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Wal Mk1 Custom PB1839 Craigslist scam


JimmySims
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Hi all,

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this so please do move it if it's in the wrong place.

I saw the following advert on Craigslist London -

[size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"It's the PB 1839.[/font][/size]
[size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The construction is Shedua facings. Fretted Rosewood, 4 strings, 21 frets.
It has the full active elect ron ics, volume (pulls up for pick attack), pick up pan and two tone controls with the push pull/boost facitities.
Neck is the usual Wal multi laminates of maple / hornbeam / mahogany.\
Built in 1981 and signed off by Ian Waller and Pete (The Fish) Stevens himself in control cavity.
The bass is in excellent condition, only used in the studio."[/font][/size]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The bass was for sale for £1800, which seemed far too cheap for what that instrument is, but I thought an email might be worth a shot. I sent through a mail asking if the bass was for sale and if I could get some more pics. The person replied saying that there are more photos and gave me an email address to reply to so we could chat further. They also stated that they're in the Shetland Islands so I'd have to either go there to collect it or do everything via post. [/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Being a bit of a bass nerd, I've known about the Wal database of serial numbers and bass owners for a while now so I thought I'd do some digging. The serial in the advert matches up with an owner on there, so I got on google and found him. I've since been in touch with him and he tells me he sold the bass via ebay in 2008-09 to the drummer from a pretty big metal band in the states, and it would seem that the photos I've been sent are all taken for the original ebay listing. I'm willing to bet that the text from the Craigslist advert is copied and pasted from the original ebay listing too. [/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]I've googled the serial number a little further and I've found a posting on a Yahoo chat forum from 2010 talking about the exact same advert and suspicious email behaviour. [/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]I've asked the seller for his/her name and who they purchased the bass from but the emails have gone quiet. [/font]

I'm 99% sure this is a scam, I'm going to keep trying to get in touch and I'll update this thread if anything more happens.

Be safe out there!

Jimmy Sims

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I remember one being 'sold' in Orkney a few years back. I sent the seller a message along the lines of 'I will be in Orkney this weekend, I could try the bass out then with a view to buying it'.

I got an almost an instant reply of 'sorry mate, I've just moved to the Isle of Wight and taken the bass with me'.

I hear the Isle of Wight is lovely though, so I couldn't really blame them.

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It's even worse when it's your bass that's in the advert, which happened with my Mk1 fretted a few years ago. Photos appeared to have been lifted from when it was listed on ebay some years before (I remembered the seller's carpet) and it was also in advertised as being in Shetland in the scam ad. I've also had one of my Rickenbacker 4080s listed for sale in Canada, using photos I'd posted online a few years before when someone had asked about neck angles. It was sat in its case a few feet from me and not for sale.

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[quote name='jonsmith' timestamp='1453284979' post='2958017']
I've also had one of my Rickenbacker 4080s listed for sale in Canada, using photos I'd posted online a few years before when someone had asked about neck angles. It was sat in its case a few feet from me and not for sale.
[/quote]

I bet you checked!

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  • 6 months later...

I just stumbled across the PB1839 ad the other day and although I thought it seemed a bit too good to be true fired off an email just in case. Strangely I've only found this and the Talkbass threads today, after sending the email (as an aside, Jimmy - and good man letting people know about this - sold me my Alembic Triple Omega when he worked at the Bass Centre).

I've not had a response - maybe because I asked for specific photos - but will avoid like the plague now, although there's no way I'd have bitten without seeing the bass in the flesh anyway.

How do people get away with this stuff without being reported?

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same scammer operates on gumtree, always on some remote island. all his photos come from eBay, you can always find the pics they use on google images, and they don't even change the file names, they will lead straight back to eBay. I nearly fell for it not long ago, but a bit of googling normally takes you to the original pics and ad.

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[quote name='jonsmith' timestamp='1453284979' post='2958017']
It's even worse when it's your bass that's in the advert, which happened with my Mk1 fretted a few years ago....
[/quote]

My Mk 1 has turned up on eBay once or twice as well. But then again, photos of my bass aren't hard to come by...

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  • 3 weeks later...

[quote name='4000' timestamp='1470865671' post='3109112']
I just stumbled across the PB1839 ad the other day and although I thought it seemed a bit too good to be true fired off an email just in case. Strangely I've only found this and the Talkbass threads today, after sending the email (as an aside, Jimmy - and good man letting people know about this - sold me my Alembic Triple Omega when he worked at the Bass Centre).

I've not had a response - maybe because I asked for specific photos - but will avoid like the plague now, although there's no way I'd have bitten without seeing the bass in the flesh anyway.

How do people get away with this stuff without being reported?
[/quote]

How funny! I only remember selling one triple omega, does it have walnut faces? Or some such dark wood?

I seem to remember selling a John enthwistle Spider on the same day.

Edited by JimmySims
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[quote name='4000' timestamp='1472496263' post='3121600']
Yep, walnut facings (see below). There was another, with slightly less figured walnut facings, which I played prior to ordering mine. I played your Jazz too!


[/quote]

Sorry, this is totally off topic I know.

How does something as amazing as that sound ?

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[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1453292186' post='2958098']
My motto is, if I can't pick it up in person then I won't bother. It's just a shame more aren't like me.
[/quote]

I know this post is old, but that approach isn't much use if you live in Aberdeen and don't care about Fenders.

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[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1472515340' post='3121797']
I know this post is old, but that approach isn't much use if you live in Aberdeen and don't care about Fenders.
[/quote]

True maybe, though I did once travel from London to Edinburgh to collect a bass. I think it was about £40 for the return train fare, booked about a week in advance, and I did set off about 6 in the morning.

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I travelled from Lower Normandy to Nottingham to look at a bass I was interested in. Did I buy it..? Yes, I did, and it's my 'go-to' Verithin, but I'd have left it if it hadn't been the bass I was after. I'm not suggesting that it's easy, but it's a choice, and part of living where one does. It's not as if it was shopping for weekly cauliflower; it's only once in a while (and travel broadens the mind, they say...).

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I have bought the vast majority of my basses at distance and it isn't just dumb luck that I haven't been scammed in the process. A liberal application of common sense laced with a possibly unhealthy amount of cynicism has worked well for me thus far.

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