Manson Explorer Bass

[W1_Pro]

Many, many years ago, at a music shop in Cardiff called Livewire (I believe it was on Pen y Lan road, but it was a very long time ago) I played a  (red) Manson Explorer Bass.  I was utterly blown away by the thing, but I didnt have the cash to buy it. I have never seen one since either in the flesh or advertised for sale. Does anyone on here posess such a machine? Are they as good as I remember?

 

[NancyJohnson]

I remember seeing one up in London a few times.  Just hanging on the wall in one of the shops in Denmark Street.  It was there for yonks.  Couldn't even tell you what colour it was, but I do remember it had diagonal stripes on it, which on closer inspection turned out to be wide strips of electrical tape.

 

The bassist in NWOBHM band Rock Goddess played one:

 

[White Cloud]

31 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

The bassist in NWOBHM band Rock Goddess played one:

 

That very bass was for sale at Bass Direct a year or two ago. Reasonable price too if I recall.

[W1_Pro]

25 minutes ago, White Cloud said:

That very bass was for sale at Bass Direct a year or two ago. Reasonable price too if I recall.

And I missed it. Utterly typical....

[Rayman]

Our guitarist has the lead version. It was one of Hugh Mansons early guitars. Mike had it custom made by Hugh in a black/white diagonal paint job and it’s been his main guitar ever since….. that was around 40yrs ago I think….
 

 

This picture was 10yrs ago….. I miss those Schecter Model Ts I was using then.

[W1_Pro]

9 minutes ago, Rayman said:

Our guitarist has the lead version. It was one of Hugh Mansons early guitars. Mike had it custom made by Hugh in a black/white diagonal paint job and it’s been his main guitar ever since….. that was around 40yrs ago I think….
 

 

This picture was 10yrs ago….. I miss those Schecter Model Ts I was using then.

Great pic....I've never played one of those Schecters but they do look very nice, I must say.

 

 

[Rayman]

Apart from the backdrop falling down halfway through the gig…… 😆

 

Yeah, Schecter Model Ts are awesome. I had 3…. That black and white one was really nice.

[police squad]

I've had two. 

A black one with dots on the pointy bits (also owned by someone else on here at some point) and one with an Inlayed tiger on the top horn (also owned by someone else on here)

Great basses, a bit heavy

I dont have a handy picture of the tiger bass

 

[W1_Pro]

2 hours ago, police squad said:

I've had two. 

A black one with dots on the pointy bits (also owned by someone else on here at some point) and one with an Inlayed tiger on the top horn (also owned by someone else on here)

Great basses, a bit heavy

I dont have a handy picture of the tiger bass

 

The dots ring a bell...I seem to remember that the one in Livewire had similar dots on the (red) finish. I might be imaginging that of course...

[police squad]

20 hours ago, W1_Pro said:

The dots ring a bell...I seem to remember that the one in Livewire had similar dots on the (red) finish. I might be imaginging that of course...

The black one with dots came from Livewire. I bought it in the summer of 1983

[W1_Pro]

4 hours ago, police squad said:

The black one with dots came from Livewire. I bought it in the summer of 1983

Maybe the one I saw was black then? Uness they had two Manson explorers in of course. Which might be the case. They had a lot of very high end stuff I seem to remember. It was a great shop.