woolf Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 (edited) Despite being a serial purveyor of bass and long-time BC member, I’ve not posted a NBD before! However, due to the scarcity of reviews for these basses I felt I should add to our collective record here… This appeared for sale in a local music shop here in South Wales, I stopped by to have a look and left with it. The info received so far is that it’s a 1984 Wilkes Savoy Deluxe, alder body, bolt-on maple neck with ebony board. Schaller 232 bassbucker pickups and 2-band (unknown) active eq with passive switching and passive tone control that only works in passive mode. It feels like a high quality instrument, the neck is particularly playable, a slim profile and lovely feeling finish on the back of the neck. Sonically, it’s got a nice resonance to it and very full and fat tone from the dual humbuckers. Lots of tonal options with the 3-way selector switch and a polite eq that works well. I’m looking forward to seeing how it sounds with the band. I’m surprised we don’t see hear more about these lovely instruments! I’d love to hear any others views / experiences about Wilkes basses. And yes, it looks very similar to a Jaydee. Cheers! Edited June 5 by woolf 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 43 minutes ago, woolf said: I’d love to hear any others views / experiences about Wilkes basses. Congratulations on your NBD Mine's is a tale of woe and regret, for not buying one from Doug years ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 I had one of the percussive fretless ones many, many years ago. I think it was one of the instruments I part-exchanged to get my Warwick Thumb in 1988. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazed Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Saw that on Facebook I think. Glad someone bought it and saved me from myself. Always liked Wilkes basses and you don’t see many about. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatEric Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Gorgeous!! I have two Wilkes basses - a custom (for someone else that I bought) and a lined fretless. Both absolutely cracking basses. Lovely bloke, lucky enough to visit him. Hang on to that bass. 👍 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolf Posted June 10 Author Share Posted June 10 26 minutes ago, FlatEric said: Gorgeous!! I have two Wilkes basses - a custom (for someone else that I bought) and a lined fretless. Both absolutely cracking basses. Lovely bloke, lucky enough to visit him. Hang on to that bass. 👍 Thanks. Do you have any pics of the two you have? I’m curious to see others… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatEric Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 Pics and details of the custom here: https://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.com/2010/10/doug-wilkes-guitar-builder.html As I said, lucky enough to meet him and now recall something from the visit that I forgot to put in the post. When Doug decided to tweak the rod (I thought it was fine but was better when he had laid his hands on it) it obviously would have altered the pitch. Having tweaked the rod, he down tuned all the strings and brought them up again, all by ear and no tuner. Finished my coffee, shook him by the hand and headed home. After all the years of playing around with stringed instruments, he must have perfect pitch. At home, checked it - bang on correct. Most impressed. 👍 I can't find any pics of the fretless. It was a model of Doug's range when he was making production instruments in Hanley. Looks a similar shape to the OP but with two Jazz pick-ups. Must dig it out. 👍 Cheers. 😊 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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