LeftyBassist.com

Been following this thread over at talkbass.com for awhile now on Tune Basses...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=503443

anyone have a left-hand Tune bass, or have played one? They seem to have a loyal following, and appear to be a well-made bass, and made in a number of models as well. Went to the website, but don't recall what models come in left hand. Here's the link...

http://www.cc.rim.or.jp/~tune/tune/framepage,tune.html

Seems like a cool bass - what do yo guys think?

I have not seen them in lefty but I agree in so many ways. I would love to get one. The custom shop galleries look pretty amazing. I watched them for a little and never did anything for us guys ever pop up that I saw.

Arni has a lefty. It's the only lefty I've ever seen. Perhaps he could weigh on on his opinions?

From what I've read on the website, the builder takes liberties with the models, and makes custom basses as per customers wishes. I would imagine he would make a lefty upon request, but I imagine it would be a fairly expensive bass. Still, I like the styling, and everyone in the talkbass thread really likes these basses. I don't think I've read anything bad about them.

I would definitely be interested in what Arni has to say about the Tune bass he has. Arni?

Excerpt from message to member Carmine back in November regarding a Tune/Bass Collection bass he bought on eBay for nothing...

Thanks LefThanDed, I was gonna help PJ out with a comment, but that earlier note I sent to you pretty much covers it. I'll add a pic below. The bass has featured heavily in my playing rotation, I highly recommend it! Also here's an article from Premier Guitar where Zach Fjestad, author of the Blue Book of Electric Guitars, responds to a write-in question regarding the same model as mine, an SB501. (NOTE: I have the catalogs, and the owner is correct about which model he has. Fjestad incorrectly identifies the bass as an SB401, but the rest of his info. is pretty accurate based on my research):

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Hey Zach,
I have a Bass Collection SB501 (by SGC Nanyo) bass from the eighties that is pretty rare. There’s not much out there on this model, but it is one of my favorites and it plays like buttah! What can you tell me about it?

Kenn Pierog, Maple Shade, NJ
Hi Kenn,
How many bass players does it take to change a light bulb? I’m not sure how the ending of that goes (or maybe I purposely forgot), but it seems bass players don’t get the respect that guitarists do! Thanks for the question about the bass—it is refreshing to research something off the beaten path. Bass Collection is a trademark, not a company, so there is essentially no information straight from the factory. Your bass, however, appears to be an SB401 rather than an SB501. Since we’ve been researching guitars and basses since the early 1990s, we have an enormous amount of archives, including some catalogs and price lists for Bass Collection. Here is what I found:

“Bass Collection” was a line of basses distributed in the US by Meisel Music in Springfield, NJ. These basses were built by the Japanese company, SGC Nanyo. Their 1990 catalog advertised, “A collection of basses for everyone, from the discriminating professional to the serious student,” indicating that they offered several configurations of basses. Bass Collection thrived in the mid-1980s and early 1990s when mid-level price points still succeeded, but by the mid-1990s, cheaper Korean and Chinese imports were beginning to dominate the industry, and Bass Collection could no longer survive. The last catalog I have for Bass Collection is from 1994, and it appears that they stopped producing/ importing shortly thereafter. Retailer Sam Ash of New York, NY bought the remaining inventory from Meisel Music and sold it through their retail stores. Unfortunately, Meisel Music went out of business in August 2008.

As I said before, Bass Collection offered a variety of configurations that were classified by different series. Their entry-level models were the 300 Series, and their topof- the-line models were the 600 Series. Mid-grade models rounded out the line-up with the 400 and 500 Series, and each series had more features and better quality components the higher the number was. All models started with the prefix “SB” and were followed by three digits. “01” indicated a fretted fingerboard, “02” indicated a fretless fingerboard, and “05” indicated five-string configuration. A few left-handed models were offered as well, and in 1991, they introduced the Bass Collection II, which featured a different body shape and different electronics. According to the 1993 price list, retail prices ranged between $659 for the SB301 to $1650 for the SB615. Bass Collection II models ranged in price between $1199 and $1629. It is unknown how many models were produced or imported into the US.

Your bass, the SB401, was one of Bass Collection’s most popular models, mainly because of the attractive combination of features with an affordable price. The SB401 features a solid basswood body, hard rock bolt-on maple neck, 24-fret rosewood fingerboard, Bass Collection’s trademark narrow headstock shape, two-per-side Gotoh tuners, adjustable bridge, active SGC pickups (one P-style and one J-style), four knobs (Volume, Pickup Balance, Treble Boost/Cut, Bass Boost/Cut), black hardware, and 34” scale. It was available in Navy Blue, Pearl White, Silver, or Black finish like yours.

The SB401 last retailed for $995 and sold new for around $700 (the “new” price is what most retailers would sell it for with all standard discounting and minimum advertised pricing policies that may have applied). Today, the SB401 is worth about the same, between $650 and $700, which is a nice return for a Japanese instrument, considering most imports from the 1990s aren’t worth half of their original retail price today. Based on the online reviews I’ve read (along with your sentiment) these basses indeed play like “buttah!” Fewer instruments are coming from Japan today and on the food chain of instrument production, Japan is often referred to as number two behind the US/Canada. I’d certainly consider this a treasure, considering how well it plays and how high the resale value has held.

