1987 Ibanez Musician MC-2940WN Fretless Vintage Bass w/ Active EQ, Case & Hangtags

Up for sale, a 1987 Ibanez Musician MC-2940WN fretless bass in excellent, 100% original condition and in perfect working order, complete with the original hardshell case and hangtags. Built from 1979-1987, the much-lauded Ibanez Musician basses were known for their use by artists including Sting, Adam Clayton of U2, and John McVie of Fleetwood Mac.Essentially a fretless version of the MC-2924, this bass features five-piece maple/walnut neck-through construction with ash body wings and a genuine slab ebony fingerboard, ensuring a rich, balanced acoustic profile with exquisite note attack and treble articulation, qualities faithfully translated by the LO-B low impedance pickups. The pickups are warm and full, with a thick low end, glassy treble, and broad midrange. Ample thump and growl are on tap, with additional tonal sculpting via the onboard active EQ-BII two-band EQ. This bass weighs 8lbs 8oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with D’Addario Chromes 45-100 flatwound strings and comfortable action.The five-piece maple/walnut neck has a slender C-shaped profile carve with well-rounded shoulders, measuring .820” deep at the 1st “fret” and .945” at the octave. The unlined slab ebony fretboard boasts a two octave range with side dots and additional dot position markers on the treble-side fretboard edge. The ebony fretboard displays some light wear beneath the strings from previously-strung roundwounds, and the bass plays cleanly up the 34” scale with a straight neck and a responsive, optimally-adjusted truss rod. The stock nut measures 1 9/16” in width. The headstock sports a gold “Musician”-embossed truss rod cover and a rosewood veneer. The Smooth Tuner BII tuning machines (as the name would suggest) turn smoothly and hold accurate pitch, with an even dusting of patina across their gold plating. The back of the headstock retains the gold “Crafted in Japan” script and A87-prefix serial number, dating to January of 1987.All the electronics function as intended, with the LO-B low impedance pickups wired to the stock harness and governed by a Master Volume control, a center-detent Pickup Blend control and center-detent active Bass and Treble knobs. One pickup retains the factory “Low Impedance Pickup” sticker, which is largely illegible. Hardware includes the heavy-duty toploader bridge with L-shaped saddles and the original quartet of gold dome-top knurled knobs, which show some surface patina.The gloss Walnut finish highlights the dynamic grain of the ash body wings, and cosmetic wear on the body includes a handful of dings on the lower bout perimeter and back, as well as some scuffing along the strum path and one ding on the top on the bass-side lower bout. The gloss finish on the neck profile feels smooth and fast in the palm, with a few microscopic dings behind the upper register that have no impact on playability.The original Ibanez-branded hardshell case and hangags are included.