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Anyone know anything about the brand Pan?

nolageek

nolageek

Jan 5, 2011
87
6
Washington, DC
hidi.us
#1
I have a soft spot for decent off-brands. :)

Anyone know anything about Pan? I'm thinking about getting a Pan "SG Bass" clone from a guy on craigslist. Says late 60s -70s. The only thing I've found on them is they were a Cantonese subsidiary of Aria.

I found this link with some info on one:

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#2
I have a Pan strat so this may not help much but my advice is to play it first before you buy it unless it's selling for $50. The electronics on mine are typical from a cheap 60's standpoint - noisy and thin. Frets and neck have aged badly as well and impossible to intonate. It looks nice hanging on my studio wall "though and I got it for $25.00.
 
#5
The first bass I ever spent any time on was a newish Pan P bass around 1977. At that time they were the Squier equivalent, though not made by Fender. The one I was playing on was definitely a Fender clone, it was well built. I'd love to play one now, just out of curiosity.
 
#6
So, finally heard back from him (my fault, my text messages were not working) and he said that one of the tuners were damaged over the weekend and needs to be replaced. The wood is fine so replacing it will be easy. But, he said he'll drop the price to $40 because of it. Since I just fixed my SMS messages, I haven't gotten any pics yet but he'll be sending them this evening. I have to admit, I'm curious. For $40 it may be a fun project if the rest of it is in decent shape.
 
#7
Definitely needs the tuner replaced, it basically snapped. What's the chances I can find a tuner(s) from fleabay that wont involve re-drilling anything?
 

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#10
nolageek said:
Definitely needs the tuner replaced, it basically snapped. What's the chances I can find a tuner(s) from fleabay that wont involve re-drilling anything?
Click to expand...

If you are patient, tuners like it will come up from time to time on ebay - there are a few varieties, but they are essentially the same machine w/different paddle designs. Otherwise, the boxed-gear tuners on cheap Fenders are commonly found (set) on ebay.


like this set - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Sek...327?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item4d177228df
 
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#11
For a short time in the mid 70s Alembic would take those basses and do an electronic rehab on them, selling them as Pan/Alembic basses for a reasonable price. If you can find either the P or J model I recommend them. They have improve shielding, pots and pickups but no active electronics. I played them both back in the day and was impressed.
 
#13
Here's a link to the Alembic Club thread on Pan modified by Alembic:
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Guitars Unlimited Sales Warehouse in Ft. Worth, TX were a dealer. I played them there and later bought my Alembic Series I from there. L D Heater was distributing both at the time.
 
#14
Just got home with the new addition. It plays really well (as compared to my other medicore basses!) but definitely needs a little love.

The tuning peg snapped right off.
Definitely needs new strings. :bassist:
The bridge is a weird replacement of the original. I'm not sure why the original was removed, but I'm going to remove this one when I change the strings so I can see if I can simply install an original style (assuming a regular gibson style will fit.) You can see the original holes peeking out from the replacement bridge.
A little rust going on.
The bridge tone knob (bottom rear) is really crackly. Once you stop turning it, it's silent though.

More to follow, but first.. pics!

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#16
Thanks! I was playing it last night - very fun, I like the neck. It's my first short scale bass too, so that was different. I like it.

I read on a thread here that a MM style bridge may fit it? I didn't want to spend $100 bucks on a SuperTone or a tail/bridge combo so I got a cheap MM style bridge from eBay to see if the posts fit. If so I may just use it.

I do notice that it's a bit neck heavy, but not as bad as my epiphone 'SG' guitar.
 
#19
I actually have a tuner coming from jbybj (wow, such generous people on this forum!)

Yeah, the current bridge is a musicmaster (or some other fender replacement) but you can barely see the large holes for the posts of some sort of Gibson style bridge. I could get a vintage style EB3 or other bridge (tune-a-matic style) but I want to be sure the posts fit and are the correct distance from each other. I like the idea of the MM bridge, if it fits, because it will cover up all the holes a previous owner put in when installing the Musicmaster bridge. I'm just wondering what's under the bridge that may have made them go this route.
 
#20
Roy Vogt said:
For a short time in the mid 70s Alembic would take those basses and do an electronic rehab on them, selling them as Pan/Alembic basses for a reasonable price. If you can find either the P or J model I recommend them. They have improve shielding, pots and pickups but no active electronics. I played them both back in the day and was impressed.
Click to expand...


I used to have a Pan/Alembic strat in sunburst. It was the guitar that started it all for me almost 30 years ago. I wore it out. Eventually ended-up putting a USA Fender Strat neck on it and trading it off to someone. But I still have the pickguard that says "Alembic" on it. Not a valuable guitar, but I really wish I still had it for sentimental reasons.
 

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