cloudburst

[quote name='EMG456' timestamp='1370347708' post='2099405'] Sblueplanet - I don't know the numbers for left hand production of the L series basses but they don't seem to come up for sale very often. Due to the unique construction however, you could use a right hand bass and just make or have made a replacement top plate ie the front of the bass which carries the pickups and control knobs. That way you could have the proper left- hand arrangement for the controls but still be able to swap back to the original plate for re-sale purposes. I've seen GL guitars with nice wood top plates fitted so you could vary the appearance as you liked. Just an idea which would open up the market for you. Cheers Ed [/quote] Hi Ed, I guess it wouldn't be rocket science for the right craftsman to take a mold of the faceplate and produce a left-handed version in similar material and finish. But what would we do about the headpiece? I imagine the slots would need to be machined in order to accommodate reversal of the strings. CB

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1370383163' post='2100221'] A thumbrest has been fitted above and in the middle of the pickups. [/quote] Oops. CB

Today, that equates to £2136. It's a little high I'd say. That XL on eBay is now reduced from £2250 to £2100. It's advertised as mint, but looking at the photos, my opinion is that it's in average, rather than mint, condition. Assuming you're a lefty who really wants an XL-2, then, given the rarity of a lefty XL, if this one in Belgium is in mint condition, my advice would be to buy it. CB

How much is the one in Belgium? CB

Luckily my band saw things differently - they each got their pictures taken while playing the white XL2 and put them on their facebooks :-) CB

[quote name='bigsmokebass' timestamp='1369521649' post='2090187'] I recommend if you're not trading to remove your trade value? BSB [/quote] That line gets added automatically by the site. Have a free bump LRH. CB

Action is about the thickness of a 20p piece at the 24th fret and uniform over the fretboard as the relief is about the thickness of a business card. Set identically on both my XLs. CB

Whilst it's useful to have a back-up for the bass I normally play, and to have a bass that feels familiar in both of my practice locations, it's really a bit much to retain two Steinberger XLs. So I'm going to keep my white XL-2 (due to its rarity value) and offer to trade the black XL-2A. Although the white XL is in fabulous condition, this black one is better. There are no chips anywhere, very few little marks at all, and minimal fretwear - quite amazing, given that it was made in 1988. Being an XL-2A, it's got active controls as well as the powered pickups. Where the XL-2 has: Volume (neck), Volume (bridge), Tone ...the XL-2A instead has: Master Volume, Pickup Pan, Bass/Treble Boost/Cut. I find the active controls are much easier to use. The only reason I've not swapped the electronics, is that my basses are declared to the Steinberger serial number database, and I think it's important to keep rare instruments totally original. One benefit of having two basses the same is that I've been able to set them up identically - down to a fraction of a mm. This means that I can assure the new owner that their XL and its bridge, neck, headstock etc is totally consistent. I have found that the necks in these all-graphite instruments never vary with the weather (there's no truss rod anyway). Given this, the overall size, and the fact that (due to tuner design and placement) they don't go out of tune - they are a great instrument to travel with. If you've never heard the tone of an XL - take a look on the web - the common view seems to be that these basses are about as fat and punchy as it gets. I'm confident you will not find one in better condition. It comes with a Steinberger hard case that is reasonably new and in great condition too. I bought my white XL from a fellow basschatter for £1750 so I'm setting the value of the black XL to the same, even though it's in better condition. Trade-wise, I'm interested in the following: - Rickenbacker 4003 (blue) - 1974/75 Precision - Wal Mk 1 - Wal Mk 2 (4 or 5 string) - Roland Jupiter 8 - Roland Jupiter 80 - Yamaha BB5000 Thanks for looking. CB

How much did it go for Marcus? CB