http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1981-Custom-Ken-Smith-STANLEY-CLARKE-Flying-V-Bass-Guitar-MUST-SEE-/190819926555?pt=Guitar&hash=item2c6dc1021b
 

Don't all rush at once.... :-)
Jazzyvee

I've never seen the pics included in that sale.  Is that the New Barbarians?

That shape is, not quite my cup of tea. Nice wood though.  
slawie

Everything looks so....random.

This wins most random bass ever in my opinion, I'd love to hear it though
 
~Taylor

Notice that the Alembics get the couch ... everything else is on the floor!
 
hehehehe
 
Bill tgo

I like this!  The V body in general is not my favorite, but this take on it has a strange elegance; move the decimal in the price one place left, though.........
 
Peter

kinda ugly but seems to have some history,  anyway:17500$ is a lot of money for a bass probably will not be played seriously on stage

I would call that the Caudal Fin  (tail fin)

It's a Ken Smith. What more needs to be said?
 
John

Daniel, that does look like the New Barbarians.
Sorry about the hijack . . .
I had a bootleg cassette w/ Stan doing a killer solo on Am I Groovin' You?. Some wanker stole my car stereo and took that cassette, they also took a cassette that had the last on-air hour of WZMF recorded on it.  
 
I wish they would have stolen the whole car (Mercury Monarch) and left the cassettes . . . :-(

John..
It's a Ken Smith. What more needs to be said?
 
is that good or bad?  I listened to hadrien Feraud playing a Ken Smith at a UK bassday a few years ago and it was the worst sounding performance of the day. He was using a markbass rig but other players used the same rig and sounded great (even with a P bass) so I'm tempted to say it was the bass - especially since I bought his solo album on the day and the bass is very dull and muffled all the way through.
 
Graeme
 
p.s. this is the only ken smith bass I've heard up close. I have John Patitucci's first couple of solo albums and the smith on those sounds fine..... but they're on vinyl :-)

Thanks Paul.  I've read about that tour being a vacation for Stanley.  
 
There are some switches on the early Smiths that look like Alembic parts.

Milwaukee was definitely not a vacation stop on that tour; I was there.
 
Here's some pics:
 
http://rollingstonesyesterdayspapers.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-barbarians-concert-photos-milwaukee.html

Graeme, I saw Feraud at Bass Day and loved his sound. Thought the performance was a bit too out for me but after Stanley he has my favourite solo sound.