molan

Ok, so I realise this is a bit of a long shot but I've pretty much reverted to 4 strings only and this beautiful example of Mr Spector's work isn't getting any attention I'm ideally looking for a 4 string equivalent Spector NS4 unless someone can really tempt me with a high end 4 string trade deal. Happy to sell at £1,750 if anyone wants to buy it outright. May consider trades for something of lower value that would be realtively easy to sell on like US Fender of Lakland Skyline. This is a USA made hand built Spector and, IMHO, far superior to any of Stuart Spector's other models. I've owned a Euro & I think the build quality and finish of these is significantly better and I'd definitely pay the extra for a US model - in fact I have, no less than three times as I've owned three different NS5XL's! Again, from a purely personal POV this is the best of the three I've owned for lots of subtle reasons but principally because of the sheer playability and core sound. For those of you who don't know much about them: Neck-Thru construction, 35" scale, Solid AAAA Maple body (walnut stained), twin EMG-40DC pickups & 18v active electronics (which I've always left completely flat because I love the straight core tone!) Graphite Reinforced 3pc Rock Maple Satin Finish Neck, 24 Fret Pau Ferro Fingerboard, gorgeous abalone Spector inlays Gold Hardware, including Spector Solid Brass Locking Bridge, Schaller Tuners and Straplocks Serial # is 109 & it was made in Dec '03 - it's in absolutely immaculate condition, slight deterioration of the rubber around the input jack but that's about it as far as blemishes are concerned! Action is super low & she plays like a dream. Fastest playing 5 I've owned and a real confidence builder - just seems to let me play stuff I can't manage on other basses. I'm in no hurry to sell this and would love to trade for a nice NS4 (I don't really like the NS2 pickup configuration or the bolt on US models) - in fact Alan's one for sale here would be just perfect These list at over £3K new - in fact Bass Direct currently have a blue one up for £4K (it's a custom colour though so would cost more than my walnut stain) Any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

Apologies if I'm being picky but 'offers invited in excess of' implies an auction and I don't think that's allowed under the for sale rules here?

I might be up for one, if not both! Zap me a Pm on a price for the pair if I zip up to Oxford

[quote name='Sibob' post='732118' date='Feb 1 2010, 07:50 PM']So does this mean that the Alleva is for sale? Si[/quote] Wow - that was quick! The answer is in the affirmative but it's already had some 'early' interest, lol. NS5XL next on the block too

Picked this up in a recent trade deal but my decision to go back to 4's mean it's a little redundant so i thought I'd stick it up for sale and see if I get any interest Based on the serial number I think it's a '99 (possibly '98) which I think is around the time USA Fender V's were introduced in the active Deluxe variant. It's in fabulous condition with very little marking for a 10 year old bass. Very nice gentle sunburst finish. There's some light hazing on the rear (but not the nasty buckle rash you sometimes see) and a couple of small marks on the front - you really have to hold it up to the light to spot anything though. There's some hazing on the front of the upper horn so I'm guessing a previous owner played finger style quite high up the neck. I've tried to catch this wiht a flash picture on the body close-up - it doesn't look this pronounced in regular light. Pickguard in great nick as well. Neck is perfect, nice and straight, very smooth with slight flaming under lights, good action, fingerboard really clean with very nice little abalone inlays. Neck pocket nice and tight with a 4 bolt fixing. Quite cool silver Fender logo on the headstock (I think Fender called it 'dark aluminium'!). Tuners are branded Fender but I know some basses from around this time had Schaller made versions which were lighter than their in-house jobs. There's certainly no neck dive issues. Bridge offers through body stringing options and potential to adjust string spacing a little via grooves in the saddles. Fender noiseless pickups (I think designed by John Suhr) matched to 9V active tone controls with usual bass & treble plus a mid boost/cut. Basically this is just a really nice, easy to play, Fender 5 string with a classic look from the 5 in a line headstock arrangement and sunburst finish and lots of little refinements that were only added to the Deluxe package (the abalone inlays & silver logo are both really nice). There is a story that this bass used to belong to a Jethro Tull bass man at some point in its life. Based on dates, and a few pics I've seen of him with a five in a row Fender V, I'm guessing this would have to be Jonathan Noyce but I really can't say if there's any truth to this. It's hard to explain but this bass certainly feels like it's a 'pro' instrument. The 34" scale means it's not too big a jump for someone looking to add a 5 string to their playing and the B sounds good, no real issues of nasty 'floppiness' that I've seen from some 34" scale fivers (no idea if the through body stringing helps here or not!). Comes with original hardshell case (Hiscox-type thing not one of the really heavy Fender cases). Happy to ship anywhere in the world - contact me for approx costs.[attachment=41635:P1010920.JPG]

I've never understood why people don't simply put their location in their 'from' profile? Do they think someone will come to their local town / city, set up a noise meter to track down the location of any bass playing & then steal their gear?

Nice - I've never seen one of these in white before.

Just out of interest, do you know how much this weighs?

[quote name='jsixties' post='723120' date='Jan 24 2010, 02:15 PM']37 cm of extremely well balanced body in the widest part, a little less than a Gibson EB-2 or a Gretsh hollowbody.[/quote] That's interesting, it looks really wide in the pics but 37cm is only about 2cm more that a standard Fender J shape. I must admit that I've always thought these bodies might not balance that well but I guess the overall size plus the 32" scale mean the proportions work pretty well

Wow - just downloaded the 68MB folder of images. This is a seriously nice looking bass. Looks surprisingly large bodied - How wide is it across the widest part of the body?

Damn, just sold my Trace valve pre & a Marcus appears! I've had minor GAS for one of these since they were launched. Long time SWR fan & the pale blue colour just kills me Does it come with the footswitch?

Sorry guys - someone came in with an offer for both items and has already paid - my all time record I think!