SB-2 question -- early production oddity or owner mod?

[Madcity Fats]

Well, my eBay "steal" 1st model SB-2 arrived on Saturday somewhat unexpectedly early. It seems to be fundamentally sound, but needed a little TLC, so as I write this the neck is off with the frets taped off so I can give 'em a quick pass with some steel wool.

The body date reveals it to have been born on 10/28/82, which according to my research, would make this one of the earliest examples to roll out of Fullerton. According to GG Jaguar's site, which I tend to refer to as the definitive resource on Leo era G&L stuff November was actually the first month of production. Very cool.

But here's the odd part. The body is contoured, both with a forearm and tummy cut. Aside from a brass nut, everything on this bass appears to be original. If it's a refinish, it's a remarkably convincing job. There does appear to be just a hint of red in the neck pocket, but when I first saw it I thought it might be an undercoat of primer.

Anyone know of another example of a non-slab bodied early SB-1 or SB-2? Is it possible, given the early date of this one, that it's something of prototype body style? Just curious, as it would be very cool to have a factory one-off. I snagged it for such a sweet price, it's not a big disappointment if it turns out it had some cosmetic work done. Seems like a rather big job to contour it, but I suppose if you were set out to do a refin, it wouldn't be that big a deal.

Anyway any thoughts or insider info folks can share would be appreciated.

[Ken Baker]

If there is a date stamped on the neck and it and the body date are close, it's pretty likely that the two go together contours and all. G&L has always been predictably unpredictable and all sorts of other-than-normal or seeming one-offs have floated out of Fullerton. Running changes can be a surprise to this day. Production logs, in Dale Hyatt's possession, may or may not note the oddity.

If the contours were done post-manufacturing and the top coat is well done, you might have to scratch through paint in a few places to see what might be there and that's hardly worth it. What color do you see in the control cavity? That's a pretty tough place to hide things.

Ken...