The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Other Bass Brands => Topic started by: gweimer on April 09, 2012, 07:32:53 PM
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No affiliation, but if this is the price he's asking - SOMEBODY JUMP ON THIS.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f126/fs-feeler-zemaitis-bass-celebrity-owned-871897/
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It's one of the reissues. I never understood the appeal of the originals.
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Interesting. I was not aware that the Zemaitis Custom Shop was doing reissues. I knew that someone was making copies, but not these. I played a "cheap" Zemaitis once. It was a single pickup, and only $13K. It was a nice, simple bass. I once had the opportunity to buy one, at half of what it had been bought for, and decided that it really wasn't worth the money. While I always loved the sound that Ronnie Lane and Pete Cruickshank got from theirs, I just couldn't justify the cost.
Now that I know this is a RI, it's probably priced too high. Oops.
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That someone would be Greco. They are building (affordable) licensed Zemaitis instruments.
http://www.zemaitis-guitars.com/our_guitars/gz/index.php
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While I always loved the sound that Ronnie Lane and Pete Cruickshank got from theirs, I just couldn't justify the cost.
Ronnie Lane's had 2 single-coil Precision PUPs, love the sound of those PUPpies, but cost-wise I couldn't agree more. They make beautiful pics tho' ..... but so do a lot of women I can't afford .... :mrgreen:
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Ahhhh....I hadn't seen any of the metal front models until now. As I recall, the Greco reissues were going for about $2500?
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Could someone explain me why these instruments costs so much? Do they cut the wood with their teeth?
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Ronnie Lane's had 2 single-coil Precision PUPs, love the sound of those PUPpies, but cost-wise I couldn't agree more. They make beautiful pics tho' ..... but so do a lot of women I can't afford .... :mrgreen:
Ronnie had two different Zemaitis basses. One is owned by Bob Daisley these days.
(http://www.bobdaisley.com/sites/default/files/Ronnie-Lane-Zemaitis.jpg)
(http://www.vintageguitar.com/wp-content/uploads/3478/ronnie-lane-01.jpg)
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Could someone explain me why these instruments costs so much? Do they cut the wood with their teeth?
The originals had a lot of hand work by Tony Zemaitis. Once he had established a reputation, he could charge more than average. I don't know why the reissues cost so much, although I think they're a lot less expensive than the originals.
Mr. Zemaitis retired. As I understand it, he died a couple of years later and never appointed a successor or sold the company. His family later sold the rights to the name to the current company. So IMHO the current company isn't really a successor to the original in the same way that, say, today's Gibson is the successor of Orville Gibson.
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John Birch in the UK had a close copies of Zematis styled guitars for sale until recently. IIRC they had excellent magazine reviews too.
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.carling1/John_Birch_Guitars/Shop_2_files/Eaton%20Artwork%20001.jpg)