For sale is a very cool piece of British guitar manufacturing history - an original Ned Callan 'Custom' model long scale bass guitar, dating from circa 1970s.
Either distributed by or for Simms Watts, as evidenced by the shop badge to the back of the headstock.
This one had been routed for an extra set of cheap P Bass style pickups, which have been removed and filled with black epoxy to the body and guard as pictured.
It is not the prettiest bass for this reason and is firmly in player grade territory, but goodness are these good guitars. For those that don't know, these were built either by or under the supervision of the legendary English builder Peter Cook. They were clearly influenced by 50s LP Junior bass as evidenced by the body shape and mudbucker-style pickup housing. Despite these design elements, these were actually long scale basses and the (original) pickup is actually a single coil - in mudbucker housing. However, paired with the set neck construction it has a lot of power to it.
Despite the above, there are no 'breaks' and what remains of the original finish is in tact - thick cracking black poly lacquer (very 70s).
These were very nicely built basses, using high quality timbers and nice attention to detail - note the rich, bound rosewood neck, bound headstock and factory Van Ghent closed-back tuners (a valuable part in their own right).
Sounds very nice and plays with a comfortable low action - electronics recently serviced by Fontaine Guitars as a means of restoring it back to something closer to its original configuration.
Most of the original hardware remains, though long gone are all the various chrome covers that these guitars came with (often swiftly removed). The back plate is not original, but a decent replacement.
It comes with what I believe to be its original hard case, which is very tatty but again, original.
To reiterate, for all of the above reasons it is firmly a 'player grade' guitar. But what a player it is. A refin and new pickguard wouldn't be a bad course of action for a more original look, but I'll leave that down to the new owner.
A lesser-known English 70s classic with some great appointments and a huge sound to match.