Ok, a quick update... it arrived a couple of weeks ago from the Ukraine in - get this - a white cotton sackcloth. Seriously, I'm not making this up. The seller has removed the neck, put the bridge, tailpiece, neck plate and screws in a nylon bag, wrapped everything in bubble wrap and cardboard pieces, taped everything together and into a cloth bag, tied with a piece of string. I have never seen anything like it. But it did arrive safely, and in any case I'd have to remove the neck for proper shimming, so all is good. And the post office didn't even charge me V.A.T.
Both pickups work, but I had to put some more work (and $$$) into the bass. I replaced the pots and jack with components that actually work, and added a pickup selector switch. I installed strap buttons (the bass didn't have them) and that was it.
The sound is surprisingly good. The bridge pickup with the tone rolled off gives the expected Jacoesque burp, nice and growly without being too thin (if I keep the tone rolled off). The neck pickup has a nice round, full, warm tone, but with enough high end frequencies. Both are very useful sounds.
The neck is narrow but thick front-to-back, so it feels nice, although the upper frets sprout a little, I'm thinking of getting a tetanus toxoid shot... string spacing at the bridge is too narrow, like Hofners and other European basses of the period. It also balances well on a strap.
And it looks killer. I keep it in the living room as a decoration, and being semi hollowbody it has enough volume unplugged to double as a sofa bass.
