NBD: a Craigslist ad and $60 later....

[scuzzy]

My wife laughs at my Craigslist addiction. For Lent this year, I actually gave up Craigslist. I scour it pretty regularly, but should probably lighten up.

My searching has yielded great results though. I got these 3 basses off CL. The USA Peavey came with a microbass amp and the Peavey and ibby came with factory molded hard cases and nice quality straps. MTD came with a stand. Total cost for all of it was only $460. To me, CL is the modern pawn shop for hidden gems.

 

[Uncle Hanky]

I'll give you $75 For it right now.

Great score. Congrats!

I'll give him $78.43 and a bottle of Thunderbird.

 

[kleinenenten]

Dang. Too bad I missed that one. Usually on top of local CL. Good find - I'm jealous!

 

[kleinenenten]

My wife laughs at my Craigslist addiction. For Lent this year, I actually gave up Craigslist. I scour it pretty regularly, but should probably lighten up.

My searching has yielded great results though. I got these 3 basses off CL. The USA Peavey came with a microbass amp and the Peavey and ibby came with factory molded hard cases and nice quality straps. MTD came with a stand. Total cost for all of it was only $460. To me, CL is the modern pawn shop for hidden gems.

Ditto. Got a solid ESP guitar for $25 a year or so ago. It was broke, but just had to solder a wire to the output jack. Upgraded the pickups with some cheapies, and even then, it only cost about $50 total. Plays nice, sounds fantastic.

 

[japhy4529]

First gen MTD Kingston. Nothing crazy fancy. Very solid bass. Clearly made for wankery! But alas, I cannot wank.

Nice!

Hey, teach a man to wank and he can, er, wank all the time!

 

[ak56]

$60?
Wow!

Love my Kingston, and I paid a lot more fir mine.

 

[NKBassman]

How bout $20 and a bottle of lagavulin?

I've got $20 and a bottle of Olde English "aging" in my beer fridge with your name on it.

 

[DocShocker]

That's a great grab. In have a Kingston 4, with a rosewood board, and it is far and away my favorite bass.

Congratulations on your NBD!

 

[Engle]

After a massive setup, playing pretty nice! Lotsa mojo on this one, probably hard to see in the pics. Had to disassemble the bridge and reassemble correctly. Strings were going through screw holes, screws through string holes......all sorts of odd.

Folks weren't kidding, these things is BRIGHT! 2 band active EQ with pull passive. Lotsa growl on this one too. Now I must sleep. Picked up right after the night shift ended...

Nice! Great score!

 

[FenderB]

Here is the pre. Says

"2 BAND E.Q. G&B co."

No idea. Get em TB!

Have you thought about putting it back to it's original configuration?

 

[abarson]

Here is the pre. Says

"2 BAND E.Q. G&B co."

No idea. Get em TB!

G&B G-105-1, a common Korean made EQ. Obviously aftermarket, as Michael Tobias wouldn't go with something without some name recognition. The electrical tape is kind of a giveaway as well. That said, it looks fairly well done, with the modder smartly opting for a stacked pot instead of drilling more holes.

I also think in might sound better restored to passive, or at minimum with a better preamp. With the low purchase price, what have you got to lose?

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Can this pickup be coil tapped?

If it has at least three wires coming out of it, then yes.
Most likely it has 4 wires & two of those will be soldered together & shrink-wrapped.

The ones that are connected are where the coils meet in the middle, so it's easy to figure out how to coil tap it.
Me, I'd rather run it series or parallel vs. coil tapping, because coil-tapping will make it susceptible to EMF/EMI, while parallel will give you a similar timbre, but retain the noise-cancelling properties of the humbucker.

 

[BlueAliceOasis]

I saw one American MTD NBD and now this. Great freaking day on TalkBass.

 

[BassikLee]

Not coil tapped, but single/dual, yes. That and/or series/single/parallel. Very few pickups are actually coil tapped.

 

[electracoyote]

Outstanding score, congrats and enjoy!

 

[scuzzy]

Not coil tapped, but single/dual, yes. That and/or series/single/parallel. Very few pickups are actually coil tapped.

Awesome, I will dig into it this coming week.

 

[iplay5strings]

I just bought the same generation bass. Korean made, with the pickup placement in the traditional MM sweet spot and not slammed to the bridge like the later versions. This has to be the best MM copy I've ever played (and maybe the best MM style bass period). Mine came with a Bartolini NTBT preamp, but still has the stock pickup. Has a very Fender era MM sound to it, I love it. Everything on these earlier basses seems done better IMO. The neck finish is very robust, the carve is pretty spot on to Mike's hand carved necks and the bridge is a VERY good Hipshot clone.

 

[scuzzy]

I just bought the same generation bass. Korean made, with the pickup placement in the traditional MM sweet spot and not slammed to the bridge like the later versions. This has to be the best MM copy I've ever played (and maybe the best MM style bass period). Mine came with a Bartolini NTBT preamp, but still has the stock pickup. Has a very Fender era MM sound to it, I love it. Everything on these earlier basses seems done better IMO. The neck finish is very robust, the carve is pretty spot on to Mike's hand carved necks and the bridge is a VERY good Hipshot clone.

couldn't agree more. the cheap preamp has grown on me. i can get outstanding tones for pick-style or slap. the growl with a pick is great. the neck is so comfortable, I don't even know where to begin....

 

[scuzzy]

little update. I ordered some new noble detent pots for the preamp (the stacked wasn't detented and was wearing out) and I installed a passive tone control as well. i drilled 2 more holes in the body. I also cleaned up the fretboard and frets. I took off the pickguard, as I think I prefer it without. I copper shielded the cavities. The electronics sound much nicer with the passive tone control. much more versatile. and now, I can use the passive mode as well. Now I'm just waiting for my DR Bootzilla's to get in from BSO. eager to hear with some new strings.