Eldon Tyrell

Hope you will find a buyer here in the UK. I recently sold a Stingray Timmy C to a buyer in the US. Well, the local depot here in the UK wanted to know if I had a CITES license. I could convince them that there was no need for one. I also had to send them the commercial invoices again as they somehow had managed to lose them. I only found out about the "missing" commercial invoices after checking the tracking info online where it said that they were waiting for the forms and that they had contacted the seller (i.e., me). Well, they obviously did not contact me and I had to chase them up. Then the US counterparts asked me to fill in a toxic substance control act declaration (TSCA, I guess because of the fretboard glue!), a manufacturer's affidavit (actually this should have been filled in by EBMM but I put in the info myself and I also attached the original invoice from EBMM. Interestingly, after some googling I found out that a manufacturers affidavit is normally used for shipments over $10,000.00. Well, the Timmy C is a great bass but not not THAT expensive ; -), and a foreign shipper declaration. The buyer was also asked to fill in an import declaration and a TSCA form (importer single entry). Looks like these checks came into place as the bass returned to the US where is was made and because the value was above $2500. All in all a lot of hassle, costing me time and energy. So, in short, my advice to you - if someone from the US wants to buy one of your bass that was made in the US (like your Old Smoothie) and that is worth more than $2500 (yours would be slightly below that threshold but I am not sure if shipping costs are part of the value, which could potentially get you over the threshold), then kindly decline it (unless you don't mind filling in several forms and spending lots of time emailing custom officials and people working in depots ; -).

Great to see this BB beauty on the marketplace again. Has the issue with the buzz (when touching the P pickup pole pieces under the E and A strings) been sorted? If yes, then I could get tempted 🙂

I guess everyone is just broke at the moment. Maybe Basschat.co.uk should be rebranded to Brokechat.co.uk 😉

Surprised to see that no one has gone for this beauty yet. £1750? That's almost £1k less than what The Bass Gallery is currently asking for the same model on Reverb (£2720). Great bargain! GLWTS 👍

I had the pleasure of owning the bass before Matt. I only sold it to finance a custom NS-2 in cherryburst (I have a bit of an addiction to red basses and wanted one that looks like Mike Inez's NS-2 ;- ) This Forte really is a great bass and very rare (only two were ever made in this dark Vintage Tint Ash finish). Further, as Spector does not offer the Forte model anymore, this really is your best chance of owning a US Spector without paying silly money. GLWTS 👍

Absolutely, fantastic value for money, esp. if you consider what the successor model (NS Ethos) costs (approx. £1.5k-£1.7k!)

I bought my first ever Spector back in 2016. It was the exact same model, which was probably made on the same day or week as yours (serial number: W160031). I sold it to free up funds for a Euro LX (Mike Starr). Then came Euro LTs, LE, another LX, Fortes and a NS-2. So, yes, buying a Spector puts you on course for many, many more 🙂 GLWTS 👍