The Last Bass Outpost

That V8 was one of my custom orders. I tried to get it done in a 4 string but they wouldn't do it for some reason. It has my last name on the headstock under the logo and my name on the certificate. I was very disappointed with it to say the least. I asked for a smaller neck and shorter headstock was told no problem. The headstock came out fine but the neck (width at the nut) was huge. When I got it I tried to like it but I just couldn't handle the big neck so it sat in the case until I traded it to Jon.

 

Has anyone here spec'd out a bass with him?  Looks like that is an option....

http://www.shishkovguitars.com/custom-guitar-estimate

I did, I tried to get him to do one of the first 12 as a short scale bass about an hour or so after his site was up. He told me he couldn't do it on the first run. I also put in a quote for a double cut short scale and got the same message back from him that mc2NY did. I figure it will be awhile. I'll just have to wait.

Nice one! I've been looking at that one for a while but with my track record for Hamer 8 string basses I've stayed away from it. I'm still waiting on him to cut loose a 4 string version myself. I've been waiting at least 10 years, He's a cool guy with a lot of cool Hamers.

Sniped by someone. I was watching the auction and was high bid right up till the end, thought I was going to snag it for a little less than $400 which was my max bid, then a couple of bids hit at the last few seconds and I was done.

I was a little concerned about the neck or I would have went higher to begin with. It's probably fine and can be adjusted but in one of the pics it looked to be about a 1/2" above the last frets. He said the "neck looks straight after tuning" and his pic measured at the 12th fret looked to be about 1/4th of an inch. The one of the neck at the nut it looks like the strings are almost touching the frets.

Another will come along somewhere down the road.

I believe it's short scale, arched/carved top, the body is already routed flat in that spot for that Greco labeled bridge like the one on ebay. That's just a mahogany shim I put under the Schaller to raise it up a little. The Greco labeled bridge is really a gotoh (I forget which model) as are the tuners. The gold on mine when I got it was not as nasty looking as the one on ebay but was still pretty bad.

I love speculation.
If it would have been a Hamer I would have bought it no questions asked.  That's my personal favorite when it comes to basses. The short scales are good but the medium scales are their best.(IMO)
I had the oppurtunity to buy the bass before it went on eBay. The bass was made with a leftover Gibson body from the Custom Shop and a Gibson neck that was bought on ebay from Kalamazoo, Mi. I was bidding on the neck myself and backed off to let it go to the person who had the bass built. The pickups came off of eBay also, I was bidding on those as well. They came from the UK, seems the guy had a bunch of them. I wound up with 3 of them also.

The bass was made to look like a Hamer. The previous owner has been a Hamer player for many years and I know for a fact that he had the first B4S (short scale 4 string) made when Hamer started offering them up again in "01" or "02" which ever it was. I ordered the first B4M around the same time. I just got a short scale 8 string Hamer a month or so that was his at one time.

The headstock is cut Like a Hamer and the pickup routes are cut like a 4 digit bass from the 70's to early 80's. There were about 750 custom instruments that were made from the start of the company in the 70's up through the early 80's that carry a stamped 4 digit serial number. Martin Turners Hamer is serial #0001 and everything on his bass is from a Gibson Thunderbird.

The regular production guitars had an inked serial number, I think this started in 1979 and only the customs were stamped. All models are stamped with the number and USA on the headstock now. I believe this started in the early 90's.
I have 4 custom ordered Hamers since 2002 myself. Three of the B4M's and the 8 string VBass. I also have the 8 string double cut.. I have also owned at least 20 other different Hamers over the years too.

If you want to see the date stamp on the Explorer you'll have to take the neck off of it because the date is stamped on the bottom of the dovetail and in the neck pocket. It's a cool bass, I would love to have it. Even if no one will admit they built it I honestly believe a certain person did and they did a fine job on it.
I also believe the story I was told regarding the bass. I know the person and know he's not telling me a bunch of BS.

Speculation is still cool though.





 

The bass body is the same as the headstock of the guitar and the headstock is the same as the guitar body. It does have a Geddy Lee sound to it.