SOLD: Chapman Stick (10-string)

[bnt]

I've mentioned this a few times before, but I'm going to do it properly now: I'm selling my 10-String Chapman Stick.

I bought it in London in 2000, and when I wrote to Stick Enterprise to enquire, they told me it was a 1979 Ironwood model, serial #565. Ironwood sounds right, but I'm not sure about the date, since it has some features that only arrived by the early 90s: Fret Rods, fully-adjustable bridge, "Just-A-Nut" that allows switching to 6+4 mode. It may have been upgraded at some point. I can't see any signs of work, though which must mean that if it was upgraded, it was done properly by Stick Enterprises. I soon concluded that it's not the instrument for me, and I'm better off focusing on the bass, but kept it in case I had a change of heart.

The electronics are standard Stick passive, a split pickup with individual volume controls & stereo out. It comes with the original hard case, cable, strap & tools. I think I have a spare pack of strings, though I need to find them. I'm setting an asking price of £900, but sensible offers are invited.

[attachment=6306:Stick1.JPG] [attachment=6307:Stick2.JPG] [attachment=6308:Stick3.JPG] [attachment=6309:Stick4.JPG]

edit: sale in progress

Edited March 21, 2008 by bnt

[The Funk]

What's the tuning?

[Volume]

PM'd

[Jebo1]

Yup, I PMed about 10 minutes ago too :-)

[mcgraham]

That is a phenomenally low price for a stick, someone is going to get a real treat. I'd PM with an interested offer but I've got my work cut out for me on bass and guitar as it is. Gotta be realistic here.

Congratulations to whoever nabs it!

Mark

[Jebo1]

I reckon I was first by a few minutes, but we'll wait and see :-)

Been looking for one of these for nigh on 10 years now!

Hehe, I'm excited already!

[Volume]

Jebo,

If you're interested in the stick, I'll gracefully bow-out - enjoy!

Rich

[bnt]

[quote name='The Funk' post='154021' date='Mar 9 2008, 05:13 PM']What's the tuning?[/quote]
It's currently on "classic" 10-string Stick tuning, as detailed [url="http://www.stick.com/instruments/tunings/10/classic/"]here[/url]. You can change it with the appropriate strings and setup.

I got the PMs OK - thanks. A couple of points I should have made:
- The price I quoted is a [i]starting[/i] price, a [b]lot[/b] less than I paid for it, and a [b]lot[/b] less than a Stick could go for today. I know it's Sunday. and some folks might not see this ad over the weekend, so I'd like to give folks till tomorrow to see it i.e. it's not a "first come first served" race. I'm only interested in selling it to a BCer who's going to play it, [b]not[/b] to a dealer, not at that price: I'm not doing this for someone else to make money off of, thank you very much!

Edited March 9, 2008 by bnt

[Jebo1]

Fair enough. I've been looking for one of these for 10 years, so yeah, it's going to get played! I spose I'll wait for you to make a decision. Cheers, L

Edited March 9, 2008 by Jebo1

[Golchen]

Well, I'd be interested but I already have two 12 string Chapman sticks!

You could also advertise over at www.stickist.com, they have a for sale section in the forums.

[Steve Woodcock]

[quote name='bnt' post='154016' date='Mar 9 2008, 05:01 PM']when I wrote to Stick Enterprise to enquire, they told me it was a 1979 Ironwood model, serial #565. Ironwood sounds right, but I'm not sure about the date, since it has some features that only arrived by the early 90s: Fret Rods, fully-adjustable bridge, "Just-A-Nut" that allows switching to 7+5 mode. It may have been upgraded at some point. I can't see any signs of work, though which must mean that if it was upgraded, it was done properly by Stick Enterprises.[/quote]

Definitely not an upgrade as the headstock is curved - earlier ones were more angular. When the new features you mention were introduced (in October 1989) they started the serial numbers from 001 again - mine is #614 so I would say yours dates from the early 90's.

Good luck with the sale - I second Dills' suggestion to post it on www.stickist.com too and add that I'd be very keen myself were it not the same specs as my current Stick - sounds like someone will grab an absolute bargain as you could ask almost twice your staring price.

[bnt]

[quote name='Stickman' post='154262' date='Mar 9 2008, 10:51 PM']Good luck with the sale - I second Dills' suggestion to post it on www.stickist.com too and add that I'd be very keen myself were it not the same specs as my current Stick - sounds like someone will grab an absolute bargain as you could ask almost twice your staring price.[/quote]
OK, I'm getting a bit concerned now, with everyone telling me I'm a mug who's not asking anywhere near enough for it, but I did say that was a [b]starting[/b] price, anticipating more interest. How would it look if I were to withdraw it now, and put it on a different site? I'm not looking to get every last pound out of a BCer, but neither am I prepared to be taken advantage of. I'll see what happens by tomorrow afternoon.

[Jebo1]

Well, the usual way of doing these things is to put down your sale price, not to start bidding for an item (it's not ebay, it's Basschat!). This is going to cause confusion and annoyance for people.

Best just say you got your original price wrong, and say what you think it's worth... Then you're not misleading anyone.

Hope this helps.

[bnt]

[quote name='Jebo1' post='154281' date='Mar 9 2008, 11:30 PM']Best just say you got your original price wrong, and say what you think it's worth... Then you're not misleading anyone.[/quote]
OK, I got the original price wrong, and the asking price is £900. I'll put it on that other site too, where (as you say) I can expect more than that. Why should I care about shipping costs if the buyer pays?

Edited March 9, 2008 by bnt

[Jebo1]

Good stuff, well, I can't afford £900 on something like this, so it isn't going to be mine...!

[steve-soar]

Very misleading and very poor show saying £600 then changing it to £900.

[bnt]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='154300' date='Mar 10 2008, 12:24 AM']Very misleading and very poor show saying £600 then changing it to £900.[/quote]
Read the whole thread, would you? Everyone was telling me I was wrong to set a [b]starting[/b] price, and that that price was too low, so I changed it to an [b]asking[/b] price. You can't have it both ways.
[quote name='GremlinAndy' post='154307' date='Mar 10 2008, 12:47 AM']Not really.
If you put yourself in that position would you let it go for a silly low price just because you didn't initially realise it's value?[/quote]
I do realize its value, I just wasn't expecting to be looked at like a mug, and accused of misleading people, just because I don't know the [i]unwritten[/i] rules involved in selling something on this particular forum. For example, where did I say "first dibs"? I always intended to give people enough time to come here, take a look, and make a sensible offer - but that's wrong, apparently.

Edited March 10, 2008 by bnt

[woolleydick]

[quote name='bnt' post='154312' date='Mar 10 2008, 02:55 AM']Read the whole thread, would you? Everyone was telling me I was wrong to set a [b]starting[/b] price, and that that price was too low, so I changed it to an [b]asking[/b] price. You can't have it both ways.

I do realize its value, I just wasn't expecting to be looked at like a mug, and accused of misleading people, just because I don't know the [i]unwritten[/i] rules involved in selling something on this particular forum. For example, where did I say "first dibs"? I always intended to give people enough time to come here, take a look, and make a sensible offer - but that's wrong, apparently. [/quote]

Well for what it is worth, I do not believe anybody has done anything harmful or willfully misleading here, and £900 is still a fair price for this stick.
good luck with the sale.

[daflewis]

bnt, i feel for you man!

"I'm looking for offers starting at £600."

fairly obviously an "auction" rather than a "first come first served" - and just because it may not have been done before on the site doesn't mean it's not a good idea - particularly for a popular item like this....

maybe we'll see more "ebay" style sales on here - as much as we all dislike what ebay has become the original format was obviously a successful one!!

Daf

[Jebo1]

I think the idea of an auction on a site like this leads to all sorts of issues, and is a very bad idea. It's much easier to state clearly the price you want and then work from there (usually downward in my experience!).

I also find it annoying when people say: "Make me an offer", or "Offers over £---" as they've always got a price in mind, so why not say so? (In this case this hasn't happenned, so don't take any offence).

Perhaps the seller was unclear about what the conventions were on Basschat, and made an honest mistake. I don't know what a Chapman Stick is worth in the UK in 2008, but have seen them (in my time) go for between £550 - £900, so I felt £600 was a good price, but not taking advantage of the original owner.

Obviously it is worth more than that (As the number of comments have shown), so I'll bow out with no recriminations.

As for turning Basschat into some quasi auction site, no way in the world is that good. Lets see if the Chapman Stick gets sold. It's only worth as much as someone is willing to pay!

My search continues for one...!

