OK, so I said I'd share "The bad" 2%... Truth is I feel bad noting the negatives because the bass and case overall are in such awesome condition for almost 8 years old I'd be tempted to call it "NOS."
But you can't spell "Analyst" without... yeah. So I'm going to find everything, and fix everything I can. It's in my nature.
1) First noted when unpacking: The seller did an above-average job packing (almost an entire roll of bubble wrap came out of the box) but UPS will be UPS.
Spotted even before openeing, the exterior screws holding the divider inside the case were loose and crooked. Uh. oh.
Investigation showed the MDF had split from some impact.
I have already fixed this - pulled the divider, glued and clamped the split, drilled and doweled the screw holes, re-glued the fabric, and all back together overnight. No huhu. Not really worth even a picture.
But when I opened the case for the first time, I saw this: The bass had shifted out of the recessed pocket and crushed the foam under the cloth, and was able to hit the (fur-covered) hinge on the lower right:
View attachment 7353386
This left a tiny set of scratches in the finish on the lower bout. They 90% rubbed out on first cleaning.
View attachment 7353388
I feared the worst, but everything else about the bass checks out, so the case gave it's life to the noble cause of protecting the instrument.
I will in future replace the damaged foam; "ablative armor." Upholstery and I are old friends, so NBD to repair.
2) The pickguard is in awesome shape, even still bits of the protective film caught under some screws, zero scratches, logo absolutely unmarked...
But the lower corner is cracked, looks like from overtightening at the factory as I doubt it's ever been removed.
View attachment 7353392
This looks very gluable to me - preferably by solvent repair from the rear before it cracks the rest of the way.
Does anyone know for certain what type of plastic it is, so I can select the right glue/cement/solvent? It's clearly not celluloid, feels like styrene or PVC something softish like that. I'll do CA if I have to, but would prefer a solvent repair for longer-term strength.
Haven't removed it yet, but I did slack all the screws slightly. It closed up almost invisibly, so definitely fixable..
3) One tuner has a scratch on it, not real obvious, and it looks like the nitro finish under it may have crazed slightly from an impact (or maybe at assembly - nitro is like that). Not really too concerned about fixing that unless it's likely to cause premature checking, in which case I should probably drop-fill and repolish. Opinions?
View attachment 7353393
4) The upper horn has a TINY dig in it, just enough that it's not going to buff out. Probably not worth worrying about, or a tiny bit of solvent and then polish would fix it.
View attachment 7353395
5) The nut has a crosswise scratch on it (hard to photograph) between D and G, probably from the strings having dragged sidewise, which has nut lube graphite in it. If it bothers me enough I'll polish it out.
The nut slots have taken impression from the string windings (obviously they sat without moving for a long time), so there's pinging when tuning. They need a polish. As I'm 90% sure I'm going to restring with EBCFs, probably today, I'll do it then.
View attachment 7353398
I realized that as the existing strings have no silks, and are unworn, I can remove them and keep them if I ever want to go back to "as original" because you can't spell 'analyst' without... yeah. In another life I probably would have been an archeologist. Or a librarian.
6) (doesn't really count) The soldering is clearly original and to my (NASA certified, multi-layer PCB repair trained) eye, OMG horrible. Cold joints, melted insulation, "rat hair" from shields untrimmed, tag ends untrimmed.
But it works, and it's original, so it stays. I did trim the rat hair though, as me no likey shorts in me wiring.
View attachment 7353400
They set me a real easy bar to clear in my own build there.
But TBCH my LPDC Tribute was about the same - I had to resolder the pickup leads as they were stripped back so long they were shorting.
And that friends & neighbors is absolutely EVERYthing I found I could possibly criticize; This bass is so near to perfect and no sunlight shines between.
I have instruments I bought new-out-the-box that had more and larger issues, truly.
I am gloriously happeh with it, and look forward to obsessing over it for probably the rest of my life.
Overall feelings:
I have a Thunderbird at last.
Regrets over selling the original RH Epi that had me joining this club, all gone.
It's way above my level of play, which will inspire me to try to level up.
I'm happy the previous one "got away" as clearly it was in rougher shape, and more money.
Feeling as lucky as my club number of "777"would imply.
Later, will post the outside sunshine beauty shots I finally got to take today. They be glorious.
And now... I have to try to make my fretless build "worthy" of the heritage.
But I can't go into the details as that would be a spoiler-
