account for $575. I didn't care about the originality of the fretless bridge. Whoever used the Hondo bridge, lucked out with the fit. It's perfect and allows the string thru feature. I'm debating putting a Schaller on there to make it like the later models but I'm afraid to mess with the tone. I think that strings thru the body - at least for this bass - does have an effect. With the barts and the super hard fingerboard, this one is a definite keeper.
 

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