Here comes the Sunn

[Rayman]

lol….. I wondered if I’d be asked that!!

 

Absolutely not! I’ve never seen one go for that price. I’m sensible enough to know my limits and that exceeded them by some margin. 
 

I do wonder if I’ve shot myself in the foot by raving about them so much 😆

[Maude]

2 hours ago, Rayman said:

lol….. I wondered if I’d be asked that!!

 

Absolutely not! I’ve never seen one go for that price. I’m sensible enough to know my limits and that exceeded them by some margin. 
 

I do wonder if I’ve shot myself in the foot by raving about them so much 😆

Ha ha, you've singlehandedly driven up the market price of Sunn Mustangs 😁. 

 

I check in on it earlier today and it was £230 I think. Then when I looked near the end and saw it at the top end of the £300s I thought folks were getting carried away, then it ends at over £400!😲

Madness I tell ya! Madness 😁

[Rayman]

Absolutely. Maybe folk have read some of the threads I’ve written, I don’t know. I haven’t paid more than 150 quid for any of mine. My first one was £50!!

 

£400 is madness.

[Maude]

There's a very clean looking Mustang on Facebook Marketplace in Bristol, but willing to post. 

Decent price as well. 

I'd be tempted but I've recently bought a Hondo II and SD Curlee to quash my underdog P needs. 

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/511951657860428/

[AndyTravis]

4 minutes ago, Maude said:

There's a very clean looking Mustang on Facebook Marketplace in Bristol, but willing to post. 

Decent price as well. 

I'd be tempted but I've recently bought a Hondo II and SD Curlee to quash my underdog P needs. 

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/511951657860428/

yeah - saw that. 
 

absolutely no need for it.

 

thought of this thread straight away 

[Reggaebass]

Looks good, I saw it on gumtree too 

[JJMotown]

Could just buy an old Encore, same bass but without the fender association, and higher price.

[Rayman]

4 hours ago, Maude said:

There's a very clean looking Mustang on Facebook Marketplace in Bristol, but willing to post. 

Decent price as well. 

I'd be tempted but I've recently bought a Hondo II and SD Curlee to quash my underdog P needs. 

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/511951657860428/

SD Curlee …. Nice. I’m always on the lookout for one.

 

Yeah, there are a couple of Sunns on the bay, a nice black one, and a red one with some damage to the skunk stripe. My red one has a slightly raised skunk stripe. I suspect that the rosewood stripe is pretty thin, and prone to popping up a bit. Something to keep in mind. Needless to say I’m watching both of these though. 

 

I Already have four of the things, and honestly love them all, but I don’t know if I really need 5 or even 6 of them. 
 

Once again, mine are all original examples, except for the electrics, which I’ve changed to CTS etc. Some early Sunns require some routing to fit full size pots, which is a consideration too. 
 

Whatever you do, if you buy one, do not pull out the original cream coloured pickups. They’re pretty basic, but they sound fantastic paired up with some decent pots.

[Rayman]

2 minutes ago, JJMotown said:

Could just buy an old Encore, same bass but without the fender association, and higher price.

Absolutely 

[Rayman]

Also worth knowing. The Encore basses of the same period are the exactly the same basses. Same factory, same parts. Good solid basses, and underrated too. Again, swap out the pots for decent quality ones, give the frets a bit of a once over, and again, great P bass.

[JJMotown]

33 minutes ago, Rayman said:

Also worth knowing. The Encore basses of the same period are the exactly the same basses. Same factory, same parts. Good solid basses, and underrated too. Again, swap out the pots for decent quality ones, give the frets a bit of a once over, and again, great P bass.

What was the other brand made in the same factory again?

[Rayman]

So Sunn and Encore were made in the same factory, same parts, same colours, just P bass copies. This was mid 80s. They were just badged differently. 
 

There’s nothing inherently amazing or collectible about either brand, they’re just good solid wooden parts with great sounding pickups, and if they’re well set up, they’re brilliant P basses, easily up there with some of the Mexican made stuff from the 00s in my opinion.

 

Just don’t be paying more than 150/200 quid for one in good condition.

[Maude]

I don't know how old my Encore P is (just has 'encore' logo in black outlined gold on headstock) but it's a fantastic bass after a bit of fretwork. I did put a Tonerider PU in it but in all honesty there was nothing wrong with the original. 

