The bass is out of the bathtub. The other day we had a buyer. It was love a first sight. He bought it, half up front and years to pay, no interest, but when he got it home he freaked out. He plays for the Reno Philharmonic and it turned out that it wasn't as loud as his current bass, which was a deciding factor. Plus, I think he decided that he couldn't afford it. The poor guy recently moved to a double wide in the valley after his divorce. His wife got the house in Tahoe. As he put it, she got the gold, he got the shaft. Anyway, of course we refunded his dough but crap. But now that the fiddle is out of the tub, neither of us have the heart to put it there again. It just seems wrong. It has such a heartbreakingly beautiful sound. Now we have to find it a home. We were going to take it to LA as Bonhams and Butterfields will be there doing appraisals next month, but decided against it. We wouldn't do a consignment with them anyway. Brad (the musician) gave us a San Francisco contact who seems better suited to our needs. At this point, we are not sure what to ask for it, eight to ten thousand was always the upper end. You know how these things are. You get what you pay for but you also only get what people are willing to pay. Either way, it is a beautiful instrument, perhaps as much as two hundred years old, solid, hand-crafted wood and in great shape, but Lee's x-dirty beatnik bebop bass player dad, heavily modified the neck. It is ... at this point in it's star-crossed life, after 50 years in someone's basement, or was that good fortune? ... a jazz bass. Want to buy a great bass? We will make you a sweeeeeeet deal.
Language itself is a barrier.
29/04/2007
Bass in the bathtub updade
The bass is out of the bathtub. The other day we had a buyer. It was love a first sight. He bought it, half up front and years to pay, no interest, but when he got it home he freaked out. He plays for the Reno Philharmonic and it turned out that it wasn't as loud as his current bass, which was a deciding factor. Plus, I think he decided that he couldn't afford it. The poor guy recently moved to a double wide in the valley after his divorce. His wife got the house in Tahoe. As he put it, she got the gold, he got the shaft. Anyway, of course we refunded his dough but crap. But now that the fiddle is out of the tub, neither of us have the heart to put it there again. It just seems wrong. It has such a heartbreakingly beautiful sound. Now we have to find it a home. We were going to take it to LA as Bonhams and Butterfields will be there doing appraisals next month, but decided against it. We wouldn't do a consignment with them anyway. Brad (the musician) gave us a San Francisco contact who seems better suited to our needs. At this point, we are not sure what to ask for it, eight to ten thousand was always the upper end. You know how these things are. You get what you pay for but you also only get what people are willing to pay. Either way, it is a beautiful instrument, perhaps as much as two hundred years old, solid, hand-crafted wood and in great shape, but Lee's x-dirty beatnik bebop bass player dad, heavily modified the neck. It is ... at this point in it's star-crossed life, after 50 years in someone's basement, or was that good fortune? ... a jazz bass. Want to buy a great bass? We will make you a sweeeeeeet deal.
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9 comments:
His tune has changed from bebop to bartok.
Yes. So it goes with long life.
Rats. My company has decided that I can't go to youtube on their computers. Who do they think they are? Good luck with the bass. I will have to listen to it when I get home.
Roy
Rats again. What about your breaks? No YouTube during lunch? How can they expect their employees to be productive in such a restrictive atmosphere. :-)
They just put a hex on the domain name and "game over." However, I am no longer at that soul-sucking institution--I'm home now. The bass sounds beautiful and clear and open. Very nice, from what I can tell with my semi-trained ear. Too bad your friend couldn't use it. Someone will come along, I'm sure.
Yes. It needs to be played. Glad you are home safe. The camarillas at your office are buttheads.
Almost 200? Wow. Me dad has a violin that's about 120, and it too needs to be played. But it also needs to stay in the family. Maybe I'll have a philharmonic grandchild ...
Good luck passing that violin onto a philharmonic grandchild. I wish this bass could stay in the family but, unfortunately, there are no musicians coming up in the foreseeable future and we hate to see it languishing in the bathtub.
Plus we could use the money ... sigh.
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