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NBD: Peavey Foundation

Nunovsky

Nunovsky

Sep 4, 2004
3,220
7,151
50
Portugal
#1
This summer I went to hang out with a friend at his studio. He's a drummer but he likes to play bass and has a small colection of basses at home.
He showed me this black Peavey Foundation with maple board, with the super ferrite pickups that he had bought a few months ago.
I tried the bass and it felt super confortable, light and with an amazing neck. Then I played it on his Fender Rumble and I loved the tone. Sounds like a Jazz bass but with more meat on it, a bit fuller with more low mids and less high mids. Great tone on all configurations.
I loved that bass so much that I when to a local auction website to search for other Peavey Foundation that could BE available for sale.
So, two weeks ago I went to play with him and he told me that he was thinking of letting go of the bass.
We talked and settled a deal.
Yesterday I went to pick up the bass.
I love it! It's super light, has a great neck and sounds so good. According to the serial number it's from 1990.
Here is the mandatory picture.

IMG_20231218_210616.jpg
 
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#4
Tubehed said:
Congratulations! That ashtray cover is not original, but I think it is a cool addition. Those Super Ferrite pickups are beasts!
Click to expand...

I know. My friend changed the bridge and placed this ashtray cover to hide some extra holes. I kind of like it and I think it adds a bit of personality. If it gets in the way of my playing, I may take it off but for now it will stay.
 
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#9
Congrats. They are cool. I had a sunburst fretless 1990 one. My younger naive self thought unlined looked cooler so a friend’s woodworker dad helped me maple veneer over the fingerboard and stain it brown. It does not sound advisable and I wouldn’t do it now, but it almost worked. It had a couple bad spots that I then had a luthier level out and go ahead and dye it black while at it. It played fine but I sold it a couple years later. I wish I had left it stock and kept it.
 
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#12
Nice bass! I started Peavey with a used T40, switched to a new Foundation, went through a couple of them, then went to a 5 string DynaBass. I started playing Fenders in 89 and have been on them since. I've had some other basses since then, including a 4 string Dyna, but never one I played much before moving it on.
 
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#15
Nunovsky said:
This summer I went to hang out with a friend at his studio. He's a drummer but he likes to play bass and has a small colection of basses at home.
He showed me this black Peavey Foundation with maple board, with the super ferrite pickups that he had bought a few months ago.
I tried the bass and it felt super confortable, light and with an amazing neck. Then I played it on his Fender Rumble and I loved the tone. Sounds like a Jazz bass but with more meat on it, a bit fuller with more low mids and less high mids. Great tone on all configurations.
I loved that bass so much that I when to a local auction website to search for other Peavey Foundation that could BE available for sale.
So, two weeks ago I went to play with him and he told me that he was thinking of letting go of the bass.
We talked and settled a deal.
Yesterday I went to pick up the bass.
I love it! It's super light, has a great neck and sounds so good. According to the serial number it's from 1990.
Here is the mandatory picture.

View attachment 5288029
Click to expand...

Congrats!
 
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#16
Tim Skaggs said:
One of the, if not “the” best basic passive bass Peavey ever made. I had an ‘83 in Cinnamon Red with maple fingerboard that I loved, but in my youthful ignorance, traded it for another Peavey Foundation in ‘87. A Foundation “S” to be specific. At least I knew to keep this one.
View attachment 5288203
Click to expand...
I caught grief over the chainsaw cases more than a few times. :D
 
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#20
Nice! Interesting Peavey Foundation story time:

I bought one brand new in 1984 from Smith Brothers Music in Merritt Island FL. The guitar player in my band worked there and he told me that they couldn't keep these basses in stock, except they had two that wouldn't sell: a pink one and a purple one. He offered to sell me my choice at cost. I picked the pink one. Loved it.

A few years later, I sold it and almost immediately regretted it. From that moment on, I've had my eye out for another in the same color. It's been over 30 years. I've come close a few times, I once had a seller renege at the last second. I've reached out to a few people on this site that owned one requesting that if they ever wanted to sell theirs to please contact me before listing it.

Earlier this year I was in a hotel room in Florida the night before getting on a cruise ship for a gig. I checked my email and there was a message from someone I had reached out to saying they weren't selling theirs, but there was currently one on eBay that looked to be in good shape. I checked the listing and clicked "Buy" about 1 minute later. The bass is in absolutely mint shape and even has the original HSC.

Here's the thing though: the cruise ship was leaving from Port Canaveral. The hotel was in Merritt Island, about 1 mile from where Smith Bros. Music used to be. I hadn't been in that town in at least 35 years. So I've bought two pink 1984 Peavey Foundations, 39 years apart, and both times I was in Merritt Island, FL.

One thing I noticed about your bass is that the knobs don't appear to be original. Look at mine, it has the orignal lightning knobs. I have a set that I'd be willing to sell from a "barn find" Foundation I bought thinking I might restore, but it turned out to be unsalvageable. LMK if you're interested.

Foundation.jpg
 
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