ok..
First, this would be 1985, not 1989 if it is the bass that John had to pass up to get the next and maybe the last we made in NY. I would need the serial number to see if it is 1985 but, looking at the circuit, it is not 1989.
In 1986, we went to a 3-knob BT circuit which this is the old 4-knob. Also the switches there are Preamp on-off (by-pass) and phase switch, not coil switches or series/parallel.
I don't know if my records and old pictures are enough to count how many 6s were made up until this time but it would take a lot of effort and digging to get within 90% (maybe better) of how many we made. Less than 10 is my guess. The last few necks that we had left for 6s were cut in half, wood taken out and glued back up thinner across with a rosewood-or-like veneer and used as 5-string necks. Four/4 basses were made like this, cut-down 6-string necks into 5s. Freddy Washington has one, we/I have one here and there are 2 others.
A few years later, we started making them in PA as the first couple of years we made mostly 4-string basses, then some 5s and then 6's.
The Smith-Jackson was just a truss-rod cover designed to be used with a 2-truss-rod system due to it's width. We only did a few this way, some with or without graphite reinforcement added in the neck under the fingerboard. We also made one or a few with one rod only and no graphite but soon settled on just one rod with graphite and then double graphite to make up for the width with still just one rod.
That Cap was used regardless of the model neck used during its brief evolution. Also, they were some kind of cast metal and heavy. Most of the ones made are somewhere here or tossed out years ago as only a few of them were ever used.
The 6's we make now are the best we have ever made and the design is mostly unchanged since the late 1990's. The string spacing after the first two 6s was close to 19mm and are now are 18mm. The first two 6s made were at 17.5mm.
Although that Cap says Smith-Jackson, it is basically the Smith BT model with 6-strings. Anthony wanted a 6, we made two for him and he paid good money for them and the design work. Nothing was free. Then, we went to the BT design for the 6s because that was MY idea for the model and it worked very well. Anthony was the guy that got me to make and develop the 6-string to begin with so we gave him credit on that Cap. When the Jackson name came off, it was for a few reasons. Mainly because we were not doing business with him anymore, we didn't need such a big heavy Cap for a single Rod and it was NOT a Smith-Jackson design. It was the Smith BT model after the first few 6s were made.
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