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A Fair Value...


binky_bass
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Morning all,

A few years ago I picked up this bass and after a talk with the manufacturer it appears to be one of about 5 (they think) made with plans then scrapped to put it into production due to the build costs outweighing the RRP they had in mind. 

It's a 1996 Tanglewood Baron 6 string bass with solid maple wings, a wenge and maple through neck with a gold plated brass bridge, an EMG designed active pre-amp with EMG designed pickups, Gotoh tuners and strap pins, a brass nut and abalone dot inlays.

These were individually luthier made in a 'custome shop' and the build quality is absolutely impeccable. The volume knob is a little scratchy but apart from that is really does sound superb.

If it had say Spector on the headstock instead of Tanglewood, you wouldn't question the quality. 

It's hard placing a value on it due to it being a bass never really released for general sale, as well as it having 'Tanglewood' on the head stock and being luthier made. 

If I were to sell it, based on a figure that would be potentially achievable, what do you think I should be asking for it? 

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Take this with a pinch of salt, it’s very subjective...

I worked in Denmark St in the 90s and 00s, sometimes an instrument would come in and you’d have to use a gut feeling to price it (something Dave Wilkinson at Andy’s was great at). For me when managing shops, this is a bass I would have put ‘on the wall’ for £550- 600 and then see what happens (adjusting for inflation),  though to me personally it would be worth less. And that’s what it all comes down to... who wants it and what they’d pay for it. 

Edited by Chiliwailer
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The easy (but totally unhelpful) advice is 'let the market decide'.

It's situations like this that auctions were designed for.

If however - and quite understandably - you don't want to throw yourself on the mercy of eBay, then the next best alternative is to take it up to The Gallery and offer it for sale on a commission basis.

It's in the shop's best interest to get the best price possible, and they attract enough specialist  bass players to hopefully bring in the one guy/girl who will look at your rare oddity and buy it.

Lovely looking bass, BTW, despite it being a sixer. Scale length? Weight?

 

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It looks very similar to a Cort A6 Artisan (except electronics) so I’m guessing it’s Korean/Indonesian? Regardless of the build quality, name is everything when it comes to getting a price. This is why (probably superior) bitsa Fender clones don’t got for anywhere near the price of the real thing. I’d hesitate to put an actual figure on it, but for reference I have an Ibanez 6er for sale with full US Bart electronics and frankly there’s so little interest I may as well keep it. Part of that is of course that 6ers have a far smaller market. Personally I wouldn’t bother on here as I’ve only got a sale when I’m literally giving it away. Everyone is selling and few have the cash to hand.  Pop it on eBay or Reverb - you never know!

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Cool bass.

I think as others have said it would probably sell for a considerable amount less than it would if it had a the original luthier’s on the headstock.

If you are able to link it to Overwater with proof (I.e. an email from Chris saying they built it) then it would likely fetch considerably more though. The Overwater by Tanglewood line was much more recent but I’m not clued up on Overwater history so it’s not to say there wasn’t a link between the companies at that time.

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It does appear to be a re-badged 90s Cort A6 - this looks 100% identical to me, timber's a bit prettier on the TW but that's it. These pics are from a TB thread - apparently the s/n puts it at 1998, which sounds right for the Tanglewood.

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Hard to find much info on the early A6 Corts to get an idea of price, but I'd assume same bass, same ballpark.

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Trying to sell one of the Overwater/ Tanglewood collaborations was like trying to get rid of the plague despite being  nice basses. I ended up virually giving mine away. This looks nice, but what would I pay for a used Tanglewood in the current market (particularly a 6 string)- maybe £300- £400 tops  .

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I actually had a play on one of those in a music shop in Great Yarmouth probably around 96/97. It was the first 6 string I ever played and I found it really comfortable as the neck was nice and shallow front to back so it didn't feel too big despite the extra width across the fingerboard. It certainly felt like a much higher end instrument than the price tag but I'm afraid I couldn't tell you now what they were asking for it. I know I was shocked when they told me the T on the headstock stood for Tanglewood. I guess if they only made 5 then that would explain why I haven't been able to find another since. 

I've only actually owned 1 6 String bass (although I've played dozens) and the memory of that Tanglewood stuck with me enough that I bought a Cort A6 (current model) mainly because it reminded me of it. Unfortunately, as decent as the Cort was, I didn't think it came close to the feel of neck profile on that Tanglewood. 

I paid £500 for the Cort used so, knowing how good that bass will be regardless of the brand name, If I had a spare £500 right now (which I'm very sad to say I don't), I'd happily make you an offer in an instant. 

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Yup, looks a dead ringer for the early Cort A6. I suspect that Tanglewood had a few sample 'Baron' 6ers made, then Cort took over production. The Baron is a 96 with a serial number of 00064664, not sure how to decode that, but the 000 part might suggest it was a very low number run. In any event, £500 would probably be about where I'd think to value it, I wouldn't expect much more and probably wouldn't take much less if I were to sell it. 

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Edited by binky_bass
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1 hour ago, edstraker123 said:

Trying to sell one of the Overwater/ Tanglewood collaborations was like trying to get rid of the plague despite being  nice basses. I ended up virually giving mine away. This looks nice, but what would I pay for a used Tanglewood in the current market (particularly a 6 string)- maybe £300- £400 tops  .

I loved the low level PJ of that series - I tried 3-4 in a shop and they were all nicer than basses 4-5 times the price 

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  • 4 months later...

It looks identical to the Tanglewood Artisan A6 that I bought from the Cranes of Swansea stand at the Music Live exhibition, many years ago at the NEC in Birmingham. The figuring is remarkably similar. I will have to look at other photos I have to see if it is indeed the same one. 
It was a lovely bass to play. The Mighty Mite pickups were a bit meh but the neck was lovely. Really regretted selling it. The show offer price was £275 (brand new) but that was quite a few years ago now 

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Edited by MoJo
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  • 4 months later...
2 hours ago, HIBz72 said:

Hi, i have the 4 string version (as shown in the catalogue picture). Ive know idea which knob does what. Can you help? 

I would expect they'll be volume, pickup pan, treble boost/cut & bass boost/cut. Never had a TW or Cort but had an Ibanez SR with a similar 4-control active layout. You should be able to work out what does what by fiddling around with them.

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  • 2 months later...
On 04/06/2021 at 15:25, HIBz72 said:

Hi, i have the 4 string version (as shown in the catalogue picture). Ive know idea which knob does what. Can you help? 

I have a 'Tanglewood Peacemaker II' (and agree; the knobs aren't that intuitive). They are as follows:

Front = Bridge volume
Top = Neck Volume

Bottom = Bass
Rear = Treble
 

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The other alternative is to put it up on Reverb at silly money and see if anyone bites, or at least makes an offer. You can leave it up there and periodically lower the price.

 

I've had a generally good experience of selling through Reverb and it's kind of an accepted model - put it up high and leave it till someone comes along that really wants it. I have a mate who sells a lot of high end gear that way.

 

I guess this is a version of 'let the market decide' but a more relaxed and gentlemanly pace than ebay.

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