How to know if I bought a sandberg masterpiece or a regular heavy aged

[matt_leblanc]

I bought a used old sandberg california  from a friend. 

He says its a masterpiece, but i dont know, It could be a regular heavy aged model. (He bought It from a friend of hes).

Is there anyway to know? 

I tried to write to sandberg but i got no answer.

 

The bass is awesome and he sold It pretty cheap, so either way its a win.

Im just curious

[LowB_FTW]

You might wanna ask your question in the dedicated Sandberg thread we have going here …

 

Mark

[Baloney Balderdash]

Some pictures of said bass might help too.

 

Edited February 22, 2024 by Baloney Balderdash

[matt_leblanc]

3 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Some pictures of said bass might help too.

 

 

[MichaelDean]

Welcome to BassChat! I'd say the simplest way to work it out would be to try emailing Sandberg with the serial number. Hopefully their records go back a ways, as that looks like an older model.

[fretmeister]

That’s an older shape.

The designated Masterpiece aging was introduced relatively recently. I think there was some cross over of the old shape still being available and the Masterpiece but I don’t know the dates. I had an old shape in the heavy aged and it does look similar.
 

Contact Gregor Fris via the Sandberg Facebook. You’ll get a quicker response.

 

The Masterpiece includes vibration treatment and is a real step up in cost.

[fretmeister]

The fretboard and back of the neck looks too new to be a Masterpiece. IIRC fretboard and back of neck aging only happened on the Masterpiece and not on the other aging options. 

[fretmeister]

Masterpiece 

 

You can see the board and back of neck aging.

[fretmeister]

And I just remembered there is Hardcore Reserve between Hardcore and Masterpiece. 
 

Reserve has some gentle fretboard aging. HC doesn’t have any, Masterpiece has loads.

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, MichaelDean said:

Welcome to BassChat! I'd say the simplest way to work it out would be to try emailing Sandberg with the serial number. Hopefully their records go back a ways, as that looks like an older model.

He says above that he has already done so to no avail 

Edited February 22, 2024 by Geek99

[MichaelDean]

17 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

He says above that he has already done so to no avail 

Ah, I'm clearly blind!

[Aidan63]

I tried getting further technical information from Sandberg on a used bass I bought, nada, no response, which didn't endear them as a company to me - all I wanted to know is what the fretboard radius is supposed to be on my fretless as it doesn't actually measure anywhere on the board at any exact radius - so either they don't keep records or don't deal with second users or maybe anyone once passed warranty period, which is pretty poor support for £2k instruments. They should be able to pull up the build sheet information and supply that; the original certificate is a few fields hand written and very lacking in detail

[fretmeister]

I've always had quick responses from them!

[Geek99]

47 minutes ago, MichaelDean said:

Ah, I'm clearly blind!

Possibly, it is cunningly concealed in post #1. I have never done this selfsame thing, oh no

[Aidan63]

2 hours ago, fretmeister said:

I've always had quick responses from them!

I have tried again today using the service@ email address posted in the other thread.....we shall see if it works this time

[fretmeister]

2 hours ago, Aidan63 said:

I have tried again today using the service@ email address posted in the other thread.....we shall see if it works this time

Facebook is usually the quickest.

[matt_leblanc]

Do you guys know if only the masterpieces get the "vibration body treatmen"?

Or do more models have It?

[asingardenof]

9 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Contact Gregor Fris via the Sandberg Facebook. You’ll get a quicker response.
 

The same Gregor Fris off of Bass The World?

[Aidan63]

10 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Facebook is usually the quickest.

that is pants, respond on social media lest you be judged but ignore direct email through your website enquiry portal

 

some of us don't do facebook or anything to do with meta and the like

 

this is as social media as I get

[MichaelDean]

8 hours ago, asingardenof said:

The same Gregor Fris off of Bass The World?

Yep, his website says that he does Artist Relations for Sandberg.

[mattpbass]

18 hours ago, fretmeister said:

And I just remembered there is Hardcore Reserve between Hardcore and Masterpiece. 
 

Reserve has some gentle fretboard aging. HC doesn’t have any, Masterpiece has loads.

Reserve fretboard aging must be seriously gentle if there is any, there was nothing that was visible on the two I’ve owned. Maybe they apply a bit of dirt? They do however have a little bit of wear applied to the back of the neck. 
 

Masterpiece has the back of the neck nearly completely worn, and aging to the front but it is massively more noticeable on maple fingerboards, I have both rosewood and maple masterpieces and you can barely tell on the rosewood. 

Edited February 23, 2024 by mattpbass

[fretmeister]

19 hours ago, matt_leblanc said:

Do you guys know if only the masterpieces get the "vibration body treatmen"?

Or do more models have It?

 

I'm pretty sure it's only the Masterpiece - on their configurator if you spec Masterpiece and click the More Information thing then it shows the vibration and heat stuff. On the other finish options it does not.

Edited February 23, 2024 by fretmeister

[matt_leblanc]

Hey guys, and update.

So I finally got in Contact with sandberg. Sended them some pictures, and looks like It is a masterpiece in their opinion.

They told me that they will contact me if they get more info about it tho