LeftyBassist.com

Here it is:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Master-Built-Fe ... 4619326c1a

Bad ass.

Yep

"This was a Guitar Center “Customer Satisfaction” replacement for a “Team Built” Lefty Marcus Miller I had previously ordered in 2004 that Guitar Center personnel severely damaged after delivery from Fender Custom Shop in 2006"

I'd love to hear that story..

ok, call me silly, but that a really good price for a Masterbuilt Fender anything. Bet this doesn't last long ....

I gassed on this bass the first time it was listed a year ago. Marcus is my fav Fender model... But glad it's not a 5 string or I would be in trouble.

Awesome! I wish Fender Japan would give us a few more offerings, like this and the Mustang.

According to the listing, this bass was in Fairfield, CA this morning and is now in Marina Del Rey.

Looks like it's making a run for the border!

mmm ... I wonder if I can convince the seller to take it to NAMM and sell it to me in the lobby of the Hilton for $2K

Wow. Awesome.

I'm a huge fan of the maple neck and block inlays like that.

Not sure what's up with the hazy pics, but we all know what it is. High-resolution images would do this ad wonders.

Just remember that the neck is MB and not the rest. The rest is "Team Built". To many of us all that that implies sounds/is silly but to some people it's very serious business.

Only pointing this out because if a bidder places, say $500 (just to pick a number) worth of value on the MB aspect of it only to later discover potential future buyers disputing the bass's designation (and CS devotees have the phone # in Corona saved in their phone; some of them call every day authenticating CS instrs.).....well that'd be a bad surprise.

Not trying to dissuade interest or undervalue the instrument. I'm sure it's a bitchin' bass and I doubt there's any difference between the body on this one vs. if it was MB. Could even be better!

But any potential buyer should be aware that should they decide to sell it in the future that a buyer is gonna question the S/N on the bass and COA and wonder why it's not more demonstrative of those on fully MB.

Lastly, like stingray said, love to hear that story. I have a wild imagination and it must have been a real F'up at GC to need/require(?) Fender CS to slap a MB neck on it.

If this is the case, isn't the ad misleading then?

this is the text of the ad:

"For Sale is my Master Built “Left-Handed” Reproduction of the Marcus Miller Signature Jazz Bass

This was a Guitar Center “Customer Satisfaction” replacement for a “Team Built” Lefty Marcus Miller I had previously ordered in 2004 that Guitar Center personnel severely damaged after delivery from Fender Custom Shop in 2006

As a result of this unfortunate incident Guitar Center replaced the damaged one with another one created by Fender Custom Shop Master Builder “Greg Fessler” in 2008"


He doesn't specify that only the neck was replaced, this sounds as if it's an entire replacement instrument master built by Greg Fessler..

Also, it really takes 2 years for a team built or master built CS bass?

I agree, he does not specify. And I agree that his description also can be read in that way. And if that is the case then my previous comment is premature and too cautious. I would regret causing any one to hesitate.

But because of the S/N itself and it's specific placement in conjunction with the backstory at GC I would want more clarification if it was important to me to be MB.

To expand a tad further on where I'm coming from (with the understanding that my knowledge in this area is limited and now dated by 10 years or so):

The vast, vast majority of (for sure circa 1997 and onward for the better part of 10 years) MB CS instruments carried the Master Builder's initials in the S/N so in this case GF41291 (GF being the Greg Fessler part, of course). That this is not visible on the neck would lead me to dig deeper. My Gene Baker MB bass carried this on the back side of the peg head (GBXXX along with his sig). Neck plate had CS logo minus s/n. But I'm not just going on how mine was. Almost all others of that era were the same way. I probably saw 50-100 MBs (not all lefties or basses of course)

Also the COA...on this one it simply says "75 Jazz Bass NOS". Most MB COAs would read different in my experience. This one does read like a lot of Team Built COAs though. Most MB COAs give a clue by including on the "model line" a word like "custom" for example.

But I need to acknowledge that ALL of my points could be invalid because:

things change and I was into the CS stuff 15 years ago now. The John Page era.

MB insts. by definition (supposedly?) can be ordered anyway you want them. So if you want no S/N on the neck and a certain neck plate and the COA to read a certain way then maybe you can get it...Perhaps one could get a neck plate that reads "Gibson"

Lastly, the best way to cut to the chase (and I can't imagine why this hasn't already happened) is pix of the neck heel and neck pocket. That'll tell the tale.

Oh, and if the whole bass was replaced what in the h$ll did GC do to the TB one? They must've "forklift'd" it or something!

At first I thought KoA was being paranoid, but after reading his post, he makes a lot of sense.

I'll also add this extra bit of weirdness and paranoia to the mix...

I used to work for a "platinum status" Fender dealer... I think that's what it was called... anyway, it meant that we could get anything we wanted, from masterbuilt on down.

Anyway, I asked about getting a team-built MM signature bass and they said, "No way, Jose! If you want a lefty Marcus, you HAVE to pay masterbuilt price... OR you can get a team-built '75 and turn it into a MM on your own."



The fact that this bass doesn't say "Marcus Miller Signature" on the CoA cause me to be highly suspect as well... it seems really odd to me that Fender would log a legit Marcus Miller signature bass as only a "75 Jazz Bass NOS".

Doesn't make sense.

BUT... a quick call to Fender might answer all these questions.

Also what I suspected...... AND Marcus' bass was a 77' not a 75'........

Has anyone emailed the seller and asked them?

Yep but just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they (ebay sellers) are not out to get me!!!

I'll add some pics soon of what I'd want to see if I was bidding and cared about the MB aspect of this.

I can't say that every MB instrument follows this convention but I can say that all the ones I've seen have. That being said, if a bass was for sale at say $3000 and it was described as Masterbuilt and I otherwise would pay only $2000 if it was Team built then I would want to verify everything possible.

Note: I've obviously blacked out some numbers but know that they match. That these numbers match would be very important to me.