Overwater Original content

[DarkHeart]

A friend of mine from waaaay back in the 80`s bought an Overwater brand new, his pride and joy so much so he wouldn`t let anyone else play it, now jump forward about 36 years to last week and I got a message on Facebook asking me if I was who I am off said mate bearing in mind we`ve not seen each other for the 36 years, first question I asked him, do you still have the Overwater......`yes do you want to buy it!` So in less than a week of being reunited I now have the Overwater Original, one owner from new in my sweaty hands. Its in pretty decent shape as well considering he was in a punk band back in the day, a little tweak of the truss rod and it`s good to go, I`ll put some new strings on when I get the ones I won off the SIT facebook page when they eventually turn up but it sounds massive! I`ll get more pics up soon as it`s too bloody long for my phone camera to capture in one go! Anyway without further ado here it is.

[Chris2112]

It looks to be in good nick for something that was used in a punk band. 

[madshadows]

Love the shape of the body, like a Fender and Thunderbird had a baby !!, congrats on the NBD

[Skybone]

What an ace story, and a superb bass, congrats.

[merello]

Unique!

[fleabag]

Similar to my '83 Deluxe. Dual Filter circuit, Armstrong pups. No dots on my fretboard though

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by fleabag

[Owen]

I had a purple one like that. I traded it for a set of EMG jazz pickups. I am an idiot.

[Chris2112]

I had heard that those filter circuits on the early Overwater basses sounded fantastic. Why did they stop offering them? 

[BigRedX]

17 hours ago, Chris2112 said:

I had heard that those filter circuits on the early Overwater basses sounded fantastic. Why did they stop offering them? 

I would suspect two reasons:

1. Not everyone liked them or understood how they worked properly. I bought a 5-string Overwater Original fretless from a prolific session bassist where the pre-amp had been replaced with a Ken Smith one.

2. They eat through batteries compared with modern designs.

I much preferred the sound of my fretted Overwater with the filter pre-amp to the one with the Smith, but I can see/hear how they wouldn't be for everyone.

[moosesp2]

I had this one back in the day, it came from a shop in Plymouth in circa-'85. I wonder where it is now.....
 

[pineweasel]

This one belongs to the drummer in my band, a fellow lefty:

[fleabag]

Those 2 above with similar looking pickups are, i think, earlier models than mine and the OP's.

I think they were Bill Lawrence pickups, and later they moved to Armstrongs, like mine and Darkhearts

[Owen]

They were Bill Lawremce pickups.

[Skybone]

Nearly bought one a few months back, talked myself out of it.

[DarkHeart]

Hate to say this but I had to give this back to the previous owner due to severe  illness, I was possibly of of the 1st cv-19 sufferers, horrible horrible chest infection at the time, felt like someone clawing their way out of my chest every time I coughed, never in my life have I felt such pain, went to hospital Jan 6th I had fluid on lungs, sent home with antibiotics, ended up with some great bruises that didnt hurt.

[therealting]

Sorry to hear that mate, glad you made it and recovered... but why did that mean you had to give it back?!

[Chris2112]

On 07/01/2020 at 12:58, BigRedX said:

I bought a 5-string Overwater Original fretless from a prolific session bassist where the pre-amp had been replaced with a Ken Smith one.

That's some operation. I wonder where they managed to get their hands on a Smith preamp. They were never sold as a standalone item. 

[DarkHeart]

On 11/04/2020 at 10:19, therealting said:

Sorry to hear that mate, glad you made it and recovered... but why did that mean you had to give it back?!

The money lost from not being able to work meant the bass buying budget went out of the window, other more important things needed paying for, that and he upped the price a bit!

[therealting]

1 hour ago, DarkHeart said:

The money lost from not being able to work meant the bass buying budget went out of the window, other more important things needed paying for, that and he upped the price a bit!

Fair enough. Some things are bigger than gear for sure.