Obrienp

Thank you. It is a nice bass and I am reluctant to part with it, so if it hangs around too long, I might just withdraw it and pull the frets to make the fretless I am after. I’ve not summoned the courage yet though, so it’s still available folks!

I bought this Mezzo from a fellow bass chatter only a few months ago and was thinking I would hold onto it but I have really bad GAS for a particular fretless bass and need to raise the cash. The standard blurb on the Mezzo can be found here on the Ibanez site: https://www.ibanez.com/na/products/detail/srmd200_1p_02.html. My Mezzo has had the following upgrades from standard: Tone Rider TRP1 precision pickup set, Wilkinson JB Alnico V Jazz bridge pickup, Glockenlang 2 band preamp, Neutrik barrel jack socket, all cavities fully shielded with copper tape, Wilkinson WJB750 lightweight machine heads (Hipshot style) and Maruszczyk flat wound strings. It also had a setup from my local luthier after I finished the upgrades. He dressed a few fret ends, set neck relief, etc. I’ve added some pictures I took while I was doing the upgrades showing the tone rider pickups and the shielding. The price of £190 is for the bass with Wilkinson Jazz bridge pickup, flat wound strings and shielding but otherwise standard; i.e. I will refit the Ibanez P-bass pickup set, Ibanez preamp and Ibanez stock machine heads. If you would like to have the bass with the other items fitted, additional pricing will be as follows: 1. Tone Rider TRP1 - £25; 2. Glockenlang preamp - £80; 3. Wilkinson machine heads - £20. Buy the lot and I'll do the above 3 items for £110 all in. The Glockenlang is a much better preamp than the original Ibanez unit, which is loud and crude. The Glockenlang also has a pull up passive switch (on the volume knob) with passive tone control (treble knob), which the original sorely lacks. The bass is in excellent condition except for where I had to enlarge the bridge pickup route to take the full size Jazz pickup (Ibanez uses a diddy size). This made it a non-reversible modification but you really wouldn't want the original pickup anyway: really weak. I managed to chip some paint around the route and only had a gloss black touch-up stick, so it doesn't look very neat on close inspection. I don't notice it but make your own judgement from the photo. This is reflected in my asking price. I’ve now got a satin black matte touch up stick, so will try to tidy this up when I get a chance. The bass plays really nicely, is ergonomic and light at 3.5Kg. It has a super fast jazz style neck. The way it is packaged makes it feel like a short scale, rather than medium scale. Great for people with back and shoulder issues. This doesn't have a gig bag or case but I am sure I can package it up for posting/courier at buyer's expense and risk. You are welcome to come to try and buy in Fakenham, Norfolk. I am not really interested in trades as I have a particular bass in mind but if you have a short/medium scale fretless with a Jazz style neck, I might be tempted.

This is not one of the fire sale basses that Guitar Guitar were knocking out for £199 last year! I paid good money for this a couple of years ago and it doesn't have any build issues that I can ascertain. No bad frets or anything like that. However, Guitar Guitar having spoilt the market, I am forced to price this accordingly, even though the Vox website is still selling them for £449. I had originally thought £350 would be a fair price: thanks Guitar Guitar! It's actually a nice little bass that is very ergonomic, light (3.3Kg) and easy to play. I have upgraded it a bit with a Kent Armstrong pickup, CTS pots, oil in paper .1 uF capacitor and a chunkier bridge (this all cost a tad over £120, plus different knobs as the originals were too small for the CTS shafts). It also has decent D'Addario nickel round wound medium gauge (50-105) strings that I put on recently. You will get the original pickup (that looks a bit like a Wilkinson) and bridge. I made up a solder free harness, so changing the pickup just requires a screwdriver. It also comes with a very nice padded gig bag. Scale length is 30.3", nut width 38mm and string spacing at the bridge 19mm. The neck is very much a slim Jazz style. The electrics are passive but the volume is a push pull: down the coils are wired in parallel (classic Stingray style), in the up position they are wired in series. In parallel mode I think it sounds pretty convincingly Stingrayish (at least like the short scale Sterling). Series mode is louder, with more mids. Turn the tone right down in series and you get close to that 60s mud bucker sound: think I Gotta Get Out of Here, or She's Not There (Zombies version). The only significant marks on it I can see, are where I managed to chip the finish around the pickup route when changing the pickup (it's a very tight route). Otherwise it is pretty clean: no bangs or chips to the neck or fretboard. It still has the protective plastic film on the control cavity cover. I am selling because I have serious GAS for a fretless and I want to try that before the arthritis stops me from playing altogether. Get yourself a very nice little Sterling MM SS alternative for very little money. It will certainly get you noticed. You are very welcome to try and buy in Fakenham, Norfolk. I have the original packaging, so can courier at buyer's expense. As I hope is obvious, I have priced this to sell quickly and I have a particular bass in mind, so not really interested in trading, unless you have a reasonably priced short/medium scale fretless.