Overwater Original Series Ex Paul Gray "The Damned" UFO 1980 - Cherry Burst

This is an early Overwater “Original Series” bass formerly owned by Paul Gray of The Damned and UFO. A superb and highly characterful example from the formative years of Overwater, showcasing the craftsmanship and innovation that would go on to establish the brand as one of the UK’s most respected bass builders. Built using Brazilian mahogany with figured poplar facings, ebony fingerboard, Schaller hardware, Kent Armstrong pickups and an onboard preamp by Bruce Keir.

Presented in very good condition with an excellent professional setup as specified by Paul Gray. The frets are in very good order with plenty of life remaining, nicely crowned and polished. There are various marks, dings and signs of use throughout, all consistent with a well played and cared for vintage instrument. Fully checked through our workshop and playing beautifully.

Paul Gray has kindly agreed to provide a personal letter of provenance for the next owner. Supplied with a quality padded gig bag.

Described by Chris May of Overwater Workshop:

“Overwater this is a very early version of that design - probably dating back to about 1979/1980 and built in our first little factory/workshop just outside Alston, way up in the Pennine hills and at that point I was still part of the ‘Andy’s’ and ‘Chris & Andy’s’ shops/w’shops in Denmark Street and Newcastle…

The bass is a later model built in our workshops in Haltwhistle, probably around 1984-85 and more of a ‘production’ instrument by that point.

We were still using Brazilian Mahogany for the main body and neck - and I think the facings are Figured Poplar, sourced locally from a tree surgeon who brought be a pick-up load of stunningly figured boards, that faced a large number of basses from around that period (including basses we built for John Entwistle, Guy Pratt, Tony Reeves and a whole host of others around that time) and forty years later - I still have a few boards in our wood store! :)

The pick-ups were made for me by Kent Armstrong (Dan Armstrong’s son), who made all our pick-ups from about 1982 until the early 2000’s. And the preamp was designed and built by Bruce Keir - who I worked with for most of the 80’s until he joined Marshall as a design engineer and ultimately Technical Director, before going on to set up Blackstar…

It looks like you have an Ebony fingerboard and hardware is by Schaller”