Carmine's Lefty Bass Collection

[Carmine]

Carmine, regarding the basses you're selling and I see you put some up on ebay now), how many of them do you have original cases for?

As far as the "original" case, just the Carvin- but if anybody wants a case for any of them, I've got a ton of cases too- so I'm sure I can work something out.

[andrew]

Carmine, regarding the basses you're selling and I see you put some up on ebay now), how many of them do you have original cases for?

As far as the "original" case, just the Carvin- but if anybody wants a case for any of them, I've got a ton of cases too- so I'm sure I can work something out.

Carmine's back yard houses Case Mountain.

[Carmine]

Carmine, regarding the basses you're selling and I see you put some up on ebay now), how many of them do you have original cases for?

As far as the "original" case, just the Carvin- but if anybody wants a case for any of them, I've got a ton of cases too- so I'm sure I can work something out.

Carmine's back yard houses Case Mountain.

That's what my wife says too...only she's not laughing when she says it...

[reynoldbot]

Hey Carmine, I have to say you are truly an inspiration to us lefties. I was lucky to grow up pretty close to Southpaw guitars in Houston, but I too certainly know the deep-seated despair in trying to find a bass you've fallen in love with just to find its not made left-handed. That you have found and collected so many and in such variety is enlightening and inspiring. I've only owned two basses my whole life, and my first one is still my main axe.

I've been looking for a new bass recently and have been feeling these pangs of guilt over making such an extravagant purchase. I've already got a perfectly good bass, what would I need another one for? But here I see you, with your dozens and dozens of basses, and now I don't feel so guilty any more. I think ten years is a pretty good run for my number one bass.

Also, I recognized your sunburst p-bass as the icon for this board. Good choice. That bass is just packed with personality.

[Carmine]

Some updates to the collection. I've been busy selling off several of my right handed collectables lately, trying to shrink the herd- and I'm happy to report that while I didn't get as much for some as I might have if I'd held out for a few more years, I made a healthy profit on every one of them- so somebody's still buying! Unfortunately it seems that every time something leaves... something else comes in...

I'll try to update the other sets with some comments later today if I have time- and apologies for a few of the pics, not quite up to clarity standard.

Carvin B4: I've always liked and owned Carvins, and always gotten complements on the passive tone of my Swamp Ash LB20 strung with a set of TI flats. I'd never had a bolt neck Carvin and only have one othere Fretless so when thius came along I thought I 'd give it a shot. Bass sounds great, Swamp Ash body/ maple neck combo nice and warm, tons of fretless "mwah" off the ebony board. I'm thinking about ordering a fretted neck for it, to be able to swap between fretted and fretless.

Carvin BB70P: I'd been trying to decide between getting one of the new bolt neck SB4000s or a Bunny Brunel-- but ended up going wiith the Brunel because I'd played one before at the Carvin factory and loved the feel and balance, so I had been lusting for quite awhile. This is maxed out with the newer P series electronics setup- active / passive and bass/ mid cut boost and frequency sweep, soapbar humbuckers and the Hipshot piezo bridge,with individual amplifiers and trim pots for each string, and a blend control to blend the piezo with the soapbar pickups. I've owned a bunch of Carvins over many years from LB50s to an Icon (which BTW I didn't really care for), and this is my favorite of them all- an incredible do it all bass that plays like butter!

Cort B4 Artisan: I'm amazed how many people don't realize that Cort is one of the most important guitar companies on the planet, responsible for building so many brands contracted to them by companies like Ibanez (amongst others). This is acually a NOS older (pre- Bartolini) model year B4 Artisan. often referred to in reviews as a "Poor mans Warwick" of sorts, with features and tone that will exceed your expectatioms. Wenge wood neck, Active pickups, Hi Mass bridge, excellent sounding electronics. I also have a couple newer model B4's with the Bartolini electronics (one is a fretless- and the best sounding, easiest playing fretless bass I've ever played) . I had to get them both imported from Euro stores- I really think the Cort Artisan line is vastly underated, and lefty Artisans are pretty much unavailable stateside. Not sure why they don't import them in this market, as from an overall standpoint I prefer them to the similar Ibanez stuff coming out of Korea.

[Carmine]

More...

You guys already know about the Lake Placid Blue 70's jazz project; here it is completed. Thinking about adding a Badass bridge to "Geddy" it up a bit?

Not much I can say about these Fender Japan 62 RI's you don't already know or hasn't been said. They're like twins- both are late 80's # and have the nicely aged slighlty yellowed antique finish and darker tortoise pickguards. The P bass has Barts in it (which i'd like to put back to original).

[Carmine]

More...

These 2 Guilds came up within a month of each other! I was really excited to get both becasue lefty vintage guilds are pretty rare and these models are both outstanding and underappreciated basses!

Guild JSII: I think everybody here saw this on Ebay. Fantastic bass, I always preferred the tone on the JS II to the EB3 it was modeled after- short scale but no mud, just fat and warm and fast!

