JvJazz83 Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 Hi! I am thinking about wandering into the world of five strings, and the following has appeared on a sales page here in Norway. It is supposedly one of two basses specialordered by a now deceased Norwegian bassplayer who was quite well known in his day. He kept the other one, and this was sold. The story is not confirmed... Anyway, this is what I can tell from the picturesand the sellers description: The headstock doesn’t look like any otherFernandez I have seen online or anywhere else. I can’t say if the body is correct. It has two strap studs on the bottom end. The pickups are basstec. I think the tuners might be Gotoh. Possibly a Kahler bridge. I have no idea about the electronics, but they sit behind a Warwick cover on the back. The pots are, according to the seller hi, mid, bass, volume. The 5th one is said to be tone, but I think it might be panning between PUs or a second vol. pot. There are some pictures in the ad in theattached link, and I will add som more in a comment. The asking price is about 650$, but I think I might be able to haggle it down a bit. Any comments, thoughts and answers are welcome Bass gitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWalker Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 I guess this must have been ordered via the Fernandes Custom Shop USA, which was active and gaining some popularity in the market in the 90s. The custom shop is mentioned on the Fernandes Guitar history page. I have never seen any Fernandes bass that has a similar design, though, especially the headstock. But it seems to be a good quality bass, with high quality components. Probably a lot of bass for the money. And interesting story. Maybe the family can confirm it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWalker Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 And it seems Basstec pickups are back, they are German.... Häussel Pickups are apparently making them now. http://www.basstec.de/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JvJazz83 Posted April 12, 2018 Author Share Posted April 12, 2018 (edited) Thank's for Your reply, MrWalker. I also think this might be a custom shop Product, or perhaps a custom rebuild With quality parts here in Scandinavia. The latter is based mainly on the Warwick electronics route cover. The tuners does actually have a kind of Warwicky angle to them as well... Edited April 12, 2018 by JvJazz83 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JvJazz83 Posted April 13, 2018 Author Share Posted April 13, 2018 Pictures from the ad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWalker Posted April 13, 2018 Share Posted April 13, 2018 I don't think it's a "rebuild". It seems like a custom job from the start, unless they did a reshape of the headstock with the rest. I can't find any other Fernandes basses with the same headstock or body shape, either. It's definitely a strange bass :-) But very nice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted April 13, 2018 Share Posted April 13, 2018 I'm not convinced it looks in any way upmarket enough to be a custom build. That ugly, mismatched, cheapo scarf joint is the worst offender, and those tuners appear to be generic & unbranded rather than Gotoh - there would be a visible name or symbol otherwise. Not familiar with Basstec puckups but a quick Goog seems to suggest that some Fernandes basses were factory-fitted with these. Fernandes is predominantly a Japanese home-market brand & they have made a bewildering range of sig models for probably hundreds of different domestic artists over the years - the manufacturer has a pretty comprehensive catalogue archive here: http://www.fernandes.co.jp/catalog/ Personally I wouldn't be surprised if this is in there somewhere - may take a fortnight to find it though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWalker Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 13 hours ago, Bassassin said: Personally I wouldn't be surprised if this is in there somewhere - may take a fortnight to find it though! In the 97 catalog, this bass appears for the first time. I don't think it's there earlier. Obviously this is the basis for the model above. I also found Basstec pickups in the catalogs (I think it was in the 96 catalog). Maybe the model here was an attempt to make an improved model for the Western markets. I don't know. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWalker Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 And in 1998, this bass appears. It's the same bass, upgraded with the Basstec pickups and the Kahler bridge. You were right, @Bassassin! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JvJazz83 Posted April 14, 2018 Author Share Posted April 14, 2018 Wow! That is some impressive detective work, by you, MrWalker. And a good observation from bassassasin as well on the scarf joint.😀 It looks that the only differences between the '98 and the one on sake in Norway are the colour and the headstock logo. Still puzzled by the Warwick back cover, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWalker Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 Bassassasin did most of the work here. I didn't see the link to the catalogs on Fernandes page when I visited it. The rest was just footwork. But I agree, it seems the color and logo are the only difference. I don't know why, but maybe further investigation of the catalogs could yield an answers. I see other similar basses on the web with other colors and pickup combinations as well. Keep in mind that Warwick Rockbass are also produced in Asia. Could be that they are produced in the same facility. I don't know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JvJazz83 Posted April 14, 2018 Author Share Posted April 14, 2018 (edited) If I have understood what I have read on the interests these past few days correctly, the "P-Project" was/is Fernandes' custom shop/high end department. I guess that gave room for some custom touches when an instrument was ordered.🤗😀 Edited April 14, 2018 by JvJazz83 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 (edited) You can see why he needs to sell it...needs the money to buy a duster and some polish.. Edited April 20, 2018 by TheGreek 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glefty Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 These basses were produced in Japan in the early-mid 90s, a boutique Fernandes so it's a bit of a collectors item; I have a lefty 5 string and it's probably one of only a few ever produced lefty, 4 or 5 string. It's a beautiful quality build, sounds amazing & it ain't going nowhere. Enjoy your gold chicken's tooth you found in a pile of rocking horse poop: a holy grail! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JvJazz83 Posted May 10, 2019 Author Share Posted May 10, 2019 Thanks for the nice comment, Glefty. Unfortunately this deal did not go through for me, and the bass probably ended up in someone elses hands. I truely hope they enjopy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.