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GB - Bernie Goodfellow Classic - WITHDRAWN


Schnozzalee
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Hi Guys,

I have a Rare 1985 Bernie Goodfellow Custom Classic for sale, but I'm also open to trades of all kinds - Jus send me a pm or comment.

The Bass has a quilted maple top, and bottom, with a slab of walnut in between including mahogany binding. The neck is maple/mahogany/maple/mahogany/maple and has a mahogany topped headstock with the 'G' logo followed by made in England. The bass has a wenge fingerboard and minimal fret wear. It's not a short scale, but it's easier to play than my 1994 Musicman Sterling. It has gold hardware and ebony covers kent armstrong pickups, which have grooves in the side of them to place your thumb, as I say this is the most comfortable bass i've played. The Bass require two batteries and is very powerful, when needed to cut through the guitars. These basses are very rare i've only ever seen 1 in person but I know of two others, not using the same timbers. The bass has a classic Mark King shape about it, and was handmade by Bernie Goodfellow himself, instead of his employees which make the modern 5 star rated GB Rumour, and GB Spitfire. It's in fantastic conditions, the only wear is on the laquer surrounding the 4 bolt neck, it has affected the wood nor the bolt attachment or anything like that, merely missing some gloss as you can see from the photos. I have only a heavily padded Warwick gigbag for this bass. I have no reason why I'm selling it, I just have a never ending need to own different basses. Tell me what you think!

p.s. I'm based in South Wales, and I can reach the Scotland to Manchester area.

Edited by Schnozzalee
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There are three different kinds of Goodfellow Bass.

1.The original handmade by Bernie
2.The mass produced Lowden basses. These are the ones Bernie wont touch but it's difficult to tell the 2 apart without a good close look or asking the man himself
3.The modern GB's built by Bernie. He has no employee's that I have ever seen.

This looks like one of the original Bernie basses, but if in doubt speak to the man.

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[quote name='bass_ferret' post='389651' date='Jan 23 2009, 03:15 PM']There are three different kinds of Goodfellow Bass.

3.The modern GB's built by Bernie. He has no employee's that I have ever seen.

This looks like one of the original Bernie basses, but if in doubt speak to the man.[/quote]

Indeed, given the build times, his imaginary employees need kicking up the ass...

Edited by EBS_freak
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[quote name='Geddys nose' post='389634' date='Jan 23 2009, 03:03 PM']Just a note to say Ollie's a good guy to deal with and a true gent I've got one of his old basses .Si[/quote]

Cheers Si! Surprised you recognized me. Thanks again for the Sterling Its an awesome bass, hows the Birch playing?

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[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='389818' date='Jan 23 2009, 05:21 PM']This looks like an original Goodfellow as it has the matching wooden tuning pegs and the rotary control feature in the electronics. The Lowden built ones never had those special distinguishing features...[/quote]

Yes it does, sorry I didn't mention, the bass has gold tuning pegs with walnut machineheads and engraved with the 'G' logo. The custom bridge is 'engraved' Goodfellow, and the Kent Armstrong Pickups are custom wound.

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Your user name is a hard one to forget ;) Glad you like the Sterling and your GB is stunning - good luck with the trade. The Birch is the reason I sold my Ric just a great tone and it looks pretty cool too its a keeper and my No1 bass. Si

[quote name='Schnozzalee' post='389859' date='Jan 23 2009, 05:53 PM']Cheers Si! Surprised you recognized me. Thanks again for the Sterling Its an awesome bass, hows the Birch playing?[/quote]

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OK guys - here's the guide from the man.

It's certainly not a GB. The GB era is post the Goodfellow era with the Rumour bass processor (although earlier Spitfires had a cut down version of this circuit. All GBs now share the same circuit). Goodfellow basses can never be refered to as GB.

The original Goodfellow basses logo had Handcrafted in England underneath the G. The Lowden era has Goodfellow basses.

The original Goodfellow basses had the wooden tuning pegs.

The original Goodfellow basses had the distinctive knob which doesn't match the others and the Goodfellow branded bridge.

The Lowden era basses are a slightly different shape to the one that we see in this thread.

As for the question about employees, all work is undertaken by Bernie with the exception of the finishing which is done by a seperate team geared up for doing the job.

Bernie is questioning which bass he wouldn't touch... he states that he would touch a Goodfellow bass regardless of it's origin.

As a bonus, I'll include this link -

[url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DvcE6EqOR9c"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DvcE6EqOR9c[/url]

- which shows Graham Gouldman of 10cc fame with a Goodfellow bass that Bernie built for him. OK, he's miming (hey it's TOTP, but you can get a good look at the bass regardless!

Edited by EBS_freak
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[quote name='EBS_freak' date='Jan 25 2009, 01:23 AM' post='390725']
OK guys - here's the guide from the man.

Hi EBS freak,

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't saying that the Bass was a GB I was merely referring to the link between their present company and the Goodfellow Classic Bass. Thanks for the video, the bass in that looks exactly like mine except I can't see the Dense Maple Quilt, but thats probably because of the gloss and the light. Again just in case you wanna accuse me of saying that it's Graham Gouldman's bass - i'm not, I've never detached the neck to look at the inscription. As for the distinctive knob which is different to bridge and the others, all the Goodfellow Classics I have seen all have the same, including the one on your video. AND!! so he does have employees doesn't he? In all honesty I don't mind if he does have employees doing the finishes, he still makes 5 star quality handmade basses as reviewed in Bass Guitar Magazine. I'm just trying to sell/trade one of his older models. The bass has all the features you said make an original, but I still question the distinctive hardware bit. Can you tell me about the Lowden era bit please? Also if theres any extra photos you'd like me to put, gimme a shout.

