Ya know, it's interesting: as much as I love the Rumblefish, I'd have a hard time paying more than $750 or so for a used one at this point. But, I also wouldn't sell the ones I have for any price.
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What happened with the Reverend Rumblefish?
- Thread starter Matt Till
- Start date
I used Schallers on mine. I think a lot of my problem was that the neck heaviness coupled with the lack of contours on the body made for a lot of discomfort. It was my main bass for about 3 years and I loved the tone; it was an "XL" with the single coil/series/parallel switch.
I'm really diggin' the 5L I just got, but it is going to get a set of Hipshot UL tuning keys to help relieve the neck dive.
I remember this. They were clearing them out at around $500-$550 and TB was on a buying spree.
I've never had neck dive issues with any of mine...of course the strap will have a lot to say about that, and I've had good luck with padded-lycra-style straps.
The one on the right used to be mine!
Chef
In Memoriam
They don't burn as hot as say...a G&L mahogany bodied, L1000...but they're decent enuff firewood.
It's my understanding that lack of interest killed the Rumblefish.
Certain propreitary parts for the fish had to be bought in volume. Demand did not dictate a sizeable investment in propreitary components that would hang around indefinitely till they were built into fish and sold. I could be wrong, but I recall the total production of Rumblefish to be around 500 units. Over the 6 or 8 year period that it was marketed, that's not a whole lot. That's also why they are a little tough to find. That along with loyal owners who won't part with them and the holders hoping for a huge payday 10 or 30 years from now.
FWIW - The fish are nice basses. If you like Fenders, you'll LOVE Rumblefish.
Certain propreitary parts for the fish had to be bought in volume. Demand did not dictate a sizeable investment in propreitary components that would hang around indefinitely till they were built into fish and sold. I could be wrong, but I recall the total production of Rumblefish to be around 500 units. Over the 6 or 8 year period that it was marketed, that's not a whole lot. That's also why they are a little tough to find. That along with loyal owners who won't part with them and the holders hoping for a huge payday 10 or 30 years from now.
FWIW - The fish are nice basses. If you like Fenders, you'll LOVE Rumblefish.
Chef
In Memoriam
I asked Joe Naylor the "why stop making them" question directly on the phone one day.
"They just never sold well."
500 units huh? Where'd you hear that number?
Not doubting it, just curious...
Man, there's large portion of those in ownership here.
They're not too terribly difficult to find, and there's been a bunch of them getting flipped around lately. Value does seem to have gone way the heck up from when I got that bel-air blue one-with the case- on ebay for $400 some years ago.
"They just never sold well."
500 units huh? Where'd you hear that number?
Not doubting it, just curious...
Man, there's large portion of those in ownership here.
They're not too terribly difficult to find, and there's been a bunch of them getting flipped around lately. Value does seem to have gone way the heck up from when I got that bel-air blue one-with the case- on ebay for $400 some years ago.
Were any of these released in fretless? I've never seen one and I'm guessing they must be pretty rare.
Chef
In Memoriam
I think a lot of the problem might have been the lack of bass players that would want to buy a bass direct, sight unseen, and sound unheard. After playing one, I knew it was for me. But there was no deler structure for Reverend and only now do they have some dealerships. (One in my town actually) The foreign build has brought prices down, but they definitely are not the same instruments as what were made in the US. (I'm talking about the guitars of course) I've played both incarnations of their product, and the US stuff has it all over the foreign stuff.
Chef
In Memoriam
I really like my Rumblefish 5XL which I acquired maybe 15 years ago, along with the white hard case. Neck dive is not an issue for me and the neck is amazing. I also had a Commando guitar in forest green which I sold to a friend and then bought a gloss black Sensei with railhammers, which is one of my go-to guitars now.
