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Overwater Original Bass Sunburst PRICE REDUCED!!!!
£1200
London/Suffolk

W1_Pro

By W1_Pro,
in Basses For Sale

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W1_Pro

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Something slightly unusual.  PRICE REDUCED TO £1100   IT'S A STEAL!!!

This is an early Original, according to Chris May it dates from the late seventies. It has the routed edges to the horns that all the early ones had. It's all mahogany construction I believe with a bound ebony fingerboard and a bone nut. It has a Schaller bridge and machine heads and a pair of the superb Bill Lawrence humbuckers which Originals used to come with in those heady days.

The good:

It's generally in good order, low action sounds good and plays nicely. Lovely colour too.

The bad:

A couple of cosmetic dinks here and there. I can provide more detailed pics if anyone wants to see. It's in good condition for a forty odd year old bass.

The circuit and pots were pretty knackered. It's currently with Martin at The Gallery being rewired. It will have per original spec CTS 500K long shaft linear pots for the volumes and log pots for the tone. I don't have the original (original) knobs. I've tried unsuccessfully to buy some from Overwater, so I'll probably stick some gold speed knobs on, which look quite nice.

As you will notice from the pic of the fingerboard, the ebony has  shrunk slightly over the years, leading to the 'scalloped' look on the binding strip. I spoke at some length to Chris (May) about this, and he was of the opinion that there is nothing to be done about it.  Well, I mean, there probably is something  to be done about it, but it would make no sense, I think was the drift of the conversation. Anyway, it makes no difference to the playablity at all.

It's a really lovely bass. I don't normally get rid of basses in any way, shape or form. I love them all like my children, but we may be moving abroad in a year or so and at this rate, I'll need a shipping container for my basses, and that is not sustainable.

That being said I'd be happy to trade for a nice Jazz or Jazzesque bass. (cough)..Ahem...

Ah yes, one other thing, the shot of the back shows the control cavity cover removed, this will of course by back on when it leaves me. I have no case for this particular bass so meet up in London or Suffolk might be best. If it really has to be shipped, I have a proper flightcase (belonging to one of my other Originals)  which I would be happy to ship it in but the lucky buyer would need to pay return shipping on the case. Which could work out expensive, but it is kind of a solution...I suppose.

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Edited by W1_Pro
Price reduction
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19 minutes ago, itu said:

Although I am broke, and this is a 4-string:

- scale length

- string spacing

- weight

please.

Goood questions...all good questions.  I'm not with the bass at the mo, so I'll have to park precise answers for now.

It is quite heavy.  But it does balance beautifully on a strap. It's 34" scale. The E string sounds like a piano. Its awesome. String spacing: The neck is a little bit wider than my other Originals,  they are usually quite Jazzy necks in profile but this is more of a not so chunky P, if that makes sense. When I get it back from The Gallery I'll do some measurements.

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alyctes Grand Master

alyctes

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At least one member here used to sell their basses in a hard case, bought for the purpose, which the seller would then send back.

That worked till someone decided to keep it.   (Probably an Ebay sale, but still...)

 

The original Overwater case must be a rarity...

 

If it was me, I'd be sourcing, and charging the buyer for, a hard case which fits the bass.  I guess a generic Tbird case would do?

 

Edited by alyctes
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silverfoxnik Grand Master

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1 hour ago, W1_Pro said:

Something slightly unusual. 

This is an early Original, according to Chris May it dates from the late seventies. It has the routed edges to the horns that all the early ones had. It's all mahogany construction I believe with a bound ebony fingerboard and a bone nut. It has a Schaller bridge and machine heads and a pair of the superb Bill Lawrence humbuckers which Originals used to come with in those heady days.

The good:

It's generally in good order, low action sounds good and plays nicely. Lovely colour too.

The bad:

A couple of cosmetic dinks here and there. I can provide more detailed pics if anyone wants to see. It's in good condition for a forty odd year old bass.

The circuit and pots were pretty knackered. It's currently with Martin at The Gallery being rewired. It will have per original spec CTS 500K long shaft linear pots for the volumes and log pots for the tone. I don't have the original (original) knobs. I've tried unsuccessfully to buy some from Overwater, so I'll probably stick some gold speed knobs on, which look quite nice.

As you will notice from the pic of the fingerboard, the ebony has  shrunk slightly over the years, leading to the 'scalloped' look on the binding strip. I spoke at some length to Chris (May) about this, and he was of the opinion that there is nothing to be done about it.  Well, I mean, there probably is something  to be done about it, but it would make no sense, I think was the drift of the conversation. Anyway, it makes no difference to the playablity at all.

It's a really lovely bass. I don't normally get rid of basses in any way, shape or form. I love them all like my children, but we may be moving abroad in a year or so and at this rate, I'll need a shipping container for my basses, and that is not sustainable.

That being said I'd be happy to trade for a nice Jazz or Jazzesque bass. (cough)..Ahem...

