The Skatalites' Electric Upright????

juancard · #1 06-27-2005, 11:50 AM

Yo, first post here, and it's quite a specific and obscure one...to those interested, I have for tried to find out what company fabricated the electric upright used by Lloyd Brevett of The Skatalites. The times that I've seem them play, I never got the chance to ask. The EUB doesn't look like any EUB I've ever seen before, which makes me think it was custom made. It had a really incredible thump to it, so I'm quite interested to learn more about it. anyone got a clue??

here's links to pictures of it:
http://www.skatalites.com/photos/individual.htm
http://www.georgwa.demon.co.uk/skajazzcaf.htm

thanks

mikjans · #2 06-27-2005, 12:23 PM

It´s a OMI Dobro Portable Upright Bass, made by the OMI company in Huntington Beach, Cal. probably during the 2nd half of the 70s or very early 80s. (The OMI company is best known for having made resonator guitars.) The neck is detachable. Th bass was discontinued in the early 80s.

Mikael

juancard · #3 06-27-2005, 12:34 PM

Holy crap, that was pretty quick! Thanks! Shame about it being discontinued. Whenever I saw them play live, Brevett would play this EUB and borrow the opening band's bass player's amp, and the EUB would sound fantastic with really minimal tweaking. I think alot of the sound must have been in those thick gut strings he played, the sound was just pure chunk and warmth.

Mudfuzz · #4 06-27-2005, 07:01 PM

I played one of these years ago in a shop in SF, sounded great.

juancard · #5 06-28-2005, 04:43 PM

Does anyone on here actually own one of these??

mrpc · #6 07-02-2005, 06:07 PM

I know a fella that has one of these. It's *not* for sale though. Don't you think that David Gage's "CHeckEase" travel bass looks alot like this old dobro model?

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ChasFL · #7 07-14-2005, 12:01 PM

[quote=mrpc]I know a fella that has one of these. It's *not* for sale though. Don't you think that David Gage's "CHeckEase" travel bass looks alot like this old dobro model?

I hadn't seen a "CHeckEase" travel bass before so I looked it up, but I don't really see too close a resemblance to the dobro here. It almost looks like the travel bass is just a mini-me of an acoustic DB whereas this dobro model looks like a full size DB solid body.

http://www.davidgage.com/catalog/ima..._full_pack.jpg