Brook_fan Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 (edited) Have reduced this on Reverb to £1650 for strictly one week only, to try and get some interest. After this will put it back up and just keep it indefinitely. Will take £1500 for forum members. For sale is this beautiful Brook acoustic bass, fully customised and in superb condition. Brook are a three man team of luthiers in Devon who build about 100 acoustic guitars each year. All their guitars are named after rivers in the South West. They have always had an acoustic bass in their catalogue, usually called the “Otter”. However, when I commissioned this one they had just had a mould built for a Gibson J200 shape, and so I got them to use that for the body. This means that it’s much larger than their normal Otter shape (which is basically the same shape as their Tavy model) and in trying to come up with a name for this bass we arrived at “Lowman”. Brook are good friends of mine, and I have had about 6 instruments from them over the years. They added some extra little details on this bass, and really pulled out all the stops. The specs: Top: Engleman spruce, with subtle bearclaw markings (this is an upgrade on their usual grade of tops) Back and Sides: highly figured Bubinga Neck: walnut with a laminate strip of bubinga Tuners: hip shot ultralite Fingerboard, bridge, faceplate: Ebony Nut and saddle: black stained bone Faceplate: Celtic trelisk abalone inlay Binding and rosette: fine black and red striped wood Pickup: Headway under saddle piezo Case: Gator semi rigid case (very lightweight). Scale length: 34” Nut width: same as a precision Strings: la Bella 760n tape wound bronze, heavy gauge Now, some of you will know I have only just got this back, after a previous sale turned out a bit weird, in that the buyer never bothered to pick it up (in 2 years!). I am now selling this rather than keeping it, mainly for the following reasons: * firstly, I’m mainly an acoustic guitarist and I’m just very out of practice and lacking in time to be able to give this the attention it deserves. After lying unplayed for 2 years it needs someone to love it as it should * I am struggling with the scale length and would find 32” to be more comfortable *there are sad memories associated with this bass around its commission and eventual selling on- it’s time to lay some ghosts to rest and move on It was my intention to keep this when I got it back, and gradually pay back the original buyer, but with my inability to bond with it again means that I would prefer to just sell it to someone who would actually play it and pay him at once. I am looking for £1850. 2nd hand Brooks are usually around this sort of figure, and please bear in mind all of the additional upgrades, from the bearclaw top, to the extra figured exotic back and side, to the laminate walnut neck to the Celtic inlay. I would prefer not to have to ship. The case is huge! It would not be impossible but all shipping and insurance expanses must be met by the buyer. I am more than happy to travel about 40 miles or so by train for any hand over. The sound is huge! I can supply some videos of me playing it if required. Thank you for reading and looking. Robbie Edit: just to explain the strange look of the nut- the nut is bone that has been strained black. Unfortunately when Brook did it the stain didn’t take in a couple of places. Si, my fiend and chief honcho at Brook was most apologetic, but as he is vegetarian I didn’t want them to waste a perfectly good piece of cow bone just because of its looks! As I say further down, I am thinking of having the bass reset up for standard gauge phosphor bronze strings, probably Elixirs or GHS pressure wound bronze. If the buyer was interested in this I would have a new nut and saddle made in white bone, and then keep the black set in case anyone wants to use the (much) wider tape wound strings currently on it. Personally I find them too big (my little finger in particular slips off frequently, part of the reason I have not rebonded with the instrument I think). Edited March 15, 2020 by Brook_fan Added information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted February 10, 2020 Author Share Posted February 10, 2020 Bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 (edited) OK, been listening back to some early videos I made when I first got this bass. Here is one I did in my garden at the time. It sported some Elixir PB strings (still the best sounding ones I've tried in my opinion) and you will also notice different tuners. The silver ones here are Schaller Da Vincis- they looked beautiful, but one broke, and so I replaced them for the black ultralites. I have been thinking that I will take the bass to a local luthier at the end of the month (if it hasn't sold by then) to have the Elixir strings installed on this bass. I may get an extra nut and saddle made, so that if anyone was wanting to go back to the huge La Bella tape wounds that are currently on it they can swap them out. Robbie https://youtu.be/g4xCDC8yWmg Edited February 15, 2020 by Brook_fan Trying to embed the link, but have given up ☹️ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 (edited) Would now accept an offer- even cheeky ones might be considered! Edit: please bear in mind the following though if you want to give me a cheeky offer- the current price of a standard Otter on the Brook website is £2700. Mine is heavily customised- the upgrades are as followings: Headway pickup - £150 AAAA grade Engelmann spruce top- £100 extra highly figures bubinga - £100 