Keep up the bass playing—regardless of what the guitarist tells you, you’re still an important part of the band!


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Zachary R. Fjestad
Zachary is the author of the Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars, Blue Book of Electric Guitars, and the Blue Book of Guitar Amplifiers.

LefThanDed, thanks for that. It took me a bit of digging through Carmine's thread, but I found the pic on page four under additional basses. Here's the picture;

download/file.php?id=791

It looks like a Soundgear 800 with a smaller headstock, square neck heel, and the treble half of the Precision pickup moved towards the bridge to clear said neck heel. I imagine the bass sounds and plays just like the Soundgear 800, too.

Thought it might be interesting to put them right next to each other (see pics): Very similar looking, but there are distinct differences in feel, sound and play that easily distinquish the two when you have both in hand. The Bass Collection neck is not as narrow at the nut, actually more comfortable and feels a notch up the scale from the SR800, and the ebony fretboard and fretwork is beautiful. I would think most players would be instantly at home on it, whereas the SR800 is so narrow that it's uncomfortable for some. The electronics are a notch above as well- you know I love the SR800 electronics, but the SGC Nanyo pickup /preamp combo in this thing sounds incredible. As I said before, one of the warmest, most organic sounding active basses I've ever heard! Best way I can put it is that both are great but if I had to choose only one, the SB501 would win hands down. It can do what the SR800 does, but does it a little better and has a more intimate hand crafted feel overall vs. the SR800 feeling a little more mass production. As soon as I got the SB501, it was pretty easy to part with my Red SR800 and just have one of each.

Thanks for the comparison. From looking at the pictures, it looks like the Tune's P/J PUPS are closer to each other too. Is that true?

So you sold the red 800? That's a shame.....well, part of the big shame which has been my employment difficulties over the last 2 years.

Yes it's sold, and I am truly sorry Dano as you know I really wanted you to get it, but I didn't want to keep bugging you and have you think I was a stalker or something.....

Don't worry about it. I have two already, and don't even use them that much, as the fretless Jazz and ATK sound better for what I'm doing. I've thought about upgrading the black one's pickups and preamp, but am unsure just how much better I can make it. The green one's staying stock, as it's as rare as the red one. Funny thing is when I listen to clips of me playing them, they sound perfect, but when I'm playing them, there's something missing in the low end, or maybe not enough focus. Even when I still had my Mesa/Boogie 400, they just didn't seem to stand up to my old Jazz tonally. And frankly, I haven't been all that excited about the ATK lately, either.


I guess I just need to make a fretted version of my fretless.......

Say, did that Red 800 have parts missing on the bridge? Some dude just chimed in on the Ibanez forum saying he needs bridge parts for a lefty '87 SR800 he just bought......mebbe I'll tell him no parts are available, and the bass is essentially worthless w/o them, and offer him $110 for it.

I think it's the same guy, but I don't recall any issues with the bridge at all. He left me glowing feedback and hasn't contacted me since. Those bridges can be a bit tricky /delicate if you're not careful- I wonder if he screwed something up converting it back to lefty stringing?

I think he's a bit OCD. His plan is to completely refinish the bass. I offered up my black '91 SR800 to suffer the fate instead, but no dice.

"I think I'm left with no other option than to replace the existing bridge. Yes, I intend to keep the bass the same red color...I've mentioned to the guy that I've been in contact with that I'd like to have the color matched as closely as he can...identical if possible. I also told him the Ibanez color is called 'lipstick red', which may help him match the color. He'll completely refinish and repaint the body, neck, and headstock the same color of red, and replace the SR logo decal if necessary. And no, I'm not interested in trading the guitar...I haven't had it that long myself and bought it because it appears to be a rare one. And with the condition it's in, you probably wouldn't be happy with the trade (the body and neck have many dengs and dents). I intend to have it restored. It should be like new when I'm done with it. The only other thing I intend to do is have EMG's installed."

The irony is I have a mint spare Omni-Adjust (It's not the Accucast B-IV he says you told him it was), but no way am I selling it to go on a refin. Anyway, now I'm twice as sorry I didn't find a way to get it off you.

OMG- I sold my beloved to Dr Frankenstein! $#%^&@!! That's totally insane, he's going to complety ruin a perfectly nice, RARE all original vintage bass? WTF did he pay $500 for it just to turn around and make it into a worthless pile of crap? I do not understand. Refinsh? EMGs? It needs none of that. Does he not realize that what he's doing will destroy the rarity/ collectable value of the original bass? Keep trying to talk him out of this Dano- trust me, you saw all the pics, the bass was in excellent shape, you would have been absolutely, completely thrilled with it! Now I'm 3 times as sorry I sold it to anyone else. I hate to see this happen! NO NO NO

Tune bass on Talkbass. It's not a lefty, but it's a nice looking bass for a great price...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=616754

Body looks like a fish ...lol (__<