BritBass 2

Great to catch up with Gary (Cetera) and Barry Morehouse , the time just shot by . Laurence  Cottle was superb and definitely a real bonus to the event , great that he could stay on to the very end as well  . Tip of the day was the second finger leading technique . Looking forward to next year and hopefully better weather on the day .

Would be great if Guy could bring Betsy and his Spector NS2 ,  so much musical history created with those two basses.

Owned many basses , all gone apart from these three which are most certainly staying .

US ‘62 reissue early eighties ..

My medium scale Alembic 8 string from the 1980’s.

More recent photo.

Great looking 1987 Kramer NS2 for sale on TalkBass . $3700 .

Although from the 70’s it was in the 80’s where this design really took off.

Fender 1982 catalogues from around the world .

Job done : Fingerboard oiled, frets/finish/ hardware cleaned and polished.

Job done : Fingerboard oiled, frets/finish/ hardware cleaned and polished.

Regarding cases , the TSA Spector Flight version is definitely a step above the standard TKL Kramer case . Tried to order one from BD but sadly they unable to import them and instead had to obtain one via Bass Central in Florida. Fits Brooklyn, Kramer and Woodstock NS models perfectly.

6 hours ago, three said:

I was taking a look at these for my Spector (I'm not really impressed with Spector's standard tolex cases), though as you say BritBass, not easy to source in the UK.  Fortunately, I have a lot of colleagues/contacts in the US and shipping is reasonably straightforward.  In the end, I went for the SKB iSeries - a very formidable case indeed, though without the Spector logo.  Good to have adequate protection for such beautiful instruments!  

Although many British musicians have  over the years used the NS 2 model , it still remains quite elusive on  these shores . No doubt the unfavourable exchange rates plus Warwick’s European dominance has pushed US made products further down the ‘must have’ list .

NCD : Spector NS flight case, many thanks to the team at Bass Central , Florida. Sadly these are not available via the UK distributers although they tried but it wasn’t financially viable. The original TKL Kramer/Spector tolex case is still as new but the Gator version is definitely a step up from it , very surprised that these are not shipped as standard with US models.

A few items supplied with US NS2 Kramer basses . 

Not too sure about the case accessories Spector supplies these days , here are a few items from the Kramer days.

1982/83 Fender Tweed case for ‘62 AVRI Jazz Bass plus briefcase .

46 minutes ago, Dov65 said:

You'll get the string sets a bit cheaper...have you got a discount code to share 😆

They did give me some free stickers. ) 

1 hour ago, Billy Apple said:

Sweet Holy Mother of God!

The company still feature it on their bass string sets.

8 hours ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Wow. Wow. Wow. This is THE best looking finish on a Spector I have ever seen. AMAZING 😍🤩🥰

Back in 1986/87 Kramer had a special batch of 5A solid quilted maple .Apart from this bass the remaining quilt was used to produce NS2s for Doug Wimbish, Mario Cipollina  , Adam Clayton and Henry Vaccaro (Kramer company owner).

43 minutes ago, Paulhauser said:

Beautiful! I wonder how it looks now. 

The photos  were  taken during lockdown.

4 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

So @BritBass 2 is that yours in the original advert - the grain looks remarkably similar.

Its in great Nick too!

Yes , it’s the one in the ad . Over the years the company have featured it on various promotional literature  . 

4 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Oh my god. That’s wonderful 

Thank you . Although Spector has changed ownership several times (Brooklyn/Kramer/Woodstock/Korg )the quality throughout the company’s history has always remained consistent. , each period  having a loyal following .As with Doug , we both agree that 1987 was a great time for Spector , the neck profiles on the Neptune instruments were slightly different to later Woodstock models . 

Not too sure if I’ve already posted this one on the thread . My trusty old 1987 Kramer NS2 , this was specially built alongside Doug’s (Wimbish) amber bass at the Neptune workshop , purchased direct from the company .

Interesting to see the difference in body shapes between Brooklyn/Kramer NS 2 basses and  later instruments. When  Stuart moved to Woodstock back in 1992 all the original Brooklyn/Kramer tooling was still owned by Kramer in New Jersey , essentially he had to restart from scratch. Looking at the euros, the body behind the bridge has a pronounced “pull/stretch” from the centre resulting in a more symmetrical appearance. Photo - Top Euro (walnut) . Lower - Kramer (amber).