Ah yes, one other thing, the shot of the back shows the control cavity cover removed, this will of course by back on when it leaves me. I have no case for this particular bass so meet up in London or Suffolk might be best. If it really has to be shipped, I have a proper flightcase (belonging to one of my other Originals)  which I would be happy to ship it in but the lucky buyer would need to pay return shipping on the case. Which could work out expensive, but it is kind of a solution...I suppose.

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Absolutely fabulous! 👍

GLWTS 😊

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W1_Pro Proficient

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30 minutes ago, alyctes said:

At least one member here used to sell their basses in a hard case, bought for the purpose, which the seller would then send back.

That worked till someone decided to keep it.   (Probably an Ebay sale, but still...)

 

The original Overwater case must be a rarity...

 

If it was me, I'd be sourcing, and charging the buyer for, a hard case which fits the bass.  I guess a generic Tbird case would do?

 

You'd think so, but not really I'm afraid. The headstock on the Original swerves back at quite an alarming angle, so in a T Bird case the neck won't come to rest on the support in the case. It sort of hovers in mid air resting on the headstock. I tried (and tried) to source a generic- non flight- hard case, but it's an uphill struggle given the extra depth needed.  Nevertheless, thanks for the suggestion. 

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silverfoxnik Grand Master

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2 hours ago, W1_Pro said:

Thanks Nik!

I played a s/h green one of these at the Bass Centre in Wapping one day back in the early 90s and it was absolutely brilliant. 👍

I nearly bought it that day but eventually walked out with a BC Rich Eagle custom instead which was more suited to me ergonomically and musically.. 

But it was quite a close call. 

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49 minutes ago, silverfoxnik said:

I played a s/h green one of these at the Bass Centre in Wapping one day back in the early 90s and it was absolutely brilliant. 👍

I nearly bought it that day but eventually walked out with a BC Rich Eagle custom instead which was more suited to me ergonomically and musically.. 

But it was quite a close call. 

Has to be said..BC Rich Eagle..not to be sniffed at....

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W1_Pro Proficient

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On 21/01/2021 at 18:41, Geddys nose said:

https://www.hiscoxcases.com/collections/bass/products/large-peardrop-bass-hard-case
 

I had mine in this case, Lovely bass they are built very well.

As I mentioned above, I have a couple of these Hiscox cases, and very good they are too. If the OW would fit in one, that could be a good solution.

So I retrieved one from storage. . It's the same dims as the Hiscox 'large peardrop' hard case.

I tried to get one of my other Originals in it. Not a great result. I had to pretty much force the bass in and it is wedged. Whilst lack of movement in a case is a good thing of course, this feels to tight to me... The greater issue to my mind would be that once again, due to the swerve of the headstock, the neck sits at least an inch proud of the neck rest. I wouldn't like to try and get those clips done up....

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Then I tried my Artisan in the same case. I have to say, it fits like a glove. So thats a good thing. I also took this picture of the headstocks on the Artisan and the original side by side. As you can see, the headstock angle on the Original seems  markedly more acute (obtuse? Sorry, crap at geometry) than that of the  Artisan. The Original is the one on the right.

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On 21/01/2021 at 17:19, itu said:

Although I am broke, and this is a 4-string:

- scale length

- string spacing

- weight

please.

Just a bit of an update on these questions and my lack of answers. I've still not managed to get the bass back from The Gallery, I may attempt to pop down in the next week or so. I understand that Martin has been isolating and I've just been a bit hopeless.   Once I've retrieved it I'll post some updated pics and answer the questions above. Apologies for the delay. If anyone has any other questions, please feel free to ask....

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W1_Pro Proficient

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On 21/01/2021 at 17:19, itu said:

Although I am broke, and this is a 4-string:

- scale length

- string spacing

- weight

please.

Having finally got the bass back from The Gallery (blame me and lockdown, not them), here are the answers:

 

34inch scale

41mm at the nut with 14mm spacing

Weighs in at a relatively featherweight 3.1kilos. As opposed to my other Original which comes in at 4.8 kilos.

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So, as you will have noted from the above, I finally got around to retrieving this from The Gallery. Martin has done a lovely job of lining the cavity with copper foil and  rewiring it, albeit with one random Gibson volume pot.  Still, it sounds great. The Bill Lawrence pickups really are something else. Please see pics below and I've taken more/better pics of the bass. I've tried to highlight the actual large scratches. There are additionally bits of bucklerash etc that are not easy to photograph, but not that visible either.

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However, having just strung it up I notice that the 12th and 13th frets have lifted a little bit on the G side of the neck.  There are a couple of little buzzes around the 12th because of this. Back to The Gallery it goes for a fret dress.....

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Just musing on the weight difference between it and my other (early) Original (4.8 kilos), I also have a later (flat top) Original with a single KA pickup. This one comes in at 4.1 kilos. The one above that is for sale weighs in at a feather light 3.1 kilos.  I have checked the control cavities in the heavy ones for bricks, there are none. So this leads me to wonder if the lighter Original is actually Mahogany. It looks like mahogany.  Could it be chambered? Anyhow. If you've got a bad back and always wanted an Overwater Original....well, have I got a deal for you....;0)

 

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