binky_bass

Binky cost me somewhere around £4000 18 odd years ago. Today, I can't see you getting change out of closer to £8000 for a similar build. I bought a few ACGs from Alan, I think the dearest was £3300, but (IMHO) that was arguably the nicest 6 he's built! I won't be spending anywhere near that on basses these days as frankly I'm in the very fortunate position of now owning basses I never ever dreamed I'd own when I first started playing. I'll still buy the odd bass here and there if its something I fancy, is priced at a point where I won't loose money and, I happen to have that amount of disposable income to hand. So, it's a very subjective question that is based on a myriad of personal circumstances. My personal equation now is: Can I Afford It + Will I loose Money If I Sell It + Will I Enjoy Owning It. If the answers are Yes/No/Yes, then I'll probably buy it!

Just some thoughts to make it more appealing to those potentially interested. I think most on here have a similar opinion. I understand you don't want to undertake any more work until a buyer is lined up, but not making a few adjustments to make sure it appeals to the masses is hugely limiting the already exceptionally small number of people that'd be interested in such a beast. I know you know this already, but my comments are of course my own opinion and I'm not knocking your work at all. In my minds eye I can see it finished the way I'd want and except the paint part, you have the skills to carry out a huge modification like this and I definitely don't! Customer bass wise, let's say there's 500,000 bassists in the UK, of that maybe 5% play 6 string bass, so that's maybe 25,000, of that maybe 10% would buy a Bongo, so that's 2500, of that maybe 10% would buy a headless Bongo, so 250. Of that maybe 10% would buy an unfinished headless Bongo, so 25. Of those, maybe 20% have the means to spend £2000 spare to spend. So 5. Its of course complete 'finger in air' math/logic, but I doubt I'm far off the mark! In any event, its all good fun and you've done something I'd not dare to do for so many reasons (lack of skill covers 90% of those reasons!) So kudos for doing it, I'd be interested to see more of your slightly crazy ideas! 🤪

Thanks for falling into my trap! 😂 Going back to the bass... Do you think you'll consider re-cutting the headstock to a less divisive shape? Also, someone mentioned employing a bit of elbow grease and sanding the whole thing back and giving it a nice natural oil rubbed finish - both wouldn't cost you much more money and both would increase the chances of a sale exponentially. Make your work shine sir, at the moment you've done some interesting and good work which is being marred a bit by the look of the product your offering - a few costless minor tweaks and you'll really be on to something cool! You're minutes down the road from me (I'm in Wickford), if you normalised the headstock and gave it a natural rub finish I'd be interested to see it in the flesh.

Never publicly... 😘

Pretty wonky grammar their. 😆

It's a diverse and multi-functional P. 😁

@BassApprentice - honestly, buy it. I've had the good fortune to play and own a sizable cross section of 'boutique' basses and this Peavey is blowing some of them out the water. It is VERY close to Fodera territory in terms of sound, very articulate, very crisp - piano like almost. The B is superb. The build quality is amazing too, a slight curve to the body (like Spector/Warwick but a little less pronounced), solid maple wings, graphite reinforced neck, dead solid truss rod (you'll need the Peavey specific truss key though). Nice thin Conklin-esque neck. I'm a little bit taken back on just how good this bass is.

I've just plugged it in, and I'm suitably impressed. It has some real bite to it. A great pallette of tones and a very comfortable neck. Looking forward to seeing how it sits at Band Practice this week.

They're not super common! Mine is from 1992, so not basses you see much of these days. Its VERY similar in feel and overall vibe to a Yamaha TRBJP6. The Kahler bridge does allow for super tight spacing, if that's your thing, but it can also go to 17.5/18mm as a max.

Inlay stickers can be perfectly reasonable solutions. One of my ACGs was made with no marker inlays (which I regret!) so I bought some 0.07mm thick abalone dot inlay stickers and to my eye it looks fine, does the job and I can't feel them. Don't get paper stickers or reasonably thick plastic stickers - buy some proper inlay stickers, my advice is buy the thinnest ones you can to avoid feeling them under finger. Lots of choice on eBay.

I've no doubt it isn't a lemon, and quite conceivably plays better than its pre-mod state. But, having answers to these questions might just help a sale, so why not answer them. That'd be my personal point of view if I were selling something unique.

That's not quite correct. I have one of these bridges, the reason why the ADGC screws are further out is because the saddle the ball end sits in is a little too far forward prior to tuning this means you have to wind the tuner more which then exposes the end of the screw. If you wind the saddle in before setting the ball end of the string in it, it moves the saddle to a better position therefore you need to rotate the tuner less thus not exposing the screw. Makes no odds to the functionality, but that'll be why the B and the E are more recessed.