Guild B302: I already had a B301 so I knew what to expect from the B302; a low slow groove monster. It sounds best to me emulating a really fat P bass, but has a broader palet of useable tones available if needed.

Jon Kammerer: Don't know how familiar you might be with Kammerer Guitars, but I met Jon at the Chicago Guitar Show a few years back. The stuff he builds is really unusual both in looks and his CNC build tectnique, he specializes in custom builds but always has some in stock inventory--and he is very lefty friendly! He offers a wide variety of woods, inlays and materials- notice the Cast Acrylic fretboard on this bass? Check out his site: http://jonkammererguitars.com/jkg223_005.htm

[Carmine]

OK, I know this isn't officlally a Lefty- but let me explain...

I have alwys been intriqued with the whole Fender Bass VI / Baritone guitar thing. I am also a bit of a nut for Doubleneck basses. I bought this Dano Dblneck as a 6 string guitar/6 string Bass- Baritone combo, but the great thing about the Dano is the pickups are all the same and scale length is such that you can switch out necks without moving the bridge. So I got myself a 4 string bass neck and bridge, swapped them for the regular 6 string guitar neck and bridge, and presto- you have the one and only Danelectro 4 string bass/ 6 string baritone bass combo, both 30 inch scale- now I can copy Jack Bruce's old school Longhorn and Bass VI sounds on one bass.... as a bass player how cool is that? Why Danelectro never offered this doulbleneck in this configuration for bass players is a mystery to me (they only offered it in 6/6 and 6/12). This thing is an absolute blast to play!!

[pjmuck]

I already had a B301 so I knew what to expect from the B302; a low slow groove monster. It sounds best to me emulating a really fat P bass, but has a broader palet of useable tones available if needed.

LOVE that B302. , especially in that finish. Where/when did you find that one?

[Jeroen]

Cort B4 Artisan: I'm amazed how many people don't realize that Cort is one of the most important guitar companies on the planet, responsible for building so many brands contracted to them by companies like Ibanez (amongst others). This is acually a MOS older (pre- Bartolini) model year B4 Artiisan. often referred to in reviews as a "Poor mans Warwick" of sorts, with features and tone that will exceed your expectatioms. Wenge wood neck, Active pickups, Hi Mass bridge, excellent sounding electronics. I also have a couple newer model B4's with the Bartolini electronics (one is a fretless- and the best sounding, easiest playing fretless bass I've ever played) . I had to get them both imported from Euro stores- I really think the Cort Artisan line is vastly underated, and lefty Artisans are pretty much unavailable stateside. Not sure why they don't import them in this market, as from an overall standpoint I prefer them to the similar Ibanez stuff coming out of Korea.

Nice. I had a Bartolini-equipped ash-bodied B4 for a while. But I couldn't really find a tone in it that I liked, it sounded cold and overly bright to my ear (both amplified and acoustically). Bartolinis aren't my cup of tea though, and these Bartolini-licensed MK1 pickups (Cort produce these themselves) are no exception.

It did have the easiest-playing neck I've ever laid my hands on though, it really was absolutely perfect!

[Carmine]

1982 Westone Thunder 1-A: Whoops- I missed this one so just added it- don't know how I overlooked it, other than that it's the most recent and I'm so preoccupied with it at the moment! I am a lover of anything coming out of the Matsumoku factory in late 70's/ early 80's Japan, and Westone was their "house" brand. I had been after one of these early Thunder basses for a long time, I had seen a few lefties now and then but they were always in the UK. And go figure, this just happened to come up at a store right here in Chicago- I was able to drive downtown and pick it up on my (slightly extended) lunch hour! As you'd expect from Uncle Matt: flawless build quality, great looking laminated ash, maple and walnut tone woods, beautiful transparent black finish over the ash. The condition is excellent, almost like new with just a little bit of pitting/tarnish on the hardware. But the real jaw dropper is the 18v active electronics: Volume knob, an Active eq knob, and a Passive eq knob, an Active eq on/off switch, and 'Dual Tone' (series/parallel) switch. So you're starting with an excellent sounding passive P bass with an ultra fast 34 inch scale neck, and sweetening the deal with the ability to add addtional heft and contour to either the low or high end. The active preamp provides +15DBs of boost in either direction (Bass or Treble) and works in conjuction with the passive eq, which along with the series/parallel switching allows you to dial up a variety of the aptly named huge and thunderous tones! I pick it up and can't put it down, as a straight ahead 'rock" bass it needs nothing, just about as perfect as anything I've ever played! It's like an ultimate improved version of an 80s Fender Precision Bass Special. The only thing I would change would be that the upper horn is a little short and makes it slightly headstock heavy but not irritatingly so.

[AzWhoFan]

Holy frick Carmine, where the heck do you find these things? Was this a privvate sale or from a dealer?

