In
celebration of our 30th anniversary this very special bass has
been made as a faithful replica of the
original Series-II that I designed all those years ago.
Considering that we are a very small team, I am very proud of
what we have achieved over these past 30 years, and we are all
still proud to say... Made in England.
I am
at my happiest when designing and developing new models and ideas
so I have never been a huge fan of 're-issues', however, this
is a strictly limited run of only 14 basses.
Having progressed on from 'The Strata', a model some of you will
remember from the very early days,
the Series-II is where it all really started.
Maybe
because it re-kindles memories from a certain time or place in
their life, the Series-II
is the model that many of our players say they wished they had
never sold.
Many of these players have tried various basses over the years
and still remain loyal to Status, some have re-discovered us
in recent years but the best thing is that many of our players
have now become great friends.
So
the Series-II had to be re-born... and to be honest, if I had
ever imagined that it would be so difficult to replicate a bass
that we had made back in the day, I don't think I would ever
have started this project.
The idea was to reproduce the bass with as much authenticity
to the original as possible,
even down to using some of the parts we had left in stock from
the 80's.
However, we soon realised that although we had the original circuits
and pickup patterns,
our workshop had moved on from wooden jigs and a hand router
to modern day CNC precision machines.
Unbelievably, this would mean an awful lot of work ahead in the
form of programming, producing new tooling for the necks, new
jigs, drawings for the hardware, LEDs etc.
Once
the original prototype proved itself we displayed this at the
London Bass Guitar Show 2011, however I still felt it needed
a few tweaks here and there. So in 2012 we showed number one
and two of what would be our
Series-II Anniversary Limited Edition.
During 2012 I was debating how many of these basses there should
be and what would make them
truly special. I decided that I wanted to select my favourite
facings from my own personal
stock and then the inlay marquetry that complimented each facing.
Originally I thought that one colour LED
would bring the range together but once I had selected the facings
I realised that different colour LEDs would enhance the natural
beauty of the facings.
I finally decided that I wanted to make the remaining of the
run in one go. This would also then allow us to create a build
diary for this edition. Therefore...
This is a Limited
Edition of only 14 instruments.
14 may
seem like a strange number to choose to celebrate 30 years of
making basses.
The original prototype was made in 2011. The tooling and finer
details were finalised in 2012 and the first two production instruments
were finished. I decided that there would be only 12 instruments
but when we made the remainder of the basses earlier this year
we added an extra two in case anything went wrong!
As you've guessed nothing did hence 14 basses were completed
and showcased
at the London Bass Guitar Show 2013.
Over the last 30+ years every Status Bass has been made here
in England by our small and very dedicated team.
I think that all the long hours in the making of this Edition
was justified and hope you do too.
I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Steve,
Gerry, Roger and Dawn for all their continued hard work and for
convincing me that this very special Limited Edition should become
a reality.
ROB GREEN
Please contact me for information and availability of each instrument.
The
UK / EU cost, including the custom full flight case and VAT is
£ 5,750.
The export cost, excluding shipping, insurance and any local
tax or duty is 4,792 GBP.
Graphite Moulding :
A completely new mould tool was made to re-create the graphite
neck moulding used on all basses of this period. You will notice
that the graphite through-neck is not set into the body but is
actually the complete, central section of the bass - This is
affectionately known as "The Cricket Bat" moulding.
The book-matched, exotic hardwood 'wings' are then laminated,
pinned and bonded to the sides. A specially woven, heavier weave
patterned carbon cloth has been used to match the original design.
Woods :
I have selected the timbers for each bass from my special stock
to represent the diverse range we have used over the last 30
years. I have had many of these facings for years...the Tulipwood
for over 30 years.
Each bass has a marquetry inlay on the back as used on the very
first basses I made.
Pickups :
I still have the original GMT pickup master tooling and was able
to make the pickups using the same methods
Kent Armstrong used back in the 80's. Each pickup is cast from
epoxy resin with the coils, magnets and pole-piece screws set
into the moulding. The bridge and neck pickups have individual
pairs of
6mm Allen screws placed at the ideal string spacing.
Active Electronics
:
The circuits used are made from the original printed circuit
boards designed over 30 years ago and these are from the remaining
stock purchased 25 years ago. A higher impedance design is used
for the 'passive' EQ section and a switch is fitted to bypass
the tone network leaving just the pickup balance and master volume
controls.
A red LED indicates when the EQ circuit is active.
One improvement has been included to improve the functionality
of the volume control
and the use of our improved potentiometers.
Hardware :
Our local precision engineer has used solid brass to replicate
the original 'one-piece' bridge and tuner sections.
Each piece is hand polished and lacquered using the original,
clear brass lacquer here in the workshop.
The name-plate is engraved and filled with an original "The
Status Bass" logo and each has an
individual "Limited Edition" serial number in red.
LEDs :
Each bass has custom 'Wrap-round' LEDs fitted. All 12th fret
LEDs are coloured red to link the edition but I have selected
the colour of the other LEDs to compliment the selected woods
and overall look of the bass.
Case :
The bass will be supplied in a fully fitted aluminium flight
case with the same
claret red covering used in the 80's.
Certificate and
Logbook :
Each instrument will be supplied with a certificate of authenticity
signed by Steve, Gerry, Roger, Dawn and myself. It will also
include a photographic book featuring details of the build process.
For
more detailed model specifications
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