Wantiing something different to set yourself apart from the run-of-the-mill Fender® P-basses®, J-basses® and the like, but also wanting a truly masterbuilt, professional-grade instrument?

This bass was custom-built in the early 1990s by Sydney master luthier Frank Grubisa, for a tour of Germany of Chosen Few (Mushroom act aka Dreamseed in Germany). It can be heard on Dreamseed's album, "Germination", which was recorded in 1996 in Dusseldorf, Germany. Frank Grubisa has made guitars for Aussie many acts such as Baby Animals, Angels and Mental as Anything, and his instruments are highly regarded by collectors and musicians.

This awesome bass (dubbed a Tearbyrd) has a long-scale neck styled like a Gibson® Thunderbird®, but with a body modelled on a Vox® Teardrop. However, unlike the Vox®, this bass is a solidbody, with the stylish 'F' hole routed out only a fraction of the body thickness and painted in matte black to give the impression of being hollow. Fretboard is a luscious piece of Ebony, my favourite fretboard timber bar none - nothing approaches its silky feel and hard wearing properties in my opinion, and nothing else looks as good either!

It has quality Schaller (Germany) tuners, including a 'drop D' unit on the 'E' string which drops to 'D' at the flick of a lever. Pickups are active EMGs, with a 'tonal expander' split control knob for bass and treble boost. The active circuit has 2 pre-amps, with the extra used as an adjustable overdrive/distortion which can be mixed into the clean sound via adjusting pots on the circuit board. A clean/overdrive+clean toggle switch is located just behind the control knobs, and the level of clean verses dirty sound can be balanced so volume output is the same for both sounds going to the amp or DI.

Bridge, stop tailpiece and rear cover are high-quality German Warwick items, while the highly distinctive tear-shaped inlays were crafted from hand selected pearl shells in the Cook Islands as no pearl blocks were available in a large enough size!

The bass is ageing nicely, with some yellowing and checking in the finish due to age, further adding mojo and character. It has a fantastic (and very variable and shapeable) sound and is a dream to play. A perfect stage or studio bass. It comes in a quality hardshell case.

Sold to Steve

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