And I want to personally thank you for single-handedly supporting the resale price of Carvin lefty basses, preventing them from dropping thru the floor. You are a one-man economic stimulus package unto yourself

[Carmine]

LOVE that B302. , especially in that finish. Where/when did you find that one?

Me too. This was a classic case of dumb luck combined with a bad Ebay listing. I had just got the JSII and was doing some online research on Guild and stumbled across the listing for the B302 literally just before it ended- thing was, it wasn't listed anywhere as a lefty- it only came up in my lefty guild search because someone had written a question/comment to the seller telling them "hey dude, isn't your bass a lefty?"

[Carmine]

Holy frick Carmine, where the heck do you find these things? Was this a privvate sale or from a dealer?

And I want to personally thank you for single-handedly supporting the resale price of Carvin lefty basses, preventing them from dropping thru the floor. You are a one-man economic stimulus package unto yourself

The Thunder was from a store, not a private seller. As for the Carvins, I guess you're right- gotta keep the market moving- it's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it! I did a quick memory check and I can think of 13 that I remember for sure that I've owned, and I'm at 5 currently. I think after you buy 10 the next one should be free -- but seriously, you have to appreciate that as a company they've always been friendly to us lefties, and I've had some very cool Carvins pass thru my hands. I have to say though, this Bunny Brunel BB70P is just a killer bass period- no matter whose name is on it!

[Basshappi]

Amazing stuff Carmine, just absolutely WOW!

It has been a strange set of coincidences that I have never owned a Carvin. I have been getting their catalogs since the late 70's and my teacher was an endorsee so I have had my hands on several different models and really liked them not only for their build quality but the sound as well. One day the right BB will come along and I'll rope it into my herd!

[Carmine]

Nice. I had a Bartolini-equipped ash-bodied B4 for a while. But I couldn't really find a tone in it that I liked, it sounded cold and overly bright to my ear (both amplified and acoustically). Bartolinis aren't my cup of tea though, and these Bartolini-licensed MK1 pickups (Cort produce these themselves) are no exception.

It did have the easiest-playing neck I've ever laid my hands on though, it really was absolutely perfect!

I agree, the Bartolini MK1 stuff doesn't always work for me either- for some reason it sounds incredible on the fretless swamp ash one (see below), which is one generation older than the current B4 (you can tell by the "Fortress" bridge design) but not as old as the walnut model. Interesting to compare the current Ibanez SR 500 to the walnut Cort B4 (see both below): you can see where the SR 500 design "borrows" from the older Cort, and has the Bartolini MK1 electronics from the newer Cort.

[Jeroen]

Interesting to compare the current Ibanez SR 500 to the walnut Cort B4 (see both below): you can see where the SR 500 design "borrows" from the older Cort, and has the Bartolini MK1 electronics from the newer Cort.

It's a two-way affair. The SR has been around since '87 and the original Artisan came a couple of years later and borrowed a lot from the SR design. But the current SR500 is built by Cort with the same (Cort-made) Bartolini-licensed MK1 electronics that can be found in the current Artisan A- and B-series. The bodyshape of the SR has been modified slightly, but is still very similar to the original 1987 SR1000 and upwards, which also had the radiused bodyshape and slim edges.

[AllroyPA]

Your Antigua Fender kinda chubbed me up ...

[pjmuck]

LOVE that B302. , especially in that finish. Where/when did you find that one?

Me too. This was a classic case of dumb luck combined with a bad Ebay listing. I had just got the JSII and was doing some online research on Guild and stumbled across the listing for the B302 literally just before it ended- thing was, it wasn't listed anywhere as a lefty- it only came up in my lefty guild search because someone had written a question/comment to the seller telling them "hey dude, isn't your bass a lefty?"

Oddly enough, that's how I came across my B302. (Almost 10 years ago already!). An ebay listing with no mention of being left handed. Seller's name: Mike Piazza. Being a Met fan (which is NOT easy to be right now ), I couldn't resist.

I like yours better though.

[Carmine]

Interesting to compare the current Ibanez SR 500 to the walnut Cort B4 (see both below): you can see where the SR 500 design "borrows" from the "first generation" Cort, and has the Bartolini MK1 electronics from the newer Cort.

It's a two-way affair. The SR has been around since '87 and the original Artisan came a couple of years later and borrowed a lot from the SR design. But the current SR500 is built by Cort with the same (Cort-made) Bartolini-licensed MK1 electronics that can be found in the current Artisan A- and B-series. The bodyshape of the SR has been modified slightly, but is still very similar to the original 1987 SR1000 and upwards, which also had the radiused bodyshape and slim edges.

Correct on all counts Jeroen! And just for fun, went back through my old Cort literature to find the introduction of the original Artisan series- looks like the "first generation" B4 was from approx. 1997-1999, list price $800... interesting to note that at that time Cort listed a $30 up charge for a Lefty... I'd never noticed that before- were the dealers over there actually charging more for lefties when you bought yours?