SurroundedByManatees

Mainly selling (well, trying too) through reverb and also lists on other sites under his private name. But tbh he has some nice stock...nice looking and recognizable pictures. He could well have a succesfull shop, while being open and honest.

He has contacted me at least 10 times in the past. Mostly on bassic, where I blocked him a good while ago. In this last case he responded to my Sabre, asking for my best price (the ad clearly states that the price is fixed). He says he can get one cheaper but likes my sunburst better. BS of course, he already has a natural one listed on reverb at €3.300. The prices of this guy are often ridiculous, but that doesn't bother me. They either sell or not. The systematic lying is a big nono in my book. And he isn't knowledgeable too, the experts he talks about don't exist. He doesn't even recognize an obvious refret on a bound neck, a changed neckplate on a Fender where an engraving should be or a totally different bridge on a 66. And I've seen more of that stuff on "all original" listings in the past.

Today I again had been contacted by the person behind this online shop. As always communication was a bit weird as he tries to present himself as a private person looking for a sharp deal while I know he's a dealer. I decided to do the Google his shop again and saw this not totally true claim on his website (it's presented as a company, but it's actually a one person shop afaik). "All instruments and accessories on offer are handpicked by us in the USA, and then transported to Poland, where they are once again carefully checked by experts" It's far from true. He sources many, many basses on the European bass-sites and marketplaces and has them shipped. They are not all from the us, and not handpicked. Why lie about this, I don't get it? It's so obvious as this guy is everywhere where a vintage Fender or Music Man is for sale. I doubt the expert claim too tbh, given I've seen unmentioned exchanged parts on several occasions. Also I had a weird personal experience with this seller. I was looking for a 65/66 jazz at the time. And he said he had one that he was selling for a friend. I recognized the pictures he sent me from a reverb listing. He took that pictures and used them for his own potential business. At that moment, this bass was for sale at a French store. When I contacted the store about this "friend", they didn't know what I was talking about. So stupid, like there wasn't a chance that I have seen that bass on reverb myself. I am aware that this rant is not really friendly. But imo when you want to play pro bass-shop, you can't just lie obviously and I think it's okay.

The pickguard looks way off imo. The bridge also has been changed by the way. At this price I'd expect a more original instrument.

I never cared for the shape of Vigier basses, but I'm appreciating their appearance a lot more lately.... So knowing myself, I'll probably end up buying one to try out I think I'd be most interested in a model with full carbon neck. Is there much difference in sound/feel between the full carbon necks and the ones that have the carbon reinforcements?

Cool, I'd love to see an old brochure. My blue one is probably the standard blue from the era, from looking at other daylight pics from fs ads they probably have used a few recipes for "blue" through the years. There is so much difference it can't be just lighting or so. It seems like other flake colors than blue and silver are pretty rare, which likely has to do which what was seen onstage with Flea himself. A purple must be awesome... An orange would be superb as well.

Funnily I have a very similar picture 😀

Already checked with the edges in the control cavity. Just took off the pickguard to be sure: I also took off the neck and found a pencil marking stating "blue flake". So seems this was considered blue at that moment.

It took me a while, but I managed to find a nice flake finish Modulus again! This bass has been made in 2008 and was listed as a blue sparkle finished one. I thought it was just the lighting in the pictures making it a bit greener, but in real life, I can't find any trace of real blue. It looks rather like turquoise to me under any type of light. When googling for blue flake Modulus basses, this finish pops up sometimes as does the deeper blue ones. They seem quite different though. I couldn't find any specific info about turquoise type finishes. Does anyone know: Did Modulus do some heavy variations on their "blue" color, or is this just a differently named finish? I'm tempted to think last, but can't find info/catalogs to verify this. It's a beast by the way 🙂

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I think Ibanez always has made decent to great basses, during it's whole history. The modern SR range basses, the higher models are just affordable boutique basses in any aspect imo... Especially when bought used they are unbeatable value.

Like. It's great to see how Squier puts out nice "different" basses. I'm really enjoying my Rascal so maybe this range could exceed expectations too (of course depending on the individual instrument). I would definitely buy one if I could find a reason.... Well, I don't have a 5-er...🤔

It's apparently a way of showing some version of "interest". I've encountered this on various sites, and the people who ask this question rarely seem to be a serious potential buyer. It's actually rare to get a response back once you confirm availability. Here on BC it seems common to post this typical question in a for sale thread, instead of pm'ing the member selling the gear. Sometimes when I see the "is this still available?" response on an ad here, and I look at the previous posts of the poster... They often seem to do that frequently without showing any further interest. Personally I don't get it. When I am interested in something, I'll pm them and in case of some other sites...I'll never use the lazy people buttons.

I've owned and played a lot of Fender and Squier basses from a wide range of series and era's. Anything from affinity Squiers to Vintage '60s instruments. Ime the USA and Mex Fenders are all over te place when it comes to build and sound quality. They can be superb, or just plain bad. Even the Custom shop models aren't always flawless (sloppy routings, dead spots... The Japanese being consistently decent or just very good though, never played a bad one. The two worst sounding Fender products I've played we're both USA standards, they were just dead...not even a fancy preamp or high end pickups that could make them breath. For the Squiers I tried I felt they were built consistently decent, but in some cases with obviously lacking hardware. I even played a bottom line affinity that had a great fit and finish, good playability with low action and good JB sound. I would have happily gigged it in stock condition, choosing it over some USA built ones. When looking at prices for Fender products, I feel that the higher spec Squiers are a the best value for the money. Three weeks ago I bought a new Squier Rascal bass. I can't recommend that bass enough, it just sounds and feels 3 times the value to me. Build quality is definitely better/tighter than many of the more expensive basses I've owned. The tuners even feel decent, which I thought were the weak point of the classic vibe precision Ive bought about 2 years ago.

Nice piece of history. Like 👍

It actually seems like a whole new fretboard has been applied. Personally, in this case, I wouldn't go the way of semi-restoring and take this bass as it is as long as sound and playability are good. Seems like a great bass; cool looks with a nice grain in the wood, EMG

Maybe you can find the original listing through the digimart.net website. It will save you some cash and maybe more if there is negotiation space. And maybe you'll find more of the same basses too🤞

If you'll see the same bass for sale at multiple Japanese ebay seller accounts, you know they are actually acting as an intermediate party and don't actually own the bass. What they do is trying to sell an item, and if it gets sold, it's when they (try to) buy it at the actual japanese store that has the item. Sometimes it's no longer available and you'll get refunded. So in short; that seller probably doesn't have the bass, and its for sale at the original ource for a good bit less. Ive just been through this as I was looking to buy a Modulus Flea. I've seen the same one for sale at 5 sellers on ebay at different prices, and managed to track it down to the actual shop who had it. In the actual (reliable, well rated bass dealer) shop it was 15% cheaper than the lowest ebay listing. On top of that I managed to negotiate 20% off of that price. At this moment of typing it's in the Dutch customs. I hope it will arrive in the next few days😙

The Tribute L2000 I once owned sounded and played just as nice as my USA Asat I owned at the time. I should have kept that one....it looked great, was lightweight, and sounded the deal. Probably GAS led me to another bass that went ...and so on.