extra perfling and rosette - £75 extra inlay- £75 walnut 5 piece neck £100 extra So well over £3k to buy now!! Having said that, I do genuinely want it to go to someone who would love it and play it (not to just hang on a wall) and if that person is you, then yes, please offer what you can genuinely afford or what you feel it is worth!! Edited February 15, 2020 by Brook_fan Clarification Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Just want to say that the bass is lovely and Robbie is a wonderful guy so I hope this finds a new home on here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted February 15, 2020 Author Share Posted February 15, 2020 On 13/02/2020 at 22:39, Merton said: Just want to say that the bass is lovely and Robbie is a wonderful guy so I hope this finds a new home on here Thank you Merton, you are too kind 😊 To show you what this bass could sound like in an ensemble setting, here is a video of mine where the bass (when it comes in on the repeat of the tune) was recorded DI’ed through a Phil Jones Briefcase. I felt there is a lovely growl to the bass recording that way. And of course, this video hopefully shows why I went for an acoustic bass at the time- I just feel an electric bass sound would have sounded out of place amongst all the mandolins here. All the parts were recorded by me, and sadly all the instruments were sold in my massive purge two years ago, even my rather lovely bodhran (Irish frame drum) that I’m playing (very badly) here: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 On 11/02/2020 at 10:36, Brook_fan said: OK, been listening back to some early videos I made when I first got this bass. Here is one I did in my garden at the time. It sported some Elixir PB strings (still the best sounding ones I've tried in my opinion) and you will also notice different tuners. The silver ones here are Schaller Da Vincis- they looked beautiful, but one broke, and so I replaced them for the black ultralites. I have been thinking that I will take the bass to a local luthier at the end of the month (if it hasn't sold by then) to have the Elixir strings installed on this bass. I may get an extra nut and saddle made, so that if anyone was wanting to go back to the huge La Bella tape wounds that are currently on it they can swap them out. Robbie https://youtu.be/g4xCDC8yWmg Nice playing and nice bass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 Now up on Reverb for considerably more (just to cover the hideous costs they impose- I hate Reverb ) Much rather sell to someone on here though as I know it will be loved Robbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binky_bass Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Reverb only charge 3.5% don't they?? Always thought that to be more than fair! Beats a shops commission of 20% or eBay commissions of 14% inc. PayPal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, binky_bass said: Reverb only charge 3.5% don't they?? Always thought that to be more than fair! Beats a shops commission of 20% or eBay commissions of 14% inc. PayPal. Yes, but my first sale on there last year wasn’t exactly smooth- other charges applied for being paid by reverb payments, so need to watch out for that. Money took over 5 days to go through, which I thought was a bit excessive. I’m sure there was another charge as well for my first sale. And unless the buyer clicks that the time has been picked up or reviewed you won’t get paid. Easy for the buyer to overlook, and then the seller is just hanging about wondering what’s happening. I also don’t think the selling model works- there is absolutely no incentive for buyers to get a wiggle on and make an offer - instead you just get a load of watchers waiting for you to bring the price down. At least with eBay the auction model means that there is a fixed time period. Have a look at the fees below- 3.5% selling fee plus either 2.7% or 3.4% depending on how you get paid, PayPal being the biggest hit. So assuming I sold at £2000, I would be hit with a fee of £70 plus as much as another £68. To me that’s a big hit. Edited February 22, 2020 by Brook_fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 Any offers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 Ok, I probably going to try a different tack with this, so last couple of days at this price! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 One last bump before I give up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 pink torpedo! I was going to part exchange this for a brook acoustic guitar (I had rather given up on me ever trying to sell this) and had everything arranged to get the bass to the shop, but they sold it. So just going to keep this for sale on here in the hope that someone somewhere might want a beautiful looking and sounding acoustic bass. Robbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted March 9, 2020 Author Share Posted March 9, 2020 Having a sale this week, £1500 to a forum member by the end of the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brook_fan Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 Ok, last few hours at this price. Midnight tonight I will take it off- my friend Si who made this beautiful bass said he would have it if it doesn’t sell, so I will honour my intention to give it until midnight today. In a way the bass will ultimately be making it’s way back home. It’s a shame that I haven’t been able to find my mojo again with it. Robbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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