 

The SD Curlee is a USA one and quite different to a classic P tone. It has the original Dimarzio P PU but it's so far back towards the bridge, it has a real snarly, snappy tone. Almost more Rickenbacker than Precision. 

 

I'd love this the Sunn that I linked too but I really just don't need it. I've just been redecorating my son's old room to use as my music room, and now all my basses are in one room together it's a little embarrassing. 😬

[Reggaebass]

9 hours ago, Rayman said:

There’s nothing inherently amazing or collectible about either brand, they’re just good solid wooden parts with great sounding pickups

Hi, sorry if I’ve missed it but are the bodies solid wood, only asking as I bought an old Hohner Precision a few years back from a studio to restore for a bit of fun and it was plywood, turned out it wasn’t very nice really and I gave it away in the end 

[JJMotown]

10 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Hi, sorry if I’ve missed it but are the bodies solid wood, only asking as I bought an old Hohner Precision a few years back from a studio to restore for a bit of fun and it was plywood, turned out it wasn’t very nice really and I gave it away in the end 

Yes, the bodies were mahogany or Ash, very heavy.

 

The sunn were made mid 80s to early 90s, the encore from 89 till mid 90s, and Squier II were the third brand made in the India factory, late 80s to mid 90s. The squier II were not sold in Europe, but they turn up from time to time.

 

[Rayman]

Yes solid wood. The two black ones I have weigh a ton. I’m no expert, and can only refer to the ones I have as examples, but they’re solid. The design and construction of them did vary over the years. Some of them had bullet truss rods at the headstock, some were accessed at the body end. Also the position of the logo and the string tree did vary somewhat.

[rwillett]

This is what I like about Basschat. Never heard of Sunn before. I'm no expert now but I know a lot more than I did about Sunn guitars (which isn't difficult TBH). 

 

Will keep an eye out as I'm looking for parts and guitars. 

 

Thanks. 

 

Rob

[Reggaebass]

There’s a red one for sale in the Norwich crack converters, 

[rwillett]

Thanks 

[Reggaebass]

This one is not far from where I work sometimes so I had a bid, but it looks like someone wants it more, quite like the colour 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335692496479?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=saz8gig9ssu&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=1wDkd4CjTIi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[Reggaebass]

On 26/11/2024 at 17:14, Reggaebass said:

This one is not far from where I work sometimes so I had a bid, but it looks like someone wants it more, quite like the colour 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335692496479?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=saz8gig9ssu&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=1wDkd4CjTIi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 this one ends today ,what do think would be a reasonable price for this given the description 

[Maude]

1 hour ago, Reggaebass said:

 this one ends today ,what do think would be a reasonable price for this given the description 

Given that it was "found in the garage" and all the cold/damp implications that could encompass, the bridge, tuners, etc don't look any more rusty than any similar vintage bass might look. That would make me think that the electrics haven't adversely suffered either. If they have then they're very easily fixed. The actual condition of the body and neck looks to be very good considering. 

I'd be happily pay £150 for that, maybe £200 if I really was after one. For me personally that's the best colour combo and I really like the look of it. 

Best of luck if you go for it. 

[Reggaebass]

2 minutes ago, Maude said:

Given that it was "found in the garage" and all the cold/damp implications that could encompass, the bridge, tuners, etc don't look any more rusty than any similar vintage bass might look. That would make me think that the electrics haven't adversely suffered either. If they have then they're very easily fixed. The actual condition of the body and neck looks to be very good considering. 

I'd be happily pay £150 for that, maybe £200 if I really was after one. For me personally that's the best colour combo and I really like the look of it. 

Best of luck if you go for it. 

Thank you very much Maude , I really don’t need another bass but it looks  interesting and some of the ones above have cleaned up nicely 

[Maude]

40 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Thank you very much Maude , I really don’t need another bass but it looks  interesting and some of the ones above have cleaned up nicely 

I think that one would scrub very well indeed, the closer I look at the pictures the better it looks. But you just never know until you see it in the the flesh. I bought a Hondo II Precision under similar circumstances and it has one of the earliest examples of a torzal twist neck 😁. 

That said, if it was near me I'd be tempted. 

[Maude]

Well? 😁

 

£128 was a good price I think.