Regards Oli

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[quote name='bass_ferret' post='389651' date='Jan 23 2009, 03:15 PM']There are three different kinds of Goodfellow Bass.

1.The original handmade by Bernie
2.The mass produced Lowden basses. These are the ones Bernie wont touch but it's difficult to tell the 2 apart without a good close look or asking the man himself
3.The modern GB's built by Bernie. He has no employee's that I have ever seen.

This looks like one of the original Bernie basses, but if in doubt speak to the man.[/quote]

Mine was one from the Lowden Factory, would that be the connection with N/I ?
Because of me taking it to Bernie [Then in Croydon ] for a Pre-amp replacement.
Turned into a very expensive weekend.
I walked away with.......
A natural Spitfire 5.
EBS amp. [ 350 ]
Two EBS cabinets.
An the entire EBS pedal collection...! ;)
Got a fantastic discount from Bernie though.

I think in my case, the reason Bernie was reluctent to do work on the Bass,
Was because it was from the Lowden factory.

I got to say, when i got my Spitfire 5...
Bernie let my try it first on a show i was doing at the time.
Hows that for first class service. :P from a top geezer.


Garry

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[quote name='Schnozzalee' post='390837' date='Jan 25 2009, 11:04 AM']Hi EBS freak,

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't saying that the Bass was a GB I was merely referring to the link between their present company and the Goodfellow Classic Bass. Thanks for the video, the bass in that looks exactly like mine except I can't see the Dense Maple Quilt, but thats probably because of the gloss and the light. Again just in case you wanna accuse me of saying that it's Graham Gouldman's bass - i'm not, I've never detached the neck to look at the inscription. As for the distinctive knob which is different to bridge and the others, all the Goodfellow Classics I have seen all have the same, including the one on your video. AND!! so he does have employees doesn't he? In all honesty I don't mind if he does have employees doing the finishes, he still makes 5 star quality handmade basses as reviewed in Bass Guitar Magazine. I'm just trying to sell/trade one of his older models. The bass has all the features you said make an original, but I still question the distinctive hardware bit. Can you tell me about the Lowden era bit please? Also if theres any extra photos you'd like me to put, gimme a shout.

Regards Oli[/quote]

No - I wasn't suggesting that your bass was a GB.

It's not Graham's bass. Graham still has his bass.

No, he doesn't have employees. He pays for the basses to be finished by a third party. They don't work for GB. They do work for GB.

I'm not being an arse - just relaying the message from Bernie.

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[quote name='lowdown' post='390848' date='Jan 25 2009, 11:31 AM']Mine was one from the Lowden Factory, would that be the connection with N/I ?
Because of me taking it to Bernie [Then in Croydon ] for a Pre-amp replacement.
Turned into a very expensive weekend.
I walked away with.......
A natural Spitfire 5.
EBS amp. [ 350 ]
Two EBS cabinets.
An the entire EBS pedal collection...! ;)
Got a fantastic discount from Bernie though.

I think in my case, the reason Bernie was reluctent to do work on the Bass,
Was because it was from the Lowden factory.

I got to say, when i got my Spitfire 5...
Bernie let my try it first on a show i was doing at the time.
Hows that for first class service. :P from a top geezer.


Garry[/quote]

Yup - that would be the NI link.

If you were taking the bass in question for a preamp then that would explain why Bernie wouldn't do anything with the bass. He won't put his preamp in anything but a GB bass. He's got no problem with working on any bass... but he won't put his preamp in anything else - quite right! You got a Spitfire. You know why.

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[quote name='lowdown' post='389596' date='Jan 23 2009, 02:30 PM']I had one of these about seven years ago [ darker woods ]
took it to Bernie for a repair, and he did not want anything to do with it.. ;)
I believe mine was put together in Northen Ireland.
It was a fantastic Bass to play.

Nice finish on yours.[/quote]

Hey Lowdown,

Thanks for the comment! I've only seen two others than mine, a Paduk body fretless and a Bubinga/mahogany body one, somebody sold on this forum. It does play really well, very easy to set up too, luckily for me. Although I am considering getting a professional setup and a hardshell case for it this weekend. Do you have a case for yours just out of interest?

Cheers Oli

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[quote name='EBS_freak' post='390872' date='Jan 25 2009, 12:26 PM']No - I wasn't suggesting that your bass was a GB.

It's not Graham's bass. Graham still has his bass.

No, he doesn't have employees. He pays for the basses to be finished by a third party. They don't work for GB. They do work for GB.

I'm not being an arse - just relaying the message from Bernie.[/quote]

I wasn't implying you were an arse, i'm just trying to avoid it looking like i'm selling a bass with a made up description. Thank you for asking Bernie about it, I'll have to send him some pics for more info

Cheers Oli

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[quote name='lowdown' post='390848' date='Jan 25 2009, 11:31 AM']Turned into a very expensive weekend.
I walked away with.......
A natural Spitfire 5.
EBS amp. [ 350 ]
Two EBS cabinets.
An the entire EBS pedal collection...! ;)
Got a fantastic discount from Bernie though.

Garry[/quote]

I thought it was just me! I'm glad he ambushed someone else! When I went down to Croydon to get my Rumour (Now owned by BC'er sgh), I too came away with 2 Proline cabs & a HD350 that I hadn't planned on having. Once I heard it though I had to have it! Crafty sod! Bernie is a top guy. Sorry to hijack the thread. This is a nice bass.
Cheers
R.

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