S.D. Curlee bass

[Nocturnal]

Anyone here familiar with this model? There is one for sale locally that I am thinking about checking out.

[dadagoboi]

Looks similar to mine except for the extra pickup and Bad Ass.  It should be an improvement over the previous bridge.  I think the BA was on the last US ones.  Check the headstock, should say USA under the logo.

Mine needed serious fret leveling when I got it.  Even though the bass had been played a lot it didn't seem like the frets were ever leveled at the factory, 12th fret was like a hurdle.  After leveling it plays great.

One thing that takes getting used to is the narrowness of the fretboard.  There's almost no taper so the G string is very close to the edge of the fretboard at the higher frets.  With the extra DiMarzio in the neck position you should be able to get a lot of sounds out of it.

Definitely check it out if you're looking for something very different from a TBird.

[Iome]

If i'm not wrong, all the Curlee basses should have a 32" scale

[Nocturnal]

Thanks guys. I'm still debating if I want to go look at it. I have a few days off later in the week so might go check it out if its still there. I think these were all 32" but thats just based on what I've read online. Thanks for the input Carlo 

[chromium]

You know you need that!   

[Nocturnal]

You need it just as bad as I do!!!

[eb2]

They were pretty hip for a couple of summers in the late 70s.  That one looks like it was apeing the Alembic stuff, which was also all the rage about then.  Especially that butt end indent.  It could have been modded afterwards to look that way as I have never seen any SD Curlee that did not have a basic double cutaway symetrical body, and I have seen dozens of them.  All sorts of things may have happened when they started to be less hip, and they were dang cheap used into the 80s and 90s.  So it could be it came that way or some kid wanted to have an Alembic after Stanley Clarke and JPJ clanked his way through Presence.  Most of them had brass Fenderish bridges, so the Badass could be a mod as well.  I always liked them, but can't vouch for how they age structurally.  Those are DiMarzios, which was a selling point.

[dadagoboi]

Here's the S. D. Curlee story, including the different models and developments, including that design and the BadAss.  Amazing what you can find if you look...

http://www.sdcurleeusa.com/yesterday.htm

[jumbodbassman]

IIRC that is the high end bass.  series/par switch on both basses.  resale market is lousy on them.   my 2 are on the heavy side.   and all 32" scale

[Denis]

I had possession of a Model One for a while before I shipped it off to Hornisse. It was a terrific sounding bass and I wish I'd been able to keep it.