Well, here's a personal heartbreak... Joey's BIG RED SPOILER appears on eBay. 🥹

https://ebay.io/m/6gRQHU

Both Omega points sheared off, reportedly in shipping. Other than that, she appears to be all there in her ruby-red glory. 

Listing says that the bass comes with its original hardshell case, but suggests that the case was not damaged in the shipping incident that broke both omega tips; which I guess is fortunate.

Very nice one. But very unfortunate that those wings broke off. Very hard to repair I guess. Maybe he still has the peices that broke off...

Not hard to repair. What's hard is getting someone to forget about it. The repair will never be invisible. 

I'd love to have that bass. Don't even care about the broken tips. It was such an influential part of the planning on my Custom fretless. Unfortunately can't justify buying one while still trying to sell others. Wonder if they'd swap it even for a 00-21? 

Quote from: David Houck on September 23, 2026, 05:53:55 AMListing says that the bass comes with its original hardshell case, but suggests that the case was not damaged in the shipping incident that broke both omega tips; which I guess is fortunate.

The way the seller props up the bass in a corner.....my guess is he doesn't use or care about a Guitar Stand!

It occurred to me after posting (but before sufficietly caffeinated), the BIG RED SPOILER belonged to another Club Member here as of last Fall. I was going to donate a pan pot to them for an upgrade project but it turned out to be a no-go on compatibility. Good thing, because I later needed that pot.

I wonder if it's their ad?

QuoteThe way the seller props up the bass in a corner.....my guess is he doesn't use or care about a Guitar Stand!

i can tell ya from personal experience it's not hard to bugger those up if you're not careful how ya stows yer instrument.  in my case it was a cheap GC rack what dunnit.  good thing it wasn't the SII.  of course, if yer ignorant enuff to stand it up on 'em in a corner, then shame on you, sir!

Quote from: BeenDown139 on September 23, 2026, 10:36:06 AM

QuoteThe way the seller props up the bass in a corner.....my guess is he doesn't use or care about a Guitar Stand!

i can tell ya from personal experience it's not hard to bugger those up if you're not careful how ya stows yer instrument.  in my case it was a cheap GC rack what dunnit.  good thing it wasn't the SII.  of course, if yer ignorant enuff to stand it up on 'em in a corner, then shame on you, sir!

Based on Dave's observation and that of Gary, me thinks the missing omega points had more to do with stupidity in storing the bass than shipping

Tough crowd here today. Kinda' hope it ain't a Club Member now! 🤣

Curious if having the pieces, wood glue and proper clamping would fix it up?

Quote from: pauldo on September 23, 2026, 03:44:14 PMCurious if having the pieces, wood glue and proper clamping would fix it up?

I sent Joey a text today with a link to the eBay ad and the message; DON'T LOOK ETHEL! When he called me back we had a short conversation about whether or how to fix them. Without even seeing the broken off tips, it's hard to assess. If they are cleanly broken, and all there, like not missing any shards of wood, I would reattach them with medium viscosity CA glue leaving a small bead of it at the crack. Then I'd fill any voids that were left with the same CA, and carefully work that off flush, wet-sand, overspray/darken with some red wash then polish out. I think it would always be seen but not noticed. Wouldn't bother me, and I'm nuts. 

Alternately, if you didn't have the pieces or they didn't fit back on right from being deformed by the impact, the options become trickier. You could take the easiest route and recarve them. That's a lot harder than it sounds, keeping them symmetrical. And when you're done you still have a major touch-up to do.

Beyond that, you can trim the tips off flat, I mean perfectly flat, and graft new wood on, them recarve and either attempt touch up or better still, refinish. (this is most likely what Mica's squad would do.) Obviously a major undertaking. Not cheap, nor fast, but vastly the best choice.

You could always just play the thing and live with it. That bass is a legend. Two FatBoys on an Alembic Omega-cut Spoiler 5? Get on. There's very little about that bass not to love. 

QuoteCurious if having the pieces, wood glue and proper clamping would fix it up?

mine weren't broken off but cracked thru.  the luthiers up the street (colfax guitars in denver) did an outstanding job imho fixing it up.  it's on the MKD, so it gets seen by a lot of people.  not that anybody looks at the bass player anyways (or his bass.  unless it's the dragonwing.  but i digress). i'm too baked to jack with taking a picture of the repair and posting it.  maybe tomorrow.

Quotelittle about that bass not to love.

indeed.  5-strings.  long scale.  alembic.  gotta live with the price.

good luck to all!

As a complete unskilled woodworker my thoughts on repair if you had the tips, would be temporarily hold them in place on the bass drill through the centre of them into the bass. put a threaded insert into the bass. Then glue the mating surfaces, screw them together with an appropriate allen bolt and locktite. glue a bit of dowell in the end of the tips. Once it's dried, sand and finish to taste. That tip won't be coming off again easily.
Or as we say here 'Jobs a good un'.

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on September 23, 2026, 06:36:17 AMUnfortunately can't justify buying one while still trying to sell others. Wonder if they'd swap it even for a 00-21?

Just curious: which ones are you trying to sell? Do you have a link?

Quote from: Barend on September 23, 2026, 11:44:33 PM

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on September 23, 2026, 06:36:17 AMUnfortunately can't justify buying one while still trying to sell others. Wonder if they'd swap it even for a 00-21?

Just curious: which ones are you trying to sell? Do you have a link?

Ads were in the For Sale section. I had them marked [SOLD] or [CLOSED] as items were listed locally which would violate consignment agreements. What remains are higher-end acoustic guitars. If I decide to relist any bass guitars they'll be there.