Happy Jack

OK, here we have a bass with some history, perhaps even a chequered past. Basschat lifers may possibly remember the original story when I bought it many years ago. This was once a standard, all-original Fender Precision. By 'once' I mean 1984, if the serial number is anything to go by. When I saw it, it was hanging in the window of Wunjo's Bass in Denmark Street. Yes, it was that long ago that Wunjo's weren't in a dingy basement at the time. It had been carved about to add that '54 P-style single coil in entirely the wrong position, it had no pick-guard and the body was pretty ... erm ... distressed, the electrics were in a state, and there was a worrying stain on the back of the neck. It was so bizarre that I actually went into the shop to sneer at the thing. So Tom brought it out of the window, plugged it in, and passed it to me. Within a couple of minutes I had completely changed my mind. Despite looking like a complete dog, it actually played and sounded like les coulis du chien. The S/D humbucker was as majestic as you'd expect, and that huge single-coil added loads of rasp to the sound if required. Playing this bass through any solid-state amp instantly makes that amp sound like an all-valve jobbie. And so I bought it. Well you do, don't you? I was playing at the time in a gritty 3-piece and this bass just worked. So I took it to me old mate Andy Gibson and he came up with a pick-guard which seemed to match the look & feel of the bass, then he sorted out the wiring for me and installed a ToneStyler circuit & knob (that funny black thing). It has a bunch of detente settings, and a noticeably different sound to each 'click', way better than a standard tone knob. I think there may be capacitors involved. And that would have been the end of the story had the band not broken up, several years passed, and then I bought a bass with an even grittier tone than this is capable of. This bass has now been sitting in a hard case for three years and it seems like an awful waste of a veyr playable instrument. I should stress: This is a bass that is best played before you dismiss it. I don't mean 'first to see will buy', but I do mean that playing is believing. The bass is in Harrow (NW London) and I'm happy to meet anywhere within sensible driving or tube distance. It really is priced to sell (this is maybe half of what any other 1980s Fender Precision would cost) which makes it, effectively, a budget instrument so I'm also OK with sending it by courier. Assume about £20 for P&P. I'll have to check, but I may be able to dig out a cheap'n'cheerful gigbag for this bass.

The annual (and very reluctant) clear-out continues with this 2017 example in the now very rare & collectible (believe me, it's true ) mint green, or possibly Seafoam blue, or perhaps turquoise, or anyway a colour that is no longer available from Chowny. This is the example that Steve Chown took to NAMM (Anaheim, California) for the Jan 2018 show and then to the LBGS (London, England) for the Mar 2018 show, so clearly it's a bass that Steve trusts to sell his wares to both the trade and the public. I was lucky enough to play this bass at both shows. I nearly bought it at NAMM but the aggro of bringing it back to London put me off. When I found it on his stand in London two months later, I couldn't resist. Trouble is, I bought it for a project that I was trying to get off the ground at the time, and - no, seriously, I mean it - the project failed to launch. It's a dreadful shame and so on, but the reality is that I can't really justify hanging on to this. As you can see, the bass is in mint (see what I did there?) and flawless condition, the strings little played by comparison with a regularly gigged bass. It is also, as they say, 'priced to sell'. The bass can be collected from Harrow (NW London) or at a meet-up somewhere between there and the West End. Alternatively, and given that this is a budget instrument, I'd have no qualms in entrusting it to a decent courier. My experience is that we'd be looking at about £20 for P&P. Please note that this bass does NOT have a gigbag.

All 5-string Lulls are 35" scale (one of the things I like so much about them) but all 4-string Lulls are 34".

A new purchase means that something has to go, plus I temporarily have a carton suitable for posting a bass. This bass is a classic example of how there are no longer any 'bad basses'. Although a cheap bass originally and now being sold at a very knock-down price, this is as playable & reliable as most other basses and sounds like ... well, like a Thunderbird. You'd be hard put to tell this (sonically) from an Ibanez or even a Greco. Sad to relate, I now play almost exclusively 5-string basses and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify keeping any 4-string basses on the wall. This bass has been gigged a lot and has a couple of marks, one a rather annoying new chip in the paint which it only acquired at Xmas. On t'other hand, even at this price it will come with a proper Thunderbird gigbag. I really hate trusting even cheap basses to a courier and the postage cost relative to the cost of the bass is usually quite unreasonable, but I will if I have to. The price for that will be determined by the courier, not me. But I MUCH prefer to meet other Basschatters face to face, make sure that both parties like what they are getting by way of a deal before any money changes hands. The bass is in Harrow (NW London) and I have no problem with driving a sensible distance to deliver in person or at least to meet halfway. Photos:

A new purchase means that something has to go, plus I temporarily have a carton suitable for posting a bass. This bass is a truly lovely piece of work; it's very distinctive to look at and it sounds outstanding courtesy of the Mike Lull custom-wound Thunderbird pickups. If you haven't heard a bass equipped with the Lull pickups then you really should. Sad to relate, I now play almost exclusively 5-string basses (including two Mike Lulls) and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify keeping 4-string basses on the wall. This bass is in flawless, all-original, as-new condition and it comes with the original Mike Lull hard case & case candy. I really hate trusting high-end basses to a courier, but I will if I have to. The price for that will be determined by the courier, not me. But I MUCH prefer to meet other Basschatters face to face, make sure that both parties like what they are getting by way of a deal before any money changes hands. The bass is in Harrow (NW London) and I have no problem with driving a sensible distance to deliver in person or at least to meet halfway. Details & spec: http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/MIke_Lull_PT_4_Mahag.html https://www.mikelull.com/options-ordering Photos: