Mystery "Cass Lewis" Corvette 5 - to buy or not to buy

J

johnthebassist

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Hi

For the last couple of months I've had my eye on a really fine-looking Corvette 5. It's a bolt-on with a wenge neck and a body that looks like it's made of about 5 laminates. It's a kinda orangey-brown tinge with two dark brown strips that run around the edge of the body (a bit like a SSI). It has a single Musicman pickup near the bridge.

The guys in the shop told me that it was built for Cass Lewis and that he supplied a genuine Musicman pickup for the bass, but decided not to keep it. They mentioned that it had something to do with a possible endorsement that never happened in the end. I've checked the custom shop gallery and it's nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately I didn't grab the serial number.

Anyone know anything about this story? Am I being fed a line?

The bass looks great, it's in mint condition and it sounds awesome. They're looking for about £1400 for it.

Any thoughts?
 
Too much explanations and talking; I wouldn't buy it.
 
Cass Lewis waz/iz da bass player from Skunk Anansie and Terence Trent D'Arby and I know he (sumtimez) played a pink Thumb bass (U can see it on most TTD vidz) thru Warwick ampzzz ... dunno nuffin about da Corvette ur talking about tho, but that doesn't have say anything ... 8:
 
I'll try to grab the serial and some pics in the next couple of days. Think my interest has dropped a little since finding a late 80's Thumb 6NT for sale though. Monster bass!
 
I bought this bass the other day! Was just looking into the provenance when I saw your post - unlike you, I am not patient and sensible enough to research things like that before buying. :)

To be honest, I bought it for the reasons you said - a) it sounds great (the best of both worlds, MM and Warwick); b) it plays great (action maybe a tad low but feels lovely nonetheless); c) it looks great. A further reason, d) was that they were not asking any more for than for a normal un-celebrity-preowned FNA for it, as far as I can tell, so I felt like there was no reason to disbelieve the story.

Will let you know if I find out any more though!
 
Ah ha! you must have been in there just after I was. really pleased you picked up a great bass for a reasonable price. The finish is brilliant, isn't it? I think photos are needed since I was too lame to go back into Rockers and take some! The serial number is an odd one as far as I recall, isn't it?

I ended up buying a '88 Thumb NT6 that I found in the Bass Gallery in Camden. It's incredible (photos to follow) though possibly the heaviest bass I've ever set hands on. No idea how I'm going to cope with 11lbs of meaty 6-string around my neck for 2hours at a time...
 
Looking forward to seeing that 6!

Will put some photos up ASAP. The only thing I remember offhand about the serial number is that it ends in "98", which means that bass is 14 years old - so it must've been played a criminally small amount since then!
 
Here it is.
 

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Looks like your standard FNA to me. The serial number is going to be what tells a story about it.
 
Cracking instrument. I spent a good while in the shop playing that bass and it really does sing. Love that wenge bolt-on neck too. I had a Streamer Pro-M with a neck just like it. Joyful to play. Enjoy, amigo!
 
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