Basses you hardly ever see for sale

[prowla]

Just now, Boodang said:

And talking of aluminium necks, a Travis Bean would be nice. Saw one for sale recently and couldn’t believe the price!  

 

Ugly things and stupid money!

[Terry M.]

44 minutes ago, prowla said:

I've got a 5-er; it's a nice bass, if rather large.

I tried one of these in GAK (RIP) a while back and thought it seemed like a regular sized bass. I could be remembering it wrong however.

[Hellzero]

23 minutes ago, Wombat said:

I wanted a Zon Sonus but as they never come up for sale ended up with a Legacy instead. Lovely bass but just not scratched the itch…

The Zon Hyperbass is on my wanted list...

 

I tried a brand new one around 30 years ago and I really liked it, but not its price tag...

[Paul S]

I tracked down a Westone Pantera Deluxe X790 which was the only one I have ever seen for sale.  Collected it from The Netherlands.  Not to be confused with the much inferior X750  

 

 

Another rare one that I have actually managed to buy twice is the Yamaha SB-35.  Don't see those very often.  I bought one, sold it, regretted it.  Searched the internet every day for eight years.  Saw one on eBay but it was loads too heavy.  Saw a third one this year and bought it, below on the left, next to another one you don't see that often (although this is my third!), an Aria Pro II CSB 450 Black n Gold.  Both medium scale.

 

[Happy Jack]

1 hour ago, prowla said:

I'd quite like a Gus; I had a go on @Happy Jack's some time ago - I think he said he acquired it from @BigRedX ?

 

This true.

[Mrbigstuff]

2 hours ago, Wombat said:

I wanted a Zon Sonus but as they never come up for sale ended up with a Legacy instead. Lovely bass but just not scratched the itch…

Bass bros have one

[itu]

Atlansia

Overwater C bass was mentioned!

Klein

Bootsy Star bass

[Hellzero]

There was a fretless Atlansia for sale on here not long ago, was tempted...

 

The Kleins do appear from time to time, and each time, I want to buy one, but don't.

[snorkie635]

24 minutes ago, itu said:

Atlansia

Overwater C bass was mentioned!

Klein

Bootsy Star bass

There was an Overwater 'original shape' on Bass Direct this morning.

[W1_Pro]

23 minutes ago, snorkie635 said:

There was an Overwater 'original shape' on Bass Direct this morning.

Worth holding out for an early one with the Bill Lawrence Blades, IMHO. I have two with blades and a much later Artisan with Kent Armstrongs. I like the Armstrongs a lot and the Artisan is a fine bass,  but the blades are by some distance the best passive humbucker I've ever used.

Edited Thursday at 21:11 by W1_Pro

[tauzero]

5 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

And you don't often see a Wishbass for sale either...

 

The owners love them so much that they hang on to them for ever.

[tauzero]

Antoniotsais. I'd like another 5-string Ritter Roya influenced one to defret.

 

[Woodinblack]

4 hours ago, prowla said:

I'd quite like a Gus; I had a go on @Happy Jack's some time ago - I think he said he acquired it from @BigRedX ?

 

Yeh, would love one of those.

[ARGH]

Rarely for sale...Hmmmm... desire vs availability and cost?

How many of us have been disappointed by our 'Dream' instrument though?

 

Ok... Alu necks 20 years ago weren't that expensive, weighed a ton, and were as tolerant of temperature change as they never were, now the Travis beans are bonkers £££, and the Kramers are going the same. The ones I've tried sounded nice, but ouch.

 

Carl Thompsons.. Tried 3 over the years, a 36" scale 6, and couple of 4s, in fact the first 4 I ever tried was in Leicester, and is still the only instrument that I WANTED after trying it once, I was too late, it was sold for £850 (September 1998). The best best thing about them is the weight and neck dimensions, you could do a non-stop 3hr onstage and never break a sweat on a Thompson 6, the 4s were perfectly balanced and as comfy. Only Marmite issue is that you have to like EMGs.

