PRS Ebay Heirloom Bass Maddness!

BassHappy

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Joined
Mar 12, 2014
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8
Hey Good Folks

I actually added this to a former post, but it did not bring the thread back up to the top. I think this is worthy of it's own thread, with apologies to those who stumble on the duplicate post.

Sorry for my absence from the board, As a dedicated bass player only - I hang much more on TalkBass - not as much bass activity on this board, and close to none for a dedicated medium scaler like me - but it is certainly a wet dream for the guitar players!

Had another decent story for everyone. I was stumbling around on TalkBass yesterday morning and I found one of Paul's pre-factory basses from the late 1970's was listed on ebay. This one was a bit unusual, it was a fretless lefty with the owner's initials apparently inlaid into the headstock. It was surprisingly in pretty pristine condition. It was found in a pawn shop and the seller had no idea what brand of bass it was. The Buy It Now price was an unbelievable $850. You have to wonder what he paid for it,

What is a dedicated PRS fan to do? Sure, I could have picked it up and sold it and more then likely made a nice profit but I find selling instruments to be a real hassle. Of course I would have bought for myself except:

First of all, it was lefty - strike one - second of all it was fretless - strike two - and third of all it was long scale - for me strike three! Both of my vintage PRS basses from the late '70's were medium scalers and that is all I play.

The ebay listing had been posted on TalkBass so I knew someone would gobble it up fast. So, I called Paul on his cell yesterday morning literally five minutes after I saw it and told him to act fast and to snag it. He didn't recall ever making a left handed fretless bass back them, and he didn't remember inlaying any initials into the headstock - but Paul likes getting back his early work for a variety of reasons, who wouldn't? So after a few sleepy moments - it was early and had to be pre-coffee - he recognized it as being his and hit the old "Buy It Now" button. There was a rather hilarious 3-4 minute exchange between Paul and I as he was trying to decipher whether or not it was his or an admirable copy - that will remain between Paul and I.

So I am pleased to say that the bass should be on it's way from California to the man himself today.

Paul has been so good to me over the years that it was a real pleasure to be able to do something nice for him.

The listing is here -

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Fretl...item3ce9939c61

not sure how long the link will last, hopefully a long time so you all get a chance to see this fine instrument.

If you click on the photo of the bass as it appears in the link - it should take you to the original listing, where you can see the full variety of photos.

An heirloom for certain and glad it will become a part of the PRS archive!

lefty-jpg.487809


I flipped the lefty to look like a righty so you can more easily check out these cousins, with mine at the top:

prs-22-png.487807


_12-jpg.487808


For more on my bass, PRS #11, go here: http://www.innertainment.net/PRS-A.html

Best to all,

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net

screen-shot-2014-10-06-at-5-52-40-pm-png.488234
 
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Very cool of you! I look forward to checking this one out when it arrives at the factory.

Thanks for the kind words, Shawn!

I just hope you have a couple of dedicated "lefty" bass players at the shop who can fully appreciate it by really putting it through its paces~!

To give you a little insight into Paul years back - when I first met him there was a painting hanging in his shop. My recollection is that it was a field of flowers basking in the sunlight.

He asked me -

"When you look at that painting what do you see?"


I said

"I see a beautiful field of flowers with sunlight reflecting all over them."

And Paul said:

"You know what I see?"

"I see the two screws on the back of the artwork that hold the wire. I see the degree to which the wire is tightened, so that the painting hugs the wall at exactly a 90 degree angle. I see exactly where the hangar is located on the wall, so the view of the painting is optimized for the room. I see whether the hangar is held in place by a nail or a screw - and i also see the the exact angle it goes into the wall for proper weight distribution."

And then Paul said:

I see what I see - so you can see what you see."


That was the day I wrote him a check for the bass.....

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net
 
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Thanks for all the kind words.....

Geeeeeeez, I just happened to think, I hope Paul doesn't make things like this a surprise to the company when the instrument arrives, and maybe I blew it!

:iamconfused:

BassHappy
 
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