Tune Bass Maniac 1996, 3.1kg(6.8lbs)! 34" Scale, **FURTHER PRICE DROP** - *SOLD* £447 Bendorf, Germany

[dyerseve]

 **NOW SOLD**

 

Description Updated to reflect the info provided by helpful BCers below:

 

Up for sale is this beautiful Tune Bass Maniac. This bass was built in 1996 in Kore and is in amazing condition for a 25 year old instrument. If you are looking at this ad you probably already know of the awesome reputation these basses have - you wont do better at this price point, or probably double this amount!

It is all original except for the nut - I believe the original nut was also brass but this has been improved to a Warwick brass Just-A-Nut I which is fully adjustable for the best possible setup and playability. The bass has received a complete pro setup and has been thoroughly cleaned: frets polished, fretboard cleaned and oiled and it has brand new Warwick strings fitted. It plays like a dream with a medium-low action, perfect balance, and incredibly light weight of 3.1kg(6.8lbs). It also benefits from a 34" scale length.

All of the electronics function perfectly, as does the truss rod and the rest of the hardware. The electronics active(with no passive option) and the controls are volume, pickup blend, treble(boost/cut) and bass(boost/cut) - there is also a trim pot in the control cavity which I believe sets the midrange output.
Please note that the finish of the bass changes depending on the light - if you see the last few photos I have used the flash to show this off.

Worldwide shipping available - the bass will be shipped in a simple but functional hardcase with additional packaging internally. To save money on shipping costs, I can also remove the neck and carefully pack the body and neck and ship them within a box.

 

If you have any questions please let me know.

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2022 by dyerseve

[iMilanek]

IMHO this is unfortunately not a "Made in Japan"-one. The serial no. starts with "S" for South Korea ... Please correct me if I am wrong.

[dyerseve]

1 hour ago, iMilanek said:

IMHO this is unfortunately not a "Made in Japan"-one. The serial no. starts with "S" for South Korea ... Please correct me if I am wrong.

Oh well if that's the case I am sorry - I am just working on info I was given when I bought it.

Anyone else have any info to make certain where it was made?

[briansbrew]

Have a look at this post from 3 years ago.

 

Tune Guitar Technology started the ball rolling in Japan. Kawai,SGC Nanyo,Washburn and Ibanez quickly started with their takes on the Maniac. Late 80's Tune Guitar Tech got the contract for the Levinson Blades so started importing necks and bodies from Korea. This gave them more time for Levinson. At the end complete basses were imported from Korea.

 

Then Tune goes tits up.

 

The Koreans keep building under the Tune Guitar Technology name. Some luthiers in Japan started using Tune templates and called themselves Tune Guitar Maniac,they claim they own the Tune brand but the Koreans dispute this saying they had a "gentleman's agreement" to produce Tune basses. Said Gentleman being dead nobody knows the truth 😃

 

Upshot is there's a factory in Korea building Tunes and a luthier custom shop in Japan building Tunes,up until recently the Japanese shop still bought it's hardware from the Koreans. The so-called "bad blood" between the two is mostly the product of owners with Japanese built Tunes. Not surprising, I think Fender Master Built owners would get upset  with MIM Fender owners claiming there's no difference between their basses.

 

A basic Tune Maniac from Japan will be built by a small team and maybe fired in their PLEK machine, photos of it featured a lot on their FB page along with fancy inlay work on folk's Strats and LPs. It'll cost you about £1200 before shipping and VAT/import duty. £1500 shouldn't be far of the mark. 

 

A basic Korean Tune Maniac can be had from Ned at VSN in Canada for £404. With Shipping/tax etc £650 easy.

 

A few years back Sam Ash over in the USA wanted to buy the brand name for another budget line of theirs. The Koreans said no and SA had a fire sale on Tune products,can't say if that was a deliberate attempt to damage the Tune brand name but that was the effect it had in the US.Both are recovering with the Japanese holding the upper hand,given the fantastic value they are for a hand built bass 👍

 

Fine basses no matter the flavour

[kodiakblair]

On 13/08/2021 at 21:58, dyerseve said:

Anyone else have any info to make certain where it was made?

Definitely Korean.

 

Main clues are.

The serial number, as has already been stated Japanese serial numbers don't contain letters but Korean ones all start with "S".

The 1996 date , Tune Japan were gone by then.

 

If not for those two , it would be a Japan assembly from Korean parts. Main tell is the 25 fret square heel neck , original Japanese had 24 fret slanted heel.

Many also had slanted bridges. 

 

With that out the way , £447 is still a very good price for a Tune Maniac 👍

 

[dyerseve]

Thank you very much to @kodiakblair and @briansbrewfor their very informative posts - I have updated my ad accordingly.

[kodiakblair]

@dyerseve

 

You're welcome friend.

 

Owning both Japanese and Korean Tunes,  I'm of the opinion that country of origin for these production line basses means very little.

 

 

[Rich]

What a scorcher, love it. It's so nice to see one correctly strung at the headstock for a change..! GLWTS

[dyerseve]

Sale pending

[dyerseve]

sale fell through so back up for sale

[Rich]

Ludicrous bargain for a classic bass.