Because people will want to know why you undertook this project and why you're selling it - this is a very unique and personalised customisation. For you to sell it may make some people think that is doesn't play well, or sound right and especially for £2000 they'd want to ensure they're not buying a lemon. Mentioning a reason why you're selling isn't essential, but it may alleviate some worries.

This is a bass forum, you've got a bass for sale, people are commenting with genuine observations and thoughts. I would see this as an opportunity to learn from the critique. You've done something I couldn't do with skills I don't have, so that is admirable from my point of view. Perhaps consider some of these comments as points to address to expand your potential customer base.

Just to second my above note, by your approximate estimate for a refinish, any potential buyer will be looking at a full price of £2500. Again, I hope you sell it, but I must ask, do you genuinely think that price is achievable? That's not to sound sarcastic, it's asking the question genuinely. I have no idea what someone would pay to commission something like this.

So on one hand you won't finish the bass because it'll narrow down options for the buyer but on the other you impose a very odd looking personal choice for the headstock? A curious double standard! Separately to that slight conflict - I would heavily argue that a finished bass in any reasonable colour is infinitely more sellable than an unfinished bass such as this. My assumption here is that you don't have the facilities to refinish a bass to a high standard so are saying 'it's unfinished to allow the customer to choose their own finish' is an escape route from further investment at your end. Speaking as a 6 string bassist, and one that likes headless AND one that has owned several Bongos, I'd also argue that on a very good day I am one of maybe 6 people in this country that might be a buyer for such a thing, but as it sits with it being unfinished thus me having to pay someone a good deal of money on top of the rather challenging 2k asking price just to get it to a decent finished standard, along side your curious personal choice for a headstock means that there is just no feasible way I'd have even a glimmer of interest. I mean it's a cool project, it is... I'm not knocking it, but you have to be realistic in that 2k is a price asked for the very finest of second hand instruments made by very well known builders, and these basses are finished items. 2k for your unfinished offering, which at best must be described as second hand is going to be a price I simply cannot see anyone paying. This is absolutely not intended to be mean spirited - it is just putting forward my opinion based on the fact I am one of very few people that something like this would appeal to, but for me - because of the points mentioned, I firmly believe this is missing a good 90% of your potential target audience. In any event, I hope you get what you want for it!

If it was properly finished and that fugly triangle headstock cut off, then it might well achieve 2k. As it sits, the unfinished looks and the weird angular headstock will (in my opinion) make it utterly unsellable at £2000. My 2 cents would be tidy up the headstock, make it look like a proper headless and for the love of God finish it! 2k for a bass that still needs a full refinish is just not viable. The comment about owning a unique 1 off bass is fair, but no one gets a custom bass that still need a total paint job.

I picked up this rather nice Peavey USA made TL-Six today. For a 30ish year old bass, it's in immaculate condition - no marks anywhere except a teeny tiny little scuff on the very tip of the headstock, other than that, you could pass it off a new. It needed a near full 360 turn of the truss to take out the relief in the neck and the Kahler bridge wasn't very well spaced, I've moved it to 17mm spacing. All in, a rather tasty beast in fairly astonishing condition! Came with all the original case candy and the original hard case too.

There's only one thing for it... A Spock vs Shatner style Duel to the death!!!

I buy basses/guitars fairly regularly. Mostly to try them for fun, things I've not owned before. I only ever buy if the price is right as I want to almost guarantee I can get my money back or even maybe turn a small profit as and when I sell. Though some will always stay with me (unless dire financial situations means I need to sell). I'd rather have a few fun instruments to play than cash in the bank - if I need the cash I can liquidate an instrument in fairly short order. Money in the bank does nothing and earns nothing, so I'd rather enjoy a nice bass for a few months then sell it on (or maybe keep it!) than have cash doing nowt in the bank. I quite enjoy hunting for something interesting, so for me I'd say it's not 'filling a hole' so to speak, it's more a hobby I enjoy and an alternative to having cash savings.

To be fair, Tauzero has a point! Links are pretty much essential in these threads! 🙂

You should sell it to me... it'll look great next to my black one!

Recently sold Keith an acoustic guitar case - he paid up promptly, good communication throughout. Another credit to Basschat, would definitely be happy to deal with again!

Having Googled "Warwick Stage Systems" (including the quotation marks to ensure Google searches the exact phrase) it does show a small handful of other similar speakers in the image section - most appear to have been 'for sale' ads in Europe. Best guess would be that Warwick were looking to venture into the PA world, ran out a few prototypes/low production units, and decided it wasn't worth the time! It's probably a very well built and good quality beast! Doubt it'd be worth a huge amount. Looks very 'Accugroove'. An interesting piece!