Wings and a Prayer

[dwmark]

Maybe the title is too cute for my need for real info, but I thought it was appropriate.


The first Series I that I bought was a nice bass, that we (the Club) helped a woman in England sell.  It was her brother's bass and he had died.  When I got it, the case smelled really damp, but it wasn't wet and I used the bass and really liked it (not hard for your first Series I).  I acquired other, better, Alembics and, at some point, didn't get to it much.


I recently was sizing the bass up for sale and figured out that the neck had warped to the point that it's not adjustable (the biggest adjustment of the truss rod isn't enough to bring the neck to a playable position).  Electronics are fine (totally--although bass is a 76 model, so they're old electronics).  My thinking is that the salvageable parts of the bass are the wings, the electronics and the hardware.


My ask is for help on pricing.  If anyone has done a new neck and refinish update on a Series I, the cost for that would be helpful too.  At the end of the day, if you do that, you have a mostly new bass, except for the older, but fully working, electronics.  I had a short-scale from the same year that had gone through that transformation and thought that bass was tremendous.


Thanks.


dw

[lbpesq]

What, specifically, is the problem with the neck?  Too much relief?  Not enough relief?  Twisted?  Have you obtained an opinion from a luthier regarding the neck?

Bill, tgo

[edwin]

I looked into it about 18 years ago. It was pretty expensive back then. Can you take pictures of the bass and show it to us?

[jwright9]

Is this the same 76 Series I you just posted about in a separate thread, or a different bass?

[edwardofhuncote]

Echoing Bill's sentiment; I would have the neck evaluated by a competent luthier. There are a number of ways to address even a severely bowed neck without destroying its integrity, and without the extreme cost of a full neck replacement. A heat press, followed by graphite reinforcement, to name one. (I do this regularly on upright basses.) Truss rod replacement isn't an impossibly difficult job either, if yours has failed for some reason.

Obviously, selling a neck-through bass with a neck issue is a problem. If you plan to sell this one too, I'd endeavor to resolve it, or be prepared to deal with a lot of lowball offers.

All that said, if one of my Alembics really needed a neck replacement, there's only one shop on Planet Earth I'd send it to... and you already found them.  

Good Luck, and Welcome Back.

[bigredbass]

What with used S1's trading hands between 4 and 10 grand and the eye-watering replacement cost of a new build replacement, I'd think you'd have a lot of room to send it to a competent (and I do mean COMPETENT) guitar tech, have the neck fixed, and be more than able to offset the repair price in the improved sale price you could ask.  I'm with Ed of H, it REALLY takes a lot for a first-rate tech to say that it's a write-off.  Here in Nashville, several of the best repair shops saved a LOT of guitars that floated in their road trunks during the Great Flood, and it would make your blood run cold to see most of the 'before' pictures.

Otherwise, you'd have to 'fire sale' it on the Bay, ReVerb, or somewhere, and be prepared for the nitwits who will want to send it back with the usual 'I didn't know it was THAT bad', possibly lowering your eBay and PayPal ratings, etc.  For me, it would be far easier to mention 'professionally repaired' (if need be) and sell if I knew it were well and truly fixed.  I've no faith in most buyers in that you could post just the most horrible, honest pics of it as is, sell it for a grand,  and they'd STILL kick about something.  Life is TOO short . . . . .

[edwin]

In any case, if this is the bass I think it is, I might be interested, but I'll try not to be a nitwit.

[dwmark]

Sorry I have been out of pocket for a couple of days.  I will reply to all of these later.  Thank you very much for the input.

dw