 

If you REALLY wanted a Carvin instrument in the UK, it was a bit of a faff iirc 30 odd years back with import costs, so the USA mail order bargain was not quite so once on this side of the pond, but anecdotally, the best option was to hang around the music shops within a close radius of the American military sites, there were a few people that had bought them off service personnel over here (Harrogate deffo had a few turn up), I still would want to try an LB76.

 

Anyone remember seeing Wal's under a grand...ahhhh...

 

I've spent many years Looking for an Ibanez 924, in natural finish, plus case, I sold one I defretted, and regretted, it's in Poland now.

I've missed out on a lot of instruments because of money, and I've only seen one Modulus Graphite for sale (green...in Ilkley..5str iirc..damn...5 years ago)

An Alembic Spoiler when I was a teen, you dont see them in the sticks much.

PROPER BC Rich Basses with all the switches and such, or 80s Ibanez Destroyers, they go as soon as they appear.

You don't see many Japan built era Ibanez Soundgears, 800 series and above for sale much, and they are usually battered when they do come up, still with a large price tag.

 

And it's dead weird that all the stuff we wanted when we were younger, and skint, when we play it now, with our experience and different tastes, it isn't always as good.

 

Edit... I hardly see Esh Basses, USA made higher end Peavey stuff either.

Edited 23 hours ago by ARGH

[BigRedX]

13 hours ago, prowla said:

I'd quite like a Gus; I had a go on @Happy Jack's some time ago - I think he said he acquired it from @BigRedX ?

 

I've only seen 3 basses for sale second hand in the 20+ years I've been playing them. One was the 4-string fretless that Happy Jack bought off me, One was a 5-string fretted in flip purple that I bought and had refinished in CAR when it was refurbished by Gus. The other was a 4-string fretted in cream with a carbon fibre scratch plate that believe was owned by @6feet7 for a while?

[Leonard Smalls]

6 hours ago, ARGH said:

Anyone remember seeing Wal's under a grand

Aye, when I bought mine for £500!

😁

[diskwave]

Those brilliant early Mex RW P basses. They must surely have all been sold but you never see any. Tried one and should have bought it... it really was very nice. 

[cetera]

Considering how popular they were at the time you really don't see many original 80's Charvel, Jackson or Kramer PJ basses for sale. Someone must be hoarding them all! 

[Lozz196]

4 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Aye, when I bought mine for £500!

😁

Wow!!

[Hellzero]

7 hours ago, cetera said:

Considering how popular they were at the time you really don't see many original 80's Charvel, Jackson or Kramer PJ basses for sale. Someone must be hoarding them all! 

Or turned them into firewood.

[itu]

9 hours ago, cetera said:

Considering how popular they were at the time you really don't see many original 80's Charvel, Jackson or Kramer PJ basses for sale. Someone must be hoarding them all! 

Last summer I saw a garage sales. There was this pearl white Charvel. Beaten, 3 strings, dirty. If I was into 80's hair metal, that would have been it: cleaning, new strings, and lots of playing. The price was something like under £100, but it wasn't for me.

 

Some 15 years ago I saw a pearl white (what?) Ibanez that was also beaten and dirty, but as I do not like white colour (although the fretboard was rosewood), I left it to the shop. £120 or so. Both would have been good instruments with some care (cleaning, setup, strings). Try to find one now, doable, but the prices are crazy.

[Hellzero]

That said, the original Ibanez Affirma (AFR) designed by the late Rolph Spuler is becoming rarer these days.

[Terry M.]

1 minute ago, Hellzero said:

That said, the original Ibanez Affirma (AFR) designed by the late Rolph Spuler is becoming rarer these days.

The newer versions put out in more recent years are hard to find as well.

[Hellzero]

11 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

The newer versions put out in more recent years are hard to find as well.

Indeed, but it's not up to the quality of sound of an original and I've owned each and every model (fretted, fretless, 4 and 5 in all iterations) along the years. 😉

[Terry M.]

2 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Indeed, but it's not up to the quality of sound of an original and I've owned each and every model (fretted, fretless, 4 and 5 in all iterations) along the years. 😉

That's fair enough. To be honest it was the reissue that made me aware of the original. I played one (reissue) in The Gallery once and thought it was ok 😊 Never seen or touched an original one (yet)