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What model is this? (Tune bass)

#21
There is or was one of those white extended fretboard ones, used, for sale online just a few days ago. I love the red one above. A custom build for $2600 really isn’t very expensive these days. And there is a used Zi fretless for sale now, but it’s not a headless one. I tried to buy a silver one that was listed for $300 last night but couldn’t for whatever reason, probably a mistake in listing being fixed. Lol, Drats!
 
#22
Kirk Bryant said:
There is or was one of those white extended fretboard ones, used, for sale online just a few days ago. I love the red one above. A custom build for $2600 really isn’t very expensive these days. And there is a used Zi fretless for sale now, but it’s not a headless one. I tried to buy a silver one that was listed for $300 last night but couldn’t for whatever reason, probably a mistake in listing being fixed. Lol, Drats!
Click to expand...
Links? Or what sites?
 
#23
Kirk Bryant said:
There is or was one of those white extended fretboard ones, used, for sale online just a few days ago. I love the red one above. A custom build for $2600 really isn’t very expensive these days. And there is a used Zi fretless for sale now, but it’s not a headless one. I tried to buy a silver one that was listed for $300 last night but couldn’t for whatever reason, probably a mistake in listing being fixed. Lol, Drats!
Click to expand...
Sigh, I really should know not to go looking for trouble - seriously GASsing for this one (currently on ebay) too:

s-l1600.jpg
 
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#24
The Silver bass is back for $300 WTH. I bought it! $375. Shipped, crazy! IF it goes through, fingers crossed. That’s probably a big IF. Maybe they’ll come to their senses. I paid less than 500 for my TWB5, w/flame maple top. I don’t know why these things pop up so cheap now and then. It’s crazy because you’d pay that much for a preamp as good as these. IF I get it and IF it’s A ok, I’m going to have it defretted. I was thinking about getting a a replacement neck for one of my five strings which would have cost more than that. I’ll still have the cost of the refret. But this is just too stupid cheap to pass up. IF the deal goes through, fingers crossed. I just sold a Squier Jazz I had for $150 so I’ve got it halfway paid off already! Woohoo.
 
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#25
What? you expect me to share my secrets?!! Crazy talk! (I don’t have any secrets) Lol. Searching individual sites is a pain, so I usually just use Google. The silver one is on music go round. I think you can still see it up there. There’s a really cool blond top fretless five for 600 something, on Ishibashi that I almost popped for last night after I couldn’t get this one. The shipping was $185. GAS is a terrible thing. Even if I don’t like it I can flip it and make a couple of bucks. Part of the reason it was cheap was it’s got some road rash and an extra strap hole but I don’t care. G-nite!
 
#26
Man, what fascinating body shapes! I'll bet if you had a Tune TS-365, a Pendragon Banshee, and a Warwick Dolphin all hanging on the same Hercules triple guitar stand, it would look like one of those PBS Nature documentaries about the rutting battles that Big Horn Sheep have every Spring!
 
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#29
Incoming, a slightly beat up TWX51. Im hopeful that it’s as light as my TWB. As soon as funds allow, I plan to have it defretted. I haven’t had a fretless fiver for a few years now. I have also never owned a really good one, the last being a surprisingly good Dean. I had some serious sellers remorse for moving that one since I liked the weight and ergonomics and all it really needed was a good preamp and possibly new pickups. So this is a (relatively) cheap fix for my addiction. I have no idea when I may have an actual use for it. When I lived in the Bay Area I used my fretless at least a few times a month for jazz gigs. However since moving back to Oregon well over a decade ago, no one seems to know I play jazz as well as all the other stuff. They all seem to think all I do is blues, country and rock. But just before the great darkness (Covid) I hooked up with a jazz guy that threatened me with a regular gig. Fingers crossed it comes back around, so I can scratch that itch again. It would be really nice to actually play some changes again. Sigh.

38DCD265-DABA-4DF7-AE06-7747725DFB71.png
AC9C9D5C-2DBB-4478-9CE1-ED87F67E1D8F.png
 
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#30
^^^Is that silver one Korean made?
My understanding is that Tune started in Japan, but then someone from that company got permission to use the name/designs in markets where Tune wasn’t available. (?) So that person had Tune basses produced at a factory in Korea - but got in trouble when they were made available to the US market.

The Korean made ones not even being the same company as the Japanese made basses, and consumers in the US left confused as one is a custom made bass and the other is a mass produced “budget friendly” model.

