Official Fernandes Club

[HowieD72]

One thing I just noticed: The pickup selector switch is not the original type. The original is a special type of 2-pole rotary switch, whereas this is just a toggle
It's possible that the wiring is still the same, but my fear is that this may be one of those cases where someone gutted some/all of the original electronics, and replaced it with basic passive controls.

Unfortunately, since the seller said they don't know anything about the bass, we can't tell for now.
But if anyone is seriously interested in it, I'd suggest asking them to just unscrew the back plate, and sending a photo of the inside of the controls cavity. It should be pretty obvious if the original electronics are still there - they're pretty distinctive looking.

If not - it would probably still be a pretty cool bass (and frankly, probably way easier to maintain), just not worth as much money as a 100% original one. And I guarantee absolutely nobody in the audience would care!

Here we go @mikedeeez Let me know what you think.............

 

[mikedeeez]

Ooh, nice! Yep, that looks completely stock, at least as far as I can tell from comparing those photos to photos of other instruments, including mine. Thanks for posting them!
The only part that definitely isn't stock is that pickup selector switch, as I mentioned earlier. Honestly - I have thought about replacing mine with a toggle switch like that (and then swap it back to original if I ever sell it). If you're trying to switch pickups during a song, it's WAY faster with a toggle switch vs. the stock 4-position rotary switch, especially if you already have a pick in your hand. So I wouldn't be too put-off by that change. As long as it functions correctly, I would consider it to a functional upgrade.

One other thing that would definitely be a "nice to have" is the original power supply, the Fernandes "PS-5". Do you know if it's included?
If it actually does include the original power supply, awesome. They're rarer than hen's teeth!

If not, it's not a major deal. Neither of my Fernandes FAB/FAG came with the original power supply, so I still have never seen one. A great thing about the Fernandes FAB (vs. the Alembic Series 1) is that it can run for far longer on batteries.
[That's the drawback to those premium opamp chips that Alembic Series I/II instruments use - they're major power hogs, and will drain (2) 9V batteries in a matter of hours. You pretty much need the power supply box. But since the FAB uses far more typical opamps, batteries last a pretty good long time. I use batteries.]

FYI - the only significant drawback to using batteries is that the 1/4" jack is stereo (TRS). If you plug in a typical mono cable, you'll only hear the neck pickup (unless someone modified the wiring, but as far as I can tell, this one appears to be stock).
To hear both pickups, best options are:
1) Use a stereo-to-mono Y-splitter 1/4" cable, and both output cables (i.e. neck pickup signal and bridge pickup signal) to a mixer or summer device to combine the signals back to mono.
or
2) Modify a 1/4" cable to be stereo at one end, and mono at the other, and solder in a couple of resistors inside the plug housing. This is what I did, and not as hard as it sounds. Credit to the Alembic Forum for figuring this out. If you (or anyone) needs a link that explains how to do this, I can share!

I also built my own version of the PS-5 power supply, as a backup. Long story - but if anyone's interested, I can fill you in on what I did. Works fine, but I actually still prefer batteries.