Paul Smith100

On 10/10/2009 at 20:10, doctor_of_the_bass said:

The company was originally known as `Heart' Guitars which then became `Heartwood Guitars' (they were hoping to make some instruments for the band `Heart' but for whatever reason, it did not happen and allegedly, the band were not happy that they were using the name `Heart', hence the change to Heartwood. Technically I have one in the collection - it was loaned to a student many years ago and has since gone awol!!! Lovely basses (and guitars) - they were based down south somewhere. If anyone sees a trans-green flamed top maple necked 4 string headless, do let me know!

Cheers

Nick

Hi Nick, my dad was the Luthier at Heart and Heartwood.... he and co owner Tony Rossell. Sadly dad passed away in 2015.... I have lots of photos of all the old guitars and basses.... might even have one of yours, Paul.

On 30/09/2020 at 12:22, Shaggy said:

What a great and informative post! 

Just as a supplementary footnote; the neck on the OP's bass was almost certainly made by Steve Smith.   He was an incredibly talented luthier who founded Heart / Heartwood guitars, and later worked for Goodfellow in the '80's, where his speciality was neck construction.   After he left Goodfellow he took a stack of the necks he'd made with him, and set up a guitar repair /custom build workshop in Southend-on-sea, soon building a solid reputation amongst guitarists and bassists for the fantastic quality of his work.   Some of the stashed Goodfellow-spec necks evidently found their way onto his occasional custom builds, including my treasured long scale semi "EB-2" (pictured) which has become my go-to bass for most projects.  Sadly, Steve recently passed away (2017?)

Really lovely bass in the OP, and a good price - bump and GLWTS 

Thanks for the comments about my father Steve Smith..... dad loved making guitars and basses, I have a few of them myself. Dad passed away May 14th 2015.