Ok....now this is VERY important!!!! Seems you could have a VERY rare Bass there......just to check......are you sure it's a "B".....COULD IT POSSIBLY BE AN "8" !!!!!! as opposed to the letter B???? Also, is it a Pre Ernie Ball Bass (ie no mention of Ernie Ball on the headstock). Can you give me a full description of the Bass and perhaps how old you think it may be.
P.S. Check to see if you have a 3 bolt neck with tilt adjustment and strings through the body.
First of all, this is not a pre-Ernie Ball bass. I'm guessing it's either made in 2002 or 2001, since I bought it about 3 months ago. It's basically a 3 band EQ, rosewood, T-Teal without matching headstock. As far as I can tell, there's nothing unusual about it.
There appears to be some very rare Pre-EBs around...I've only heard of 2 (one confirmed)...which start with the digit "8" and followed by five more digits, as opposed to the normal "B" followed by 6 digits....I heard that the neck plates of these Basses were sub contracted and probs occured with the stamping process.
The 100th Namm EB Basses appear to have serials prefixed with "B" but you said there was nothing unusual about the Bass.
My records are not comprehensive but both the 4 and 5 string Basses appear to be prefixed with "E" from around early to mid 1998. The latest 4 string "E" serial I have is March 2003 and the latest "E" serial for the 5 string is Feb 2003.
I've never come across a "B" serial but obviously it exists.
Perhaps Ernie at company Ball can shed some light on the matter!
Ok, thanks for explaning that to me. Yeah, I was hoping that the guys at Ernie Ball would be kind enough to shed light on this matter...(hint, hint, wink wink)