Ibanez Affirma AFR Premium Rolf Spuler Bartolini + Piezo thru neck NT bass inc case <8lb £900 Blyth

[warwickhunt]

As rare as hen's teeth and not to be confused with some of the later cheaper Ibanez designs based on Rolf Spuler's basses.

 

It has a half through neck construction with a maple body attached to a graphite reinforced maple neck with a 24-fret ebony fingerboard with offset abalone dot position markers at the twelfth fret. The body has a sculpted, asymmetrical double cutaway design originated by Rolf Spuler with distinctive, narrow, curving horns; the AFR logo is inlaid into the guitar top between the pickup and bridge. Components include a single Bartolini X44JX split single-coil pickup mounted halfway between the bridge and neck, an Ibanez two-band EQ w/ piezo active tone control, stainless steel frets, a Mono-rail V bridge with integrated AeroSilk piezos and 19mm string spacing, a barrel-style stereo output jack, a plastic nut and Ibanez tuning machines.

 

Controls consist of individual volumes for the magnetic and piezo pickups, a stacked 2-band EQ for the magnetic pick and an active tone control for the piezos. The gain of each individual piezo can be adjusted via trimpots accessible from the back of the instrument.

 

Comes with the original Premium line case (and instruction booklet).  

 

Oh and it weighs 3.53kg or 7lb 12oz in old money.

 

Edited yesterday at 13:03 by warwickhunt
Inc weight

[alembic1989]

Gorgeous 

 

[Hellzero]

21 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

As rare as hen's teeth and not to be confused with some of the later cheaper Ibanez designs based on Rolf Spuler's basses.

Urm, urm, this is the reissue of the original 1992~1995 model, which was made in Japan/Switzerland in close collaboration with the late Rolf Spuler (Avalon guitars).

 

This one is a "simplified" version of the original and was made in Indonesia in 2019~2022 after the passing of Rolf Spuler in 2014, without the D-Tuner on the single bridge of the E string, not serial numbered on the front inlay, with different pickups (piezos and magnetic) and preamp, the single bridges are also different from the originals patented by Rolf Spuler.

 

It's certainly, to me, the best designed bass ever, but this model is not as rare as hen's teeth, the original is.

 

GLWYS for this excellent bass.

[warwickhunt]

Thanks for your input, I assume you see these basses for sale week in week out? 

 

I am a bit puzzled by your expanded comments as at no point have I indicated that this is the original model (I've had one of those as well) but I'm pretty sure my description of the mag and piezo pups is correct; I certainly didn't mention that that this bass has a drop tuner or an inlaid serial number.  In fact nothing in your comment is applicable to my description of this bass, so I'm not sure of their relevance.  My comment re. later Ibanez designs based on this design is in fact a reference to all of the later Ergodyne and similar basses... maybe I should have made that 100% clear

 

The only point of possible relevance is that in your opinion it isn't rare.  In my opinion it is rare and I'll let potential buyers research and see how many of these they can find for sale today in comparison to basses that certainly aren't rare and they can form their own opinion.

[Ruarl]

I found @Hellzero's comments helpful. I knew that there were two "generations" of the AFR, but didn't know how to tell them apart. (Or indeed, which generation this instrument belonged to.) 

 

The fact that Hellzero refers to this model (and not the earlier one) as the "best designed bass ever" increases my GAS for this particular sale. 

 

Good luck with the sale. They don't come up often, and I expect someone will be on this very soon!

[chilievans]

I have an afr4fmp and I've installed a John East uni pre.

It's superb.