I put ultralites on the one I picked up and it cleared up the head dive completely. As you said the original tuners will cover the holes so I was fine with it. Great looking bass by the way!
Thanks. I really lucked into it, and when I found out how rare they were, I'm really glad I bit. Easily one of the nicest finishes I've ever seen. A combination of a Hipshot Utralite tuners and Supertone bridge completely transformed my Casady Signature bass, and the balance became ideal after the mods. I don't expect such a dramatic improvement with the M85 II though.
I always assumed the import m-85 had one pickup to keep the cost down a bit and to not compete with the4 expensive US version. The US version for sure has top bracing so that must not compete with the two pickups. I actually don't think the korean one IS top braced. When I removed the bridge pickup and put my hand in I did not feel anything. I should get a mirror down in there I guess.
I tried to get a Newark Street M85 no less than four times when they were a Stupid Deal of the Day at MF, and I returned all four of them for one reason or another. I think they had a lot of QC issues with the line, if my experience was any indication. I'm glad you managed to get a good one; I gave up!
My opinion is that the market for the GSR M-85-II and the Newark Street M-85-I don't overlap. If I had to guess why there was not a Newark Street M-85-II it would be because the M-85-I did not sell well enough to justify it. A vintage M-85 I or II had been my grail Guild for a long time. But once I actually played one, I realized that that, as far as tone, I could not justify a vintage M-85 when I already had a vintage Starfire. Oh yeah, the GSR run of M-85-II was less than 30 instruments worldwide. Therre were also GSR Starfire I's and II's and that didn't seem to matter. But IMO, YMMV.
If Kim K's recollection is correct, the production number for GSR M85II is more like 12 or 13, and I'm not sure if that counts mavuser's. They were having problems sourcing the pickups, and a lot of them (six I heard) came back with broken headstocks from shipping. Apparently the combination of a large headstock, sub-standard cases (like the Orpheums), and I would guess poor packing caused the damage. When I told Kim I got one, the first thing he asked was if mine had a repaired headstock (it doesn't). I've never seen another for sale since I bought mine, and I'm glad I own it, but as you say they're not sonically different enough fro Starfires. I do like the reduced weight over the Starfire, and that might crack six pounds with the Ultralite tuners. Geezer heaven!