Haha - Would believe it - I was just browsing ebay the other day, and this bass popped up! I used to be Nick Springett's apprentice back in '88. I remember Nick working on this bass, and I remember Ali! (How you doin'?). Ali was in a kind of Indie/funk band called, 'Colour Me Pop' with a singer/guitarist, Shaun, and Vic Guillaman on drums, (who runs Dr.Um in Leamington Spa, I was also at secondary school with Vic). I remember I almost did an audition with Shaun, (I play bass), but blew him out, (I thought he was too old at 27!, (I was 18). I saw Shaun, Ali and Vic play a gig at Bakers in Leam six months later, and instantly realised I'd stuffed up and missed a good opportunity, (the ignorance of youth!). I think I have their demo cassette knocking about somewhere.
Anyhow, back to the bass. Well, I made Jason an offer, which he accepted, and I'll pick it up sometime this week. It has a lot of sentimental value to me. I haven't seen it in 31 years! I intend to bring it back to life. Nick was never that comfortable with electronics, so I'll probably have to rewire the whole thing. I'd like to fit an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp, (they're excellent), but maybe a bit of a stretch at £153. Not sure what all the switches do - I'm guessing series/parallel for each of the pickups and an on/off for the active circuit. Still leaves one switch - maybe out-of-phase?
The pickups may have let this bass down, (there were very limited options in those days, and Nick didn't make his own), and I always thought the big scratchplate was ugly, (and got in the way when doing slap). I suspect they never gave Ali the deep, but zingy funk sound he was looking for. The P-bass pickup and associated holes will have left some ugly cavities - any bright ideas anyone? I'd like to put in something like Seymour Duncan soapbars, (SSB4) - any opinions?
Also considering removing the white. Nick will have used decent timber. Shame it's covered in a thick layer of acid catalyst (Nick's preferred finish). However, removing the old finish will be a beach. So, undecided. An oil/wax finish could be nice. I would leave the face of the headstock original - maybe just try to repair some of the damage.
I lost touch with Nick over time. I think he felt pretty jaded about the guitar-making business. It was very tough in those days - incredibly hard to get hold of decent parts without paying a fortune - even scratchplate screws were very hard to come by. I heard Nick had retired to Tenby in the early 00's. I'm not even sure he's still with us . . .
Keep on, keepin' on . . .
Mark Gavin, Redditch.
