What do you cats think? (Pre-production Wunkay content)

[dukeplaysbass]

Saw this today on eBay. It's supposed to be a restoration of a pre-production Wunkay.

The cover story (haha - get it?) is strange at best.

Even if it is the real deal, I'm not in the market to buy it -- just thought it was an interesting Wunkay to ponder....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/G-L-L-1000-Bass-Guitar-Vintage-Restoration-1980-Right-handed-solid-body-/261945434232?ul_ref=http%3A%2F%2Frover.ebay.com%2Frover%2F0%2Fe11021.m43.l3160%2F7%3Feuid%3Dd73cd481434a4a8cbf72b71466e73722%26loc%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fcgi.ebay.com%252Fws%252FeBayISAPI.dll%253FViewItem%2526item%253D261945434232%26srcrot%3De11021.m43.l3160%26rvr_id%3D0

[bdgotoh]

Seems far-fetched to me, story-wise. It would be nice to see the sides and back of that control plate, it's probably just the stock one with bamboo(?) glued on top. I can't see any reason Leo would do that, he was very comfortable with metal control plates at Fender, MusicMan, and G&L so why that one off super thick plate?

It would be nice if the seller really spelled out what "restoration" means. Looks like a body and neck refin at least, it would be nice to know if the PTB controls are intact and functioning properly. Unoriginal control plate screws and knobs, gold tuners but not the ferrules or mounting screws, and the frets look really ground down near the neck heel.

Nice looking bass for all that, though.

[Flash]

Interesting but I'd want to see the neck and body dates. I'd be really surprised if it's pre-production.

[derick]

So, the owner claims that "The control cavity cover is completely original and very unique. It's made of bamboo and has been fused with metal on the underside to keep it strong and rigid."

"Unique" I believe. "Completely original" I do not believe. Was there a bamboo-fused-with-metal fad in 1980 that I missed?

[deltafred]

Was there a bamboo-fused-with-metal fad in 1980 that I missed?

Well if there was it also passed me by completely!

[alexlittle]

I don't get the whole 'pre-production' angle either. I looked and the auction info is still there -- he says the auction bass is SN B000743. I have its brother, # B000744, which I bought from the Owl Farm a few years ago (aka "treasure of the Sierra Madre"). Duke, do you remember the neck date on # 744 when it passed thru your hands? I haven't taken it apart -- I'm not as adventurous on the disassembly when they play well upon arrival.

My bass looks like a regular production model, albeit early, with very similar hardware to what the seller describes, except I (luckily) missed out on the bamboo option.

I was told that production SNs started around 500 or so.

Alex
Raleigh, NC

[dukeplaysbass]

Hey Alex!
I'd have to go back into the photo archives to see if I took any pix of your bass with the nck off. There's a good chance that I didn't, given the serial number but you never know.
Will try to do that the next few days.
But yeah, I don't know what's going on with this EBay bass.
Serial numbers started at 500, although I had a 5500 many years ago that I could swear was below that. Besides that, the owest number I've ever seen in person is 526.

[Ken Baker]

Remember that there was no serialization until about 10 years ago, and even that's kind of iffy. Back in the day when the serial numbers were stamped on neck or bridge plates (later printed decals), the final assembly guy would just reach in the box and grab one, paying no attention to the number.

Ken...

[ggjaguar]

The lowest L1K s/n I've seen is 502. The L-5500 and L-2500 with 6-bolt neck plates (black crinkle as well as chrome) used their own serialization system and must be compared only to other 2500/5500 serials. The lowest s/n for an L-5500 that I've seen is 000008.

GG