Ander87

Ah...! First couple of days with the 5HH and loving it - took it to practise yesterday... It came really well set up and I didn't have to touch the action, just the truss rod a tad bit when I changed the strings to Chromes flatwounds... Slamming tone and lots of flexibility thanks to the extra pickup. Depending on the type of player you are, one pickup is plenty - I don't see myself using them all in the 5HH for live gigging in my punk rock band, but I will defo use some of the tones in the studio. Positions 2 and 4 (inner and outer coils from each pickup combined) add a very very cool character! What I'm saying is, if you have a chance to get a HH version go for it, but if you want to scratch the itch of having a Stingray and you only have single pickups you will not be miserable. For me, it does the job where my base sound is on the 4H, whilst the 5HH lets me do other genres (soul/neosoul forays) and different tones out of the pickup positions. I can see myself using both evenly, keeping the 4H with NYXL's - the string choice adds a lot of flavour of course...! I will change the pick guard to pearloid most likely, and that switch tip to black of course, why'd they use white when the hardware and knobs are black....!

The Bongo Bros!!!

Damn… 😍

Thank you and yes it is indeed! very dark and even, could've believed it's rocklite or something!

This - I have jumped between 50-105 and 45-100 and in between with rounds steels flats.... Most of the times the 0.005" variation doesn't amount to much... You may be lucky? long as the string sits in right, you've got a lot of room to adjust truss rod string height and others.

Most definitely....! Digging in around in forums etc it also seems that the newer generation of 'select hardwood' bodies it's cause they ran out of the swamp ash they used in 2018-2019 (wood shortages etc). Now I sound like I'm ranting against all that is not mine, I don't mean to - I am sure they are absolutely amazing instruments to the highest standard, but paying 3k£ I'd expect to almost have a picture of the bass the woods come from haha!

Hey bud! the charcoal sparkle and dropped copper were second hand at 1700£ ish, seems going price. The brand new Cruz Teal was from N Stuff Music, Pennsylvania, post taxes looking at £2,290ish, cheaper than my 5H Special back then (£2,299 from GAK). These days UK new prices for Specials is £3k+, I've seen £3.2k to £3.5K for a 5HH....! This Cruz Teal was 2400$, discounted down to about 2150$ if I remember? converted to 1800/1900£ plus customs.... Can't remember the figures down to detail but certain £2,290 at home

… in other news, whoever needs a pick guard can rely on Brian Pillanz (I was passed details thanks to @Dov65). Half price compared US options and great fit. The below is a 3 ply b/w/b matt guard:

Looks lush Lee, happy for you! Interesting story about the wiring, I was totally clueless! It is something else when we have a chance to reunite with gear we've loved... Enjoy it in good health, and happy belated birthday mate!

So, I know how most of us are proper scared of buying outside UK, with Brexit and whatnot.... ... I can report that the experience so far is being very sensible - US shops from what I gather are happier to do a discount when you're buying internationally, the shop I bought it from reduced $250 off my bass without haggling. Customs wise, it has also been pretty smooth - it was shipped with UPS, collected Monday night, and should be delivered tomorrow. I received an email from UPS to pay the customs online via their link, and as much as I dislike UPS when it comes to changes on the way and attempts and information etc, the customs process was easy - you can also pay them with paypal credit or whatever other method. A 20% on the spot - worked out same price as my Cruz Teal 5H back in January 2019, so actually cheaper than the 5HH version which was normally £2,399/2,499 depending on colour. Well pleased! All cleared and should be here on time!

... And he's in the UK...! I STARTED TO PACE AROUND THE HOUSE.

oh you can defo hear it, he plays it in the middle part for gritty bits.

... And let this count as a second entry that in the past Jimmy has also purchased a P bass pickup from me to the same standard - good comms and fast payment. Ander.

Our fellow BC'er @Jimmy141 bought my custom Limelight P bass in Purple Metallic. He asked the right questions and detail reasonably and expedited payment quickly. He also offered a good bunch on tips on shipping and the courier he wanted to use for the shipping - his messages were quick and friendly, answered my every question about the courier etc etc. I can without a doubt recommend Jimmy as a serious buyer - deal with confidence people!

