SurroundedByManatees

It's apparently a way of showing some version of "interest". I've encountered this on various sites, and the people who ask this question rarely seem to be a serious potential buyer. It's actually rare to get a response back once you confirm availability. Here on BC it seems common to post this typical question in a for sale thread, instead of pm'ing the member selling the gear. Sometimes when I see the "is this still available?" response on an ad here, and I look at the previous posts of the poster... They often seem to do that frequently without showing any further interest. Personally I don't get it. When I am interested in something, I'll pm them and in case of some other sites...I'll never use the lazy people buttons.

I've owned and played a lot of Fender and Squier basses from a wide range of series and era's. Anything from affinity Squiers to Vintage '60s instruments. Ime the USA and Mex Fenders are all over te place when it comes to build and sound quality. They can be superb, or just plain bad. Even the Custom shop models aren't always flawless (sloppy routings, dead spots... The Japanese being consistently decent or just very good though, never played a bad one. The two worst sounding Fender products I've played we're both USA standards, they were just dead...not even a fancy preamp or high end pickups that could make them breath. For the Squiers I tried I felt they were built consistently decent, but in some cases with obviously lacking hardware. I even played a bottom line affinity that had a great fit and finish, good playability with low action and good JB sound. I would have happily gigged it in stock condition, choosing it over some USA built ones. When looking at prices for Fender products, I feel that the higher spec Squiers are a the best value for the money. Three weeks ago I bought a new Squier Rascal bass. I can't recommend that bass enough, it just sounds and feels 3 times the value to me. Build quality is definitely better/tighter than many of the more expensive basses I've owned. The tuners even feel decent, which I thought were the weak point of the classic vibe precision Ive bought about 2 years ago.

Nice piece of history. Like 👍

It actually seems like a whole new fretboard has been applied. Personally, in this case, I wouldn't go the way of semi-restoring and take this bass as it is as long as sound and playability are good. Seems like a great bass; cool looks with a nice grain in the wood, EMG

Maybe you can find the original listing through the digimart.net website. It will save you some cash and maybe more if there is negotiation space. And maybe you'll find more of the same basses too🤞

If you'll see the same bass for sale at multiple Japanese ebay seller accounts, you know they are actually acting as an intermediate party and don't actually own the bass. What they do is trying to sell an item, and if it gets sold, it's when they (try to) buy it at the actual japanese store that has the item. Sometimes it's no longer available and you'll get refunded. So in short; that seller probably doesn't have the bass, and its for sale at the original ource for a good bit less. Ive just been through this as I was looking to buy a Modulus Flea. I've seen the same one for sale at 5 sellers on ebay at different prices, and managed to track it down to the actual shop who had it. In the actual (reliable, well rated bass dealer) shop it was 15% cheaper than the lowest ebay listing. On top of that I managed to negotiate 20% off of that price. At this moment of typing it's in the Dutch customs. I hope it will arrive in the next few days😙

The Tribute L2000 I once owned sounded and played just as nice as my USA Asat I owned at the time. I should have kept that one....it looked great, was lightweight, and sounded the deal. Probably GAS led me to another bass that went ...and so on.

Thanks! I'll be recording some stuff with a friend of mine in autumn I guess, and would love to use it. Meanwhile I'm practicing my fretless skills😉 The fretless sound is truly terrific with loads of mwah, while sounding full, and the sound has some pleasant depth to it. The eq isn't needed much necessarily, actually passive mode would do just fine too. On a fretted L2000 I prefer the setting with both pickups engaged. On the fretless, the sounds are nicer with only one of the pickups engaged imo. Engaging both pups takes out some dynamics and limits the mwah-factor.

Two "other" classics, great stuff! I've wanted to try a T-40 for years, but never got to actually buying one..

Any song by George Ezra. That shotgun song is possibly more annoying than green green grass. Tough to choose though.

