Maude Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 (edited) Hey all. I have another quirky bass to give some TLC. A 1978 USA SD Curlee. Firstly, thanks to @Velarianfor picking this up from the seller and packaging it ready for the courier for me. Thank you. I've had a little play today and I think it has the ability to be a very nice bass. It has issues but it is 46 years old and completely original so can be forgiven. The bad points, frets very worn (so someone played it lots) crackly jack and tone doesn't work, the action is a little high and the trussrods are a known problem, although I haven't tried to adjust it yet, and it's cosmetically tired. The good points, brass Grover tuners, brass nut, brass bridge, brass covers on the back (do you see a brass theme here? 😁), Dimarzio Model P pickup with series/parallel switching and Dimarzio pots. Unconventional build but a very solid, substantial build. Mahogany body with a three piece maple bolt on neck that runs almost the entire length of the body, so a kind of neck through/bolt on hybrid. Frets are fitted directly into the neck with no fretboard. It sounds really good in series, clanky as the pickup is close to the bridge, but still thick and powerful, kind of like a Rickenbacker, parallel sounds a little weak but could be useful. The paint is wearing its battle scars with pride, chips, digs, scratches and checking. Not yet decided how far I'll go in cleaning it up, time will tell. It came in an old but substantial flightcase which was a bonus. Edited February 16 by Maude 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 This is not a bolt-on, or a neck through, but something like a neck through bridge bass. Interesting instrument, I think that Patrick Eggle did something slightly similar. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sd-curlee-history-scott-olson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 Nice - this was 2 miles from my house and someone said they would buy it 30 min before I could! glad it's gone to one of us lot! Let us know how it sounds when you've fixed it up 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMG456 Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 My Japanese SD Curlee is one of my favourite basses. The pickup placement is broadly where the Stingray pickup is so the sound has a bit of that flavour about it too. Hope it comes back to life well for you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 I had a spare hour so I pulled this apart today. I wasn't sure about it being black as according to the S D Curlee history page on Birdsong Guitars website they didn't start painting them until later on. Upon stripping I found a 'Bob Barry Guitar Repairs' sticker inside the neck pocket and the tell tale mark where it had been screwed to a holder for painting, so I think it's safe to say that this should've been natural rather than black. The refinish must be nearly 30 years old or more as the addition of the the 1 in the phone area codes happened in '95, making Birmingham 0121 rather than the 021 on the sticker. I'm going to strip the black off and see what the wood is like, then either keep it natural or possibly stain the wood black then lacquer to keep the wood grain as a kind of middle ground as I quite like the black. The pickup and bridge all mount to the neck making it technically a neck through, the full length neck then bolts into a recess in the body using a huge brass 'neck plate' screwed from behind. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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