The brass overlay on the headstock is there for a reason. John assures me it was there from day one when Rick gave him the bass during a visit to Alembic. I asked John if he had ever broken the headstock, and he said no. He took amazing care of the bass all these years, and changed the strings himself after every gig. Nonetheless, once I had the bass on my bench, I could see that my suspicions were correct that the brass plate and extra thick laminates were there because the headstock had been cracked off the neck at some point. John still to this day is unaware that the bass had been repaired prior to his ownership of it. To have that bass travel on tour for so many years and still hold together is a testament to how effective that repair has been. There are numerous videos of live performances with that bass featured. What surprised me was that it was short scale and had an oak core and birch neck. I have over 200 photos of the bass, and scale drawings of the size, curves, and neck profile. I went through the bass for John and gave it some T.L.C. which included oiling the fingerboard and removing the corroding batteries from 2008!
