The Last Bass Outpost

If you ever decide to sell just the body,I'm a buyer.

Any pictures of it?

I will have to check my big box of pictures in the basement. I have some pix of my Polaris IV, but not sure on the 'conversion'

     Yes, I converted the bass to a reverse body when I painted it Cardinal Red. I cut the center section 4" just like a 'real' reverse and made reverse wings from mahogany and put them on. Looked pretty damn good except the upper horn where it meets the neck was a little higher than a real one. I don't think I have any pix of it, but I'll look.
     I kept the NR body wings for all those years in my shop and re-attached them when I pulled it out from under the bed when I refinned it Kerry Green after it's long retirement. I see Joe mailed the seller to tell him about the 'conversion'....  I purposely left that out of my 'history' of the bass because I thought it would deter someone from buying what I knew was a killer bass. After the wings were re-attached, it was as good as original.  And it is a killer 'bird....checkered past or not. What a history, huh???  Great bass!!
     An interesting sidenote on the deal I made with Joe. We had an aggrement that if he ever wanted to sell it, that it would go to me.  Two weeks after our trade, he calls me to say 'dude, you are giong to kill me'...  I knew what happened. He traded it to Scott Silver at Chicago Music Exchange for I can't remember what.  He talked me out of that bass, but I knew I would get it back if he wanted to sell it....Scott said it 'wasn't for sale' because he had already promised it to Borden, so I'm told. I just wrote it off and got over it.   
     If I didn't already have the Frost Blue NR in my avatar, I would have bid on it to get it back. Props to the seller for disclosing it after Joe mailed him with it's history. I think 4.5K is all the money for it, it's history notwithstanding. The color is what sold that bass for that kind of money. Oh well, somebody got a fine bass. This is the classic case that you never know what could be going on under that Firebird or Thunderbird solid color refin!!!!!!

And it still has a serial number?

  Yes, I purposely taped off the serial number to preserve it. It looks like it has survived the third refin in good shape. It was clearly visable when I refinned it Cardinal Red , and I never sanded over the SN, just got all of the old finish out of the numbers when I finished it in Kerry Green in 2002. I did a total re-strip to bare wood, not just a respray over the Cardinal Red.  The numbers looked nice and crisp. I taped off the SN when I finished it Kerry Green in  2002. Looks like whoever did the third refin just sprayed the color and clear over them and they are still clearly visable.  I hope this bass finds a good home. I modified the original case with a 3/4" X 3/4" riser under the neckrest to keep the tuners from bottoming out on the case and cracking the headstock. Most of you know that the reason why these basses were broken (Firebirds too) was because of the case, not because of the nature of the structure of the instrument. I made sure the SN was clearly preserved while I owned it.

    I agree that the percieved value is based on the known history of the bass. I'm not intending to undermine the seller of the bass, but the potential buyers of the bass need to know it's history if it can be documented...if it is indeed the bass in question, I truly know it's history....for good and for bad. A great bass regardless of it's history. I'd rather know than not know where it has been over the decades.  Makes it worth more IMO, knowing it's true history. More than some nameless, faceless, sanded off serial number solid color refin possibly hiding who knows what under that purdy custom color finish.
    My restoration partner  recently took on a perfectly unbroken '64 Firebird III with beautiful grain, killer 9 ply laminations, and a PERFECT candidate for a 60's 'burst.  Highlite the unbroken beautiful mahogany, right?  The client wanted it done in Frost Blue...PERIOD.  It was such a shame to do that guitar a solid color... Turned out great.... but would have been KILLER with a great 'Burst showing off the unbroken and rare gorgeous mahogany and laminations..... The customer is always right? IMO not in this case! Nothing we could say could sway him.

    Tore00, don't let what I have posted here scare you off the bass. IMO, Any refin solid color 60's T-Bird should be suspect for hidden 'undisclosed' repairs. The seller was only told what he was told, and the seller before that what he was told, and so forth.
     It's better that you know it's real history like this one from '66 to '04, rather than having it represented as 'never broken' and find out later that it has a replacement headstock or some such situation the previous owner didn't know about either..... I have seen a lot of broken/repaired 60's T-Birds and Firebirds in my 40 years of collecting, restoring them, and playing them and this is one where you know the issues. I can't speak for it's history after 2004, but like I said, I would love to own it again if I was looking for one. I wish I knew what the reserve was..... Given what I have told you about the history of this bass, what do you all think it is worth?  I got my number...Let's help our Bro Tore00 make an informed buy here, IF he is still interested......Chime in, 60's 'Bird lovers!!                     
                                         

    Yes, that's the one I sold to Dave. He still has it AFAIK, but I think he plays his Fenderbirds mostly now.That is probably the nicest restoration I have ever done.....absolutely gorgeous.  Wish I still had that one too!!   The '64 reverse IV I did Polaris came out killer too.....I'll see if I can dig up some pix of that one. You have all these pix of my basses....do you have a pic of my wife naked too?  LOL LOL  Just kidding.

     That's it. I remember posting those pix here on the old Dudepit. Notice the extra hole on the pickguard for the handrest on the right side. That picture was taken at the same time I had the '67 Polaris white IV that I sold to member Dave Garrity. I'm sure I have pix of it in my archives too.