LeftyBassist.com

Check it out guys. The description is a little off but I suspect this dude may not know what he's talking about. "1 piece neck"? I don't think so.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-Natural-Bass- ... 346wt_1167

I like it. Reminds me of an Alembic.

Wow, never heard of that one. I like

Nice basses. Mark King's the biggest proponent of these.

Judging by the missing truss rod cover and the unusually high action seen in the side neck shot, I'm wondering if the neck and/or truss rod are shot, however.

Oh my!! I've always wanted a Jaydee Supernatural, I'll be watching this one closely.
But you're right PJ, I'm a bit worried about that neck, it also looks slightly "off" in the full fretboard pic, as if it might be slightly twisted toward the bass side.

One of the tuning keys (the E) is slightly askew and from the oxidation of the brass and the condition of the finish I'm wondering what has happen to it. I'd like to see the inside of the control cavity and the case. I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be water damaged.

Excellent eyes, I see what you're saying. I tried blowing up the picture to get a better look, but the resolution's not high enough. Nevertheless, it definitely looks like the E string comes closer to the edge of the fretboard neck about midway up the neck (7th - 12th frets), then comes back again, meaning it's bowing upwards when looking at the fretboard head on. Too bad.

You may be right about the possible deteriorated condition of the bass but it's definitely impossible to accurately tell from those photos. I emailed the sell and asked him to post some higher rez images. We'll see if he complies.

That tuner is askew for sure but it looks to me like there's something wrong with the pic showing the whole neck. It looks like the pic is distorted.

that's exactly what I thought about the pics as well. My eyes certainly aren't as good as basshappi's

Hi guys,

Well, I've had a little back and forth with the guy that has this thing listed. I wouldn't trust him. He has no interest in being helpful or more forthcoming with the condition of the bass by posting higher rez pics when I questioned him about the concerns that have been voiced here in this thread. He came right out and told me not to bid on it in one of his replies.

Interesting attitude.

So be very, very careful if you're interested in this bass.

Here's a copy of the transcript with this guy. Second opinions? Was I polite? Did I ask nice? Or was I a bit harsh when I suggested he wasn't that interested in selling it?

Here's my correspondence with him (prior to the mention of the twisted neck issue). Doesn't offer much info in answering my questions. He does offer a return policy (less shipping), so perhaps it's worth a gamble:

Dear neuro-feed,

the action is ok and can adjust if needed, I dont know if anyone has changed any thing on here


- auctionfordollars

From: neuro-feed
To: auctionfordollars
Subject: neuro-feed has sent a question about :General question about this item for item #330421416343, ending on Apr-15-10 17:38:01 PDT - Super Natural Bass JayDee Custom Left Hand
Sent Date: Apr-09-10 08:48:51 PDT

Dear auctionfordollars,

Hello. I have a few questions about this bass:

Is it all original? The pickups don't look like the usual pickups used on these basses. Any modifications? (i.e. added switches, knobs, etc). Is the truss rod functioning properly? You said the truss rod cover's missing and the action looks a bit high in the photos, so I want to make sure the neck can be adjusted and there are no problems.

Do you know the approximate age?

Thanks!

The seller is just an e-bay auction house and has no vested interest in the items other than their commission and so are not going to go to any more effort than listing it.

Jatdee has a reputation for quality and customer service so I don't doubt that they would do repair work if needed. But that would require sending it to/from England and that would increase the risk too much. Of course the appearance of the neck could just be due to the pics themselves. I'm estimateing this will reach $600 - $700 range so if you can absorb the loss on the slight possibility that it is a complete basketcase, one could end up with the British equivelent of an Alembic at a steal. New they go for just under $3k upwards.

On a side note, Jaydee has other pup covers than the wooden laminate type you are used to seeing on the topline Supernaturals. The ones on this bass do seem to be wooden, you can see the grain pattern if you look closely.

By the way here is Jaydee's website;
http://www.jaydeeguitars.com/index.php

I just noticed the four holes in the back of the body that must be for adjusting the pickups. Interesting take on the usual top-screw method.

I had a Supernatural for some years. Here's a few thoughts on this one:

It looks original (not quite sure which series it is though - there were three);

I'd want to know the date of manufacture - mine was an '87 and this one looks more recent than that. The reason I mention this is that Supernaturals of a certain vintage (mid '80's to early/mid '90's) had notoriously weak truss rods (I broke mine doing a minor setup adjustment after fitting a new set of strings!). Jaydee are very good at dealing with this problem (they've had a lot of practice!) and could easily do the repair if necessary, but that's not really the point here I think. If the truss rod cover is missing then that would be a little suspicious as well;

I'd like to know what the two switches below the 3 eq knobs are for (mine didn't have those) - not necessarily a problem as it could be either a one-off or else a feature added to later examples. But all the same... Also the standard model had an XLR output next to the jack, which is missing from this one (again not necessarily a problem if it's a custom build - the original was a fake anyway).


The pickup adjustment from the back is standard by the way, as are the wooden pickup covers (although the one-piece finish on these covers is a little non-standard).

Later edit - as to price, in properly sound condition it should really be worth a little more than the $600 - $700 mentioned earlier in the thread - nearer $1000 would be my guess, more still if it is a custom build. Having said that, the market in used Jaydees is very fickle. Also, somebody who knew what they were buying would want questions answered before committing to buy. Finally, these are prestige hand built instruments that command a loyal following among owners (in the UK at least) - has anybody thought to ask what it's doing for sale from an auction house? And with the truss rod cover missing?

I like this statement regarding the $161.75 GROUND shipping cost....

"Shipping

We DON'T make money on shipping. We go to great lengths to make sure your product arrives safe. Many of our items require custom boxes/crates. These cost a considerable amount of money to create and ship. On most transactions we actually lose money on shipping. If you have questions on the cost of and item’s shipping please contact us."

Even to Hawaii by ground in a hard case, shipping rarely exceeds $75.00 or so. In this case, I believe they ARE making money on shipping.

I was hoping you'd chime in here Andy, thanks.

I also searched online for pix of other Jaydees, and did not encounter one with those extra switches. I did see a couple without the XLR output, however, but like you said knowing the manufacture date would really help (perhaps even Jaydee could shed light on this instrument?). At any rate, does Jaydee put serial numbers on there instruments anywhere and if so is there a way to date them?

On mine the serial number was stamped into the back of the headstock next to the company logo and at the base of the 'v' slot, but I can't see any indication of the number where it should be on the eBay item - ergo, either they moved it or someone has airbrushed it out. At the time mine was made the system was a 6-digit number, with digits 1 and 2 indicating the year ('87' in my case), and the remaining 4 digits for the instrument number. There is a link from the main site under 'Jaydee History', but when I tried it earlier today I couldn't get it to work. There's also a forum link, and although I didn't look I'd bet on it being in there somewhere

You could certainly try contacting the company, but whether they could help you in this situation beyond identifying the model I couldn't say. What I can say for sure is that John Diggins wouldn't be too impressed at those pictures of one of his creations (although of course he'd be much too polite to say so!). The more I look at the truss rod end the more concerned I get - if you look at it closely the damage is actually quite severe. Whatever the cause it's not a good sign, either for the truss rod itself or for the instrument more generally.

6.5 hours to go, looks like this will go for around $500.

Winning bid - $940, plus $1621.75 = $1101.75! After what you all have said in this thread, and the potential for this to need work, the buyer is taking a calculated risk. Anyone from here pick this up?

Wow, that got pretty active right there at the end didn't it!
If there is nothing wrong with it then someone got a JayDee for about a third of the price of a new one.
Not bad.