1999 Martin B-1 Acoustic Bass Guitar

Above: acoustic clip

Above: plugged-in clip

I hadn't seen another one of these for ages until this popped into the shop recently. I remember them, though, and I like them quite a lot despite the ridiculously long neck. I like to use them with a big flatpick in almost a mandocello or bajo sexto sort-of backup style where the "piano tone" of the instrument with roundwound strings gives it enough volume to jam-along with some acoustic buddies. Plugged-in and with a strap you can wield it essentially like an electric bass with the treble frequencies squashed, though, or like it "ring out" and retain the high-end twang.

This one is in good shape and only lightly-used with some not-major buckle rubbing on the back and mild pickwear around the soundhole. All I had to do was give it a light setup and cleaning and I was able to hang it out for sale in the shop, playing spot-on. The top finish on this has aged a bit in UV to a nice, buttery-warm color, too.

These are solid wood throughout -- a nice spruce top and mahogany back and sides all done in a satin finish. Interestingly, the fretboard and bridge are ebony upgrades. It has a passive undersaddle pickup and if I had my druthers I'd replace it with a K&K pickup (they sound a lot more natural) but it does sound just fine as-is.

Repairs included: cleaning and setup.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x

Bridge: ebony

Fretboard: ebony

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (quick!)
String gauges: 100w-45w or similar

Neck shape: slim-medium C

Board radius: 16"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: large

Scale length: 34"

Nut width: 1 9/16"

Body width: 16"

Body depth: 4 7/8"

Weight: 5 lbs 3 oz

Condition notes: it's in quite good shape with the exception of mild buckle/rubbed-in wear on the back and pickwear around the soundhole. The satin finish is buffed-up to semi-gloss from playwear near the soundhole and where the right arm meets the body on the lower bout. It looks like it got played a lot for a couple years and then has been dormant since. The strings are old and I've left them because they sound nice and mellow for roundwounds. The frets are all in good order even though I haven't leveled/dressed them. The bottom of the rear deck of the bridge shows a tiny gap -- this is because Martin often didn't glue the full footprint of the bridge at the factory (they'd often leave 1/16" to 3/32 unglued edges). Paper goes no more than 1/32" under it when tested.

It comes with: its original hard case in good order.