99ster

[quote name='s_u_y_*' post='10311' date='Jun 1 2007, 12:30 AM']For sale at Vintage and Rare for the princely sum of £6850... But it is absolutely stunning. That matching headstock is just... "wow!". Would you? [/quote] Look closer - it has some weird plastic cover ('Parker Bodyguard') [b]stuck[/b] all over the body... That would massively de-value this bass to a serious collector. A large part of the great tone from vintage Fender basses is due to the thin Nitro coating on the body - this lets the wood 'breathe' & resonate. The custom colour basses tend to have a poorer tone anyway compared to the sunburst ones because of the thicker paint - then this one has had a thick layer of plastic glued to it!!! It's a DOG!!! I wouldn't touch it. Let alone pay £6850. Hilarious! And 1966 Jazz basses are not a great year anyway - they're generally to be avoided if your after a 60's era Jazz bass. I can just imagine the conversation if you were taking that bass into them to SELL - they wouldn't give you tuppence for it like that!

[quote name='bassbloke' post='6993' date='May 26 2007, 08:15 AM']the concept of 'Sounding Better' is subjective and relative. My drummer mate did a session for Dizzee Rascal on '...later with Jools Holland' the other week. The bassist for the session had a very nice Ken Smith. Basschat members have all commented on the bass and how good it sounded. Nick Cave's band Grinderman were also playing, and their bassist had a beat up old Precision. My friend says that Dizzee's bass player went straight over to said Precision and was mavelling over it. Based purely on the actual market rate for the instrument itself witout the vintage element factored in, the Ken Smith is maybe 3 or 4 times more expensive and the product of many more hours labour. Yet, given a boutique neck through active five string and a beat up old Precision (unsure of Vintage), the precision wins- on this occasion. 'Tis a strange world[/quote] That's Martyn Casey - also the bass player from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. I love his playing. That gorgeous bashed up old Fender Precision he plays is an early 60's (pre 64 I reckon) model - with white/cream, pick-up covers added. That's all I've ever seen him playing. Runs it through an Ampeg SVT CL - nice & LOUD. Mmmmm... lovely. And your mate is one hell of a good drummer!

[quote name='BigRedX' post='7135' date='May 26 2007, 02:35 PM']That's interesting to know - so how exactly did you manage this. Did you have to pay 17.5% and then claim back. I guess all of us who are considering buying from outside the EU would like to know.[/quote] +1 on that! I recently imported a 1965 Ampeg B-15N from the US - & paid the 17.5% VAT on top of the duty. I would LOVE to know how you claimed back some of the tax!!