Oh, I stand corrected, thanks @ped ! I think after so much copper tape everywhere, the fact that I had a dead silent p bass without any noise at all, alongside that technician saying 'you dont need tape for a p bass' threw me off.

Hm! This would have been my natural response! After having had 4/5 precision basses, and copper shielding most of them, I realised thanks to a technician you do not need copper shielding for a single P pickup bass! Could be grounding, connection between the split pickups, the pots making some sort of interference but I can testify this is true - a P pickup by default is hum cancelling - I can't give you a specific answer but it's what I have witnessed with my very own eyes...!

EEEEEK!!!! FRIDAY SHOULD BE HERE!! Probably that means Saturday or likely Monday knowing that this is UPS though..... Time to start looking out the window!

thank you buddy! I’ll keep the 4H sparkle and this one coming, should be more than enough for studio and stage etc! it should even have me covered for genres, I have done everything from Motown and RnB to Metal with these guys… the double pickup should warrant yet more tone options…!

One more step! My mate is studying in BIMM and told me they had a cruz teal 5H - I emailed reception and facilities and called hoping they'd let go of it ha! FWIW, nope, they don't let go of them... they even have a 'Musicman Room' in their facilities (how fancy eh?) so odds are this is an sponsored instrument to the institute?

Haha! Very adequate! It will be a long time waiting as it has to cross the ocean tbh... I am travelling to spain for 5 nights next Thursday so, even if tight, it should be home before I fly....! I hope I have an email link to pay for the customs and dispatch it once in the UK quick; I have had situations in the past where you're sent a letter (with the subsequent delay for the letter to get to you) with the link you need to use printed on it - silly considering how things can be done online these days...! The guys at the shop said he's getting set up and should be on its way out to me today - it's 'only' 12:30pm over there so that should be fine I hope! Ander.

Thanks Mick! What's more interesting is that this is New Old Stock! The bass is brand new, unplayed - quite a miracle for a discontinued colour! My search has been probably the hardest I've done for a bass: 1. bothering owners in basschat, 2. posting wanted ads in talkbass/basschat/facebook, 3. alerts in reverb, ebay, facebook 4. messaging most of the shops in the UK, 5. Going international - speaking with distributors in Italy and sellers in Singapore, even Ishibashi music Japan, 6. Even searching for #cruzteal #stingrayspecial and similar tags and cold calling owners/posters in case they'd let go of it... Funny enough I did come across my actual original Cruz Teal 5H, but after some talking the current owner realised he's (reasonably!) better off holding on to it and keeping it. After having completed all those steps I decided I had more than done my due dilligence to warrant redemption after my regret having sold the original one. Now that I have the charcoal sparkle 4H, the 5HH made more sense than single pickup to have all tones I may need as we will be popping over to the studio. It has all worked wonderfully as I have seem to sold the two basses I had left from the last cull - the SR Specials should be all I need (don't say it too loud and jinx it...) I will share more but so far my experience with N Stuff Music has been fantastic - speedy responses, lovely to deal with and informative - who would've thunk that a small shop in Pittsburg Pennsylvania would have the answer to my prayers! Now to receive tracking info and the customs/taxes slap... I have to say that the shop has been very kind and accomodating with a discount etc, it'll work pretty much same as the brand new prices from 2018, which I consider very fair (it is brand new after all). Just about same as I bought my 5H for... Not that it's cheap, but brand new prices at 3k+ these days are prohibitive. I had to rub my eyes, literally the only cruz teal bass I've found on sale - the fact that it's brand new is ridiculous!

Of course I have bothered all of Basschat enough that it's not a surprise anymore ...and now I have some pictures 'in the flesh' rather than just studio... I was really after this, crazy enough to make a transatlantic purchase to the US....! I can tell you more about the chase but it has been crazy... this is the actual bass:

Well....!!!! Something very unique coming my way - I'll just tease with this so far...