Build quality of the (late) 70s basses is not great imo. Large neck pockets, sloppy routing around the bridge pickup. Like you wouldn't accept from a squier affinity nowadays. The necks seem to be consistently nice though, and they can be great playing and sounding basses like Fenders of any era. If you're looking for a late '70s spec's Fender, my advice would be to watch out for one that was finished in the early '80s from the Dan Smith era. I've owned a '81 finished Jazz that had an S9 serial number and had all the specs a late '70s would have. But with tight neck pocket, way deeper cutout and rounder curves, better routing. Similar story with a '82 finished precision.

Could well be that you're right about that. So that would possibly make 3 replacement tuners...and the E might be the original?

3 of the tuners bear the ® after the logo (used from 1972 and on iirc), and 1 doesn't. Their positioning is far from straight, which makes me think this are (old) Fender tuners on another make neck with newly drilled holes? Just guessing

I bought it from a dealer on reverb. I hadn't seen one before myself and liked the creamy looks with the ebony fretboard. The placement of the pickups seemed good for a fretless, so did some research and ending up buying. The fact that I just sold my '66 jazz didn't help not buying it 😉. It's really a fun bass to play, and I like how it sounds. Especially with pickups solood, brings out the mwah more apparent than with the two pickups active.

Got this one in last week, a nice fretless in see through blonde finish. Probably late 80s.

Looks legit (and very clean) to me. Some pretty grain too. The black in the burst does seem to have that typical brownish hue, that you often see during this era. I see an 8. digit on the pickups, so it probably is dated to 1980 or 1981 (last digit is covered by foam). I've seen these S9 serial on finished basses up to 1982.

My kitchen scale says 4.18 kg

A few pics that show the fit of the neck in the pocket and some fretboard figuring. The fretboard was pretty dry, so I had apply a lot of oil. I will let it absorb and polish the fretboard again within a few weeks and add some more oil if needed. I've changed the strings to Fender flats, because they were already cut for shortscale through body, and were in reach 🙂. It's a very good match. It still has some of the character as when fit with rounds, but just with a little more complexity.

Mine arrived yesterday. I have to say I'm genuinely happy with this purchase! Build quality is good, even better then I expected. Tight fit and finish, and the neck feels great without sharp fret-ends. The neck feels a bit like a jazz profile to me. Action can be set low without any problems, so that's great. I expected the tuners to be crappy, like on the cv '70s precision I've owned, but they are better (thicker blades) quality and run smooth. No need to change them so far . The laurel fretboard looks pretty nice actually, it has some vertical striping that reminds me a bit of the pattern you'll find on some ebony fretboards. Lighter and cheaper though . It looks like it could use a bit of oil, will take care of that tomorrow. Soundwise it's a very interesting bass. Unplugged it's already pretty loud and resonant, which I take as a good sign. The two pickups provide a lot of sound options. From the YouTube video's I've already heard that these pickups have a lot more presence and articulation, and it's indeed the case. I've owned a Fender modern player telecaster bass once, and it was way more muddy with it's two similar humbuckers. With the neck pickup solood I'd say it still has a usable sound (you can still go to mud city using the tone knob), warm but still with enough presence. I think it would keep standing in a live situation. It's even a bit twangy in higher registers, very nice with a little bit of added drive. The bridge pickup solood is nice as well. Of course a bit brighter, but not thin. When played at the bridge it even does some snarly J-bass bridge pickup like sound. I think. The both Pickups together sound full with the right amount of grunt and presence. A very usable and pleasant sound that I think could be usable in a wide range of styles. For now I leave the rounds on (they come with Fender strings) as it actually sounds good as is. Though I'm sure some flats would be nice too. I have a set of Fender flats and Thomastiks in the drawer that are already cut for through body shortscale, so will give them a try soon. My feeling says the Thomastiks will be a great match. All in all I can say this is just a well built, comfortably playing bass, with more versatility and presence that you would expect from a bass with these wide range humbuckers. And of course she looks great too. I'll ad some pictures tomorrow.

Bax-shop, a large retailer in the Netherlands. They had 5 in stock apparently. I saw them listed a bit cheaper at other stores, but they were all sold out... I didn't want to pre-order as you never know..

Just ordered a green one, should be here on Tuesday! I just looked and listened at some demo video's and couldn't resist any longer. The color looks sooooo nice in the video's, better than in the stock pictures.