[daflewis]

Jebo1,

I agree that auctions have their own set of issues, but whether they're overall "a very bad idea" is, i think, another question.

one thing they would stop is people saying "i've seen them new cheaper/not much more than that" etc. which is an issue that has been discussed on many occasions here and is a bit unfair to the seller - unless of course they're blatantly taking the p**s!

as you say "it's only worth as much as someone is willing to pay!" and isn't an auction just another way of finding out?

i'm not saying it should become the preferred method for selling on BC but it's not completely invalid in all cases.

Edited March 10, 2008 by daflewis

[Jebo1]

[quote name='daflewis' post='154388' date='Mar 10 2008, 10:29 AM']Jebo1,

I agree that auctions have their own set of issues, but whether they're overall "a very bad idea" is, i think, another question.

one thing they would stop is people saying "i've seen them new cheaper/not much more than that" etc. which is an issue that has been discussed on many occasions here and is a bit unfair to the seller - unless of course they're blatantly taking the p**s!

as you say "it's only worth as much as someone is willing to pay!" and isn't an auction just another way of finding out?

i'm not saying it should become the preferred method for selling on BC but it's not completely invalid in all cases.[/quote]

I think auctions work for things like auction sites, where you pay a fee and it's regulated etc. Basschat works almost entirely on gentlemens agreements, which is rare in this world - especially with people I've never met before. I mean, I went into Barclays bank and deposited near £400 into Birdy's account after a few emails, some nice phone calls and prior transactions...! That's trust!

The pricing of an item is the individuals responsibility, so you've got to do your ground work before you put something up for sale. I mean, a completed items search takes 5 seconds on ebay, or typing in (insert your item here) into google with the word 'sale' afterward will give you enough responses... It's not rocket science really.

Plus, auctions often end up with you getting less for an item than you envisaged. Who's to say that the Chapman Stick would have ended up selling for £600 - it is a niche instrument, that's for sure!...

If I wanted to use an auction site to by my gear (which I don't usually) then I'd use ebay. Lets keep Basschat pure and based entirely on the trust of a great community which I'm proud to say has always been incredibly fair and honest to me, and I'd like to keep it that way. Had the seller here put £900 as a sale price, there would have been no problems. Perhaps we could get rid of all this stuff and let him relist it or something...?

[Golchen]

Too bad that you didn't offer the videos seperately - I'd have liked them!

[daflewis]

yeh, it is a shame that there was the misunderstanding about his sale and i'm sure it'll work out.

[quote]Lets keep Basschat pure and based entirely on the trust of a great community which I'm proud to say has always been incredibly fair and honest to me, and I'd like to keep it that way.[/quote]
there seems to be association between auctions with a lack of trust - almost certainly from experience of ebay - and i quite understand that; but when ebay first started it was a pretty safe place with trust between buyers and sellers, it just got too big...

If something was sold on BC by auction it wouldn't make any of us less trustworthy, after all we're only talking about the mechanism for finding a price - start low and go up or start high and come down.

[quote]Plus, auctions often end up with you getting less for an item than you envisaged. Who's to say that the Chapman Stick would have ended up selling for £600[/quote]

in my experience that happens however you try and sell something!

[Jebo1]

[quote name='daflewis' post='154406' date='Mar 10 2008, 11:03 AM']yeh, it is a shame that there was the misunderstanding about his sale and i'm sure it'll work out.


there seems to be association between auctions with a lack of trust - almost certainly from experience of ebay - and i quite understand that; but when ebay first started it was a pretty safe place with trust between buyers and sellers, it just got too big...

If something was sold on BC by auction it wouldn't make any of us less trustworthy, after all we're only talking about the mechanism for finding a price - start low and go up or start high and come down.



in my experience that happens however you try and sell something! [/quote]

True, auctions also however encourage competition and can engender resentment amongst people, also there need to be strict rules. Auctions are legally binding, and usually carry a firm commitment amongst the seller and buyer, something that can't always be said of Basschat transactions (no blame, sh*t happens!)

Concern has been raised previously that Basschat has been used by some (and to be honest, I'm on the sale section quite a lot) as a glorified free ads section, which is something that it's not here for. Having auctions and encouraging competitive buying practises strengthens this claim, and I think is something that shouldn't be encouraged.

When I sell something, I damn well know what it's worth, and I price it accordingly (and through Basschat often a fair few £££s cheaper than I would sell it for on ebay).

I'm going to end there as I don't want to take up more space of this fine instruments listing space!