Medium-scale Omega-cut Series I

[edwardofhuncote]

I'm kinda' reluctantly posting this one here...

https://reverb.com/item/89387957

I think it's legitimate. FWIW, I spotted this bass in our local Craigslist a couple weeks ago, and replied to the ad with a request for some specifics. I got nothing back after two tries. I was fully prepared to drive a couple hours to Richmond and make a deal for it, but hey... if you can't reply your own CL ad... I ain't wasting breath or gas on ya'.

Besides that, I don't need it. I do need a pre-1921 Gibson scrollbody F-style mandolin. I prefer one with birch sides/back body to maple, and finished in blackface. You know... if ya' got sumthin' like at layin' 'round doin' nuthin'...

[garyhead]

If 2" is really important, then this bass would not be for you. (rhetorically)

https://thunderroadguitars.com/store/used-alembic-series-i-bass-guitar-natural-8-1651-usa-pdx

It's 34" vs 32".  It's $500.00 cheaper, the finish is in better shape....and this one doesn't look like it's had a cracked neck.  Both do not come with a power supply or cord.  Note:  The Thunder Road website is cheaper than the Reverb website.....The $500 is the reverb markup (10%)
Ok....I looked again....the tails are different on these basses.

[BeenDown139]

If 2" is really important, then this bass would not be for you. (rhetorically)

at one point, that was the worst 2" of my life.  but let's not go there.
beautiful bass.  not a bad price imho.  good luck to all!

[tkotmk42]

yup  that 2 inches makes HUGE difference in standard point/omega body.
I wish I could compare side-by-side when I ordered my first bass back in '96.... that cocobolo top was just amazing!

[edwardofhuncote]

The medium-scale question was one I asked, and got no response. Had they replied that it was, and confirmed that the electronics were indeed fully functional I'd have very likely drove over there there week with cash in-hand. I couldn't understand how they had checked them without a power supply. So I asked if both pickups worked, assuming if both did, the 1/4" jack was wired for mono out. Anyway, since I got no reply... pffft. Somewhere at the Mothership, I've got a beautiful medium-scale Series I bass that's been converted to Series II electronics. So I don't really need this one. I just liked that Omega-cut body pattern. Figured I could choose one of them to keep if it worked out  They're darn close.

Whatever. I'm huntin' wabbits wite now. Be very qwiet. I mean manlins... I'm huntin' manlins!

[Picure]

FWIW, he did say, in his reverb description, he got both pickups to work using his own custom made box for the bass. It looks like he does understand that the jack is wired mono by default.

“I also built a custom box that doesn't use the 5 pin and uses the 1/4 in out to operate both pickups. Must use a TRS to TRS cable which is included.”

[matbard]

The 1/4" is wired stereo by default, it operates exactly as my 1980 Series I. I think the custom made box is a simple A+B that sums the two signals

[edwardofhuncote]

FWIW, the price has come down some on this one. It's still in the Richmond (VA) area CL for less. I finally did get a reply from the ad holder but by the time I did I'd already reassessed priorities. And by whatever random circumstances determine these things... I've ended up playing mandolin or alternately, guitar again. It's kinda' hard to make a case even to myself that I need a third Series bass. Dadgum, it's pretty though.

There's that... then I bought and installed a new water heater last week. And paid up my car insurance for the year coming. Back to the sawdust factory.

Somebody oughta' be playing this one though.


*sorry about originally posting in the wrong sub-forum Dave. 😉

[Artgeckko]

Hello all-
Hope you all are enjoying this Memorial Day with the respect to earned others.

Edofhuncote, I have been giving this a look as well. 
Received some additional photos that show a shrinkage crack below the omega at electronics access, and the headstock has some oddly shaped crazing, which makes it look like a repair, or veneer delam?  Not totally sure, but it's tempting...More project fun?

[edwardofhuncote]

I think it's mostly just extreme crazing we're seeing. It shows as bolder dark lines against the maple neck. I think it's been cracked up for a long time. Project, indeed. If the electronics worked, I'd play as-is until my other bass got home from it's long strange trip, then I'd probably pretty this one up.

But like I said, I've somehow caught mandolin poisoning again... everything is all upside-down and backwards.


*isn't this kinda' late for a square battery plate?

[Artgeckko]

Agreed. 
The crazing is pretty substantial, and a fair amount of that gets stained onto the wood surprisingly.
If I jump, its definitely to pretty it up (again).  Figured if the instruments are pretty, it takes focus off the player being not so...LOL.
Square battery plate phased out at some year?  Your knowledge bass (pun) is astounding!

mandolin / bass - four string madness!

[pauldo]

But like I said, I've somehow caught mandolin poisoning again... everything is all upside-down and backwards.

Driving home from the Northwoods last Friday evening and saw a license plate that read “GDAE 145”.
The 145 was understood immediately… took awhile to remember the ‘upside-down’ mandolin tuning.


I own (and kinda play) a mandolin.   It’s been at least a decade since it’s been picked up,  got the Mel Bay book of chords crammed in the case. 

[adriaan]

Confession time: I too own mandolins. Two that my grandfather built in the 1940s or 1950s: an all-frills one with a banjo head and a slightly arched back with a nice walnut veneer (presumably over plywood) but there is no neck angle and it's effectively unplayable - though attached to the head is a streamer with the name of the amateur mandolin orchestra where my aunt must have played it - and also a teardrop shaped one (A-style?) with an Afrormosia veneer top and a butterfly inlay that my mom probably played at home only - my dad strung it up for us kids in the early 1970s but the tuners are wonky and the wood appears to have some cracks, so both are sadly for decorative purposes only.

So a while back I got myself an affordable F-style De Loar, and last weekend I put on new strings, in preparation of which I should probably have searched for an instructional video on-line: surely there must be a method where the strings have a rational number of windings around the post? Anyways, it holds its tuning surprisingly well, so I jingle jangle out of the better half's earshot.

[edwardofhuncote]

So mandolin poisoning has now cropped-up in the Netherlands?! Stop the spread. 🤣

*I'll post a mandolin restringing pictorial in my shop thread for ya' Adriaan. 😉


**meanwhile, this beautiful 1912 F-2 that is exactly what I want, but about double what I can afford popped up for sale last night on another forum I watch... https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/230825#230825