Add to that that the Japanese ones don’t always say where they were made - and you can end up with a bass with unknown origin/quality.

At least from what I could find online. I think the whole Japan/Korea thing makes a lot of used gear shops misprice a Japanese made bass as a much cheaper Korean made one. That said, if someone bought one new from Japan for $2k, you’d think they wouldn’t sell it cheaply to a store - though I guess some people just need the money to pay bills, or sometimes the original owner is no longer around.

I need to label all my instruments with a detailed description and value so that my wife never sells them for what I told her I paid for them! :roflmao:
 
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#31
@ashtray

Tune Guitar Technology was a small yet high quality builder in Japan. They started up in 1983 and their products were top end. In 1988 they won the Levinson Blade contract. 1990, in order to concentrate more on Levinson they had a division of the Korean company WSC Music supply bodies/necks and hardware for assembly in Japan.

1991 all assembly and distribution was handled by WSC Music Korea.

1994 a rough patch occurs. The CEO disappears along with funds. Tune Guitar Technology go bust. The Tune factory is destroyed by the Kobe earthquake.

WSC Music continued as normal, they had instruments to build and distribution orders to fill.

WSC Music never had any trouble in the US. Sam Ash carried their line of Tune basses and up until 2018 had a pitch at NAMM.

The only issue stems from an American fella. He got friendly with a Japanese company called Tune Guitar Maniac, formed around ex-Tune Tech employees. Sensing a business venture, the American offered to be their agent in the US.

I'll put it mildly, he was disgruntled upon discovering WSC Music held worldwide rights for Tune Guitar Tech distribution :roflmao:


The Japanese outfit are in a bit of a position, WSC hold "Tune" and another Japanese company are "Crew Guitar Manic".
They can't use their sideline brand "Phoenix" in the US either, that brand is held by SLM.

Wonderful guitar builders just terrible at thinking up company names :D
 
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#32
kodiakblair said:
@ashtray

Tune Guitar Technology was a small yet high quality builder in Japan. They started up in 1983 and their products were top end. In 1988 they won the Levinson Blade contract. 1990, in order to concentrate more on Levinson they had a division of the Korean company WSC Music supply bodies/necks and hardware for assembly in Japan.

1991 all assembly and distribution was handled by WSC Music Korea.

1994 a rough patch occurs. The CEO disappears along with funds. Tune Guitar Technology go bust. The Tune factory is destroyed by the Kobe earthquake.

WSC Music continued as normal, they had instruments to build and distribution orders to fill.

WSC Music never had any trouble in the US. Sam Ash carried their line of Tune basses and up until 2018 had a pitch at NAMM.

The only issue stems from an American fella. He got friendly with a Japanese company called Tune Guitar Maniac, formed around ex-Tune Tech employees. Sensing a business venture, the American offered to be their agent in the US.

I'll put it mildly, he was disgruntled upon discovering WSC Music held worldwide rights for Tune Guitar Tech distribution :roflmao:


The Japanese outfit are in a bit of a position, WSC hold "Tune" and another Japanese company are "Crew Guitar Manic".
They can't use their sideline brand "Phoenix" in the US either, that brand is held by SLM.

Wonderful guitar builders just terrible at thinking up company names :D
Click to expand...
Thank you for clearing that up!! Very interesting! (I have a Blade B2, but that’s another story...)

Crazy history! So the company in Japan that will take custom orders is not Tune? Or they are, but only in Japan?

Wasn’t there a company called Lightwave or something in the history somewhere too?
 
#33
ashtray said:
So the company in Japan that will take custom orders is not Tune? Or they are, but only in Japan?
Click to expand...
Maybe Tune, twice removed :D

I'm guessing here but my gut feeling is their present day custom work will be far superior to their early/mid 80's production line work. It's a serious shop doing serious work. It's rare to find a PLEK machine outside factories yet Tune Guitar Maniac invested in one :thumbsup:

ashtray said:
Wasn’t there a company called Lightwave or something in the history somewhere too?
Click to expand...
Could you be thinking of "Headway" ? They were another Japanese company from around the same time.
 
#37
bholder said:
Though there's a WBC fretless in my future too...

View attachment 4200896
:drool:
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Oh my!

I need a WBC fretless in my life!
(I’d buy a bass now, except I just made a large personal purchase, so timing is really bad for me to buy something else for myself - unless I’m trying to get kicked out of the house! For now, my 12 basses will have to hold me over...)
 
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