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Ken Smith BT5G - Macassar Ebony Top -ON HOLD
£2800

mrbassman_de

By mrbassman_de,
in Basses For Sale

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mrbassman_de Proficient

mrbassman_de

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Ken Smith BT5 G Macassar Ebony Top

Selling my BT5G from 1990 with a breathtaking, rare Ebony top

Specs:
Highly figured Macassar Ebony Top (today same upcharge from Ken like 5A Maple or Walnut)
5 pc Body Wings with Mahogany Core
Highly Figured Walnut Back
5 pc Neck
Ebony Board
18mm Spacing, 34" Scale
Original Smith 2-Bd-EQ preamp (3-knobber)
Black Headstock
Gold Hardware
Non-original Gigbag

This bass has been played - and for a good reason ! Dings and dongs can be seen all obvbver the bass, the neck back has a wonderful worn in feeling, the finish from the slap area is gone ... look at the pics - this is not a museum piece. But ... It sounds full and organic yet providing this special Smith click which only these basses deliver ! And that is more important than aesthetics to a few of us ! Lowest action as common on Smith basses.

The top is amazing, and the BACK is figured much nicer than lot of todays Tiger Elites TOPS !

I personally like these older neck-through basses from Ken, where the 5 stringers could be seen on the back. That means that the Neck Through is not compromised by a glued on tone block, which means that this whole neck including the neck angle is made from much larger wood stringers then today - and with much more effort.

And furthermore I like this 3-knob circuit from the old times - it is easy to handle and absolutely noise free. It has a passive option when pulling the volume knob.

Perhaps worth a refinish but I hesitated to do that as Kens finishes are legendary - and the existing sound should vote for itself.

Due to the condition I am asking only 3000 EUR (today 2550 GBP) - plus shipping from Duesseldorf.

No trades please unless you have a nice Alleva Coppolo 4 or 5.

On hold - pending payment ..

Pics here:
[url="http://s934.photobucket.com/user/mrbassman_de/library/Basses/Ken%20Smith%20BT5%20Ebony"]http://s934.photobuc...h%20BT5%20Ebony[/url]








Edited by mrbassman_de
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sorhe Enthusiast

sorhe

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I have exactly the same kind of bass. Except the ebony top in your bass is slightly more figured. Looks beautiful. Very nice sounding bass and easy to play. Quite versatile too: you get typical Smith sounds, as well as warm tones and crispy slap sound too. Sounds good in any music I have played. Not a bad price either.

Edited by sorhe
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Kriss Popovski Newbie

Kriss Popovski

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Beautiful bass...strange it is not sold yet...

I am far from being an expert but I think this BT5G actually does have the "Elite" specs.
I read somewhere that from 2002 Ken Smith began to call those "Elite", but in the 90's to early 2000's they were called BT5 Custom G - which is the case here, I believe...

What is the weight?

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mrbassman_de Proficient

mrbassman_de

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Hi Kriss,

You are right. The Elite specs were invented in the late 80s with the so called BT 5 Custom G model: 5pc-neck, 5-pc-body, neck-through. The difference between that spec and today's Elite spec are: 1) Glossy finish (today) vs. oil varnish (90s), serial/Parallel-switches (today), 18V-BMT-electronics (today) vs. 3-knob-Smith electronics (90s).

Temporarily the BMT model between 1993 and 1998 adopted the BT spec together with the invention of the 7pc-neck and the 7-pc-body. Later BMT models already had the current BSR body shape and the switches. Since 1998 the BSR Elite model and the BT Elite model have completely similar spec but the body shape. The last update came in 2002 when Ken introduced his newer 18V-electronics.

But the most important difference to my ears is the "real" Through-neck of the older BT and BMT models. The neck is visible through the whole legth of the body. Newer Elite models have a "toneblock" glued on the back of the neck - similar to Foderas, which is a cheaper way of production ;-). These older necks are fantastic for fast players as they are very slim. Newer necks are more chunky.

The weight of the bass is around 4,6 kg.

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JDinAZ Newbie

JDinAZ

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If I have to fly to Germany from Arizona, I'm gonna find a way to buy this bass from you Rainer. :)

I know I don't have feedback here on bass chat (I joined just for this bass), but I've been on Talkbass and eBay for years.
Wish I could find a way for international shipping made easy...
Jim

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