Vasquez Rich Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 Anyone know anything about these, I'm told it's "vintage" so I may not want to be replacing bits... but I think all the tuners are buggered at least. Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burpster Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 I thought they just made tennis and golf bats and the like..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burpster Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 I'M no expert but just had a look in teh Blue book. they were made between 1961-82 as Wlikins then Watkins and then W.E.M. The bass it would seem is quite rare. G-plan (furniture) were employed at some point in this history to produce the woodwork. No Ideas of a value but I'd treat it like a Shergold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 Ask the owner whether they want to play it or look at it. If they want to play it then they'll be happy for you to use similar but not necessarily "period correct" parts. The best thing to do is communicate. If they insist upon it being 100% correct, be prepared to spend lots of time (and money) trawling eBay and even more obscure sources trying to find the right stuff. I've recently been restoring a Hagstrom bass, and the owner has been prepared to let a few things go in the interest of making it a playable instrument, like modern slide switches, new nitrocellulose finish (as opposed to artificially aging with tinted clearcoats) when the originals might not even have used nitro (don't know offhand). But I wasn't prepared to compromise on a few esoteric Hagstrom touches, like the 3 screw jackplate. That took a while to track down, and I had to buy a whole wrecked bass to get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tengu Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 You will find everything that there is to know here [url="http://www.watkinsguitars.co.uk/index.htm"]http://www.watkinsguitars.co.uk/index.htm[/url] Got any pics of this bass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burpster Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 ^^^^ perfect..... what he said ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vasquez Rich Posted May 14, 2008 Author Share Posted May 14, 2008 Thanks for the info guys. I think it's meant to be played so will get that treatment first, I won't be doing any restoring or refinishing, just sorting the tuners, electronics, wiring, set up, action etc etc so that it plays better and actually works correctly. Pictures.. no not yet, will post some when I have it in hand. I will probably get to see it tomorrow night. It belongs to a mate, although he's a drummer really, it was left in his studio and he now uses it as a "stock" bass and I expect it has not been treated all that well over the years. Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinynorman Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 When I was about 15 I lusted after a Watkins Rapier. Looking at them now I'm not sure why, but they seemed very cool back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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