Arirang Bass, likely from the 60s

[McKind]

hi all,
I recently bought a bass on eBay, for less than 40€. The brand is Arirang.

I've found nothing in internet. Besides a few threads here where Arirang was mentioned briefly, the most informative page was from Reverb.
Arirang Short Scale Bass 1970s Olympic White & Mahogany Neck | Reverb
There I understood that my bass was completely repainted in black (and the pickguard, that was black, was repainted in white), including the neck. I also noticed some differences between the one on Reverb and mine. The brand is not painted, it is in relief on a metal golden plate, pinned into the headstock; all screws are slotted; "volume" and "tone" are engraved on the knobs. IS, actually, as there's only the tone knob...
Tunings pegs are not original, but I found on Alibaba the exact model that you see on the Bass on Reverb. The holes in the back of the headstock suggest that those were the original ones.
The pickup is a joke: is soapbar-like, with a super-tiny winding around a thin bakelite core and a big ceramic bar. The poles visible from outside don't reach the ceramic bar, but can move up and down within a metal bar bent to a "U" shape, inside the pickup box.
Long story short, It looks to me that my bass is earlier than the one on Reverb, although the fretboard is identical: no radius, ivory binding, round inlays, so:

Does anyone know when the Hoshino company started making these basses?

I've stripped the black painting completely off, revealing a rather heavy relic look of the olympic white body and a beautiful mahogany neck. In case someone is interested, I'll post some photos of how it will look like (as I'm not yet done).
thanks!

 

[bholder]

Phunky.

 

[GretschWretch]

hi all,
I recently bought a bass on eBay, for less than 40€. The brand is Arirang.

View attachment 5269925

I've found nothing in internet. Besides a few threads here where Arirang was mentioned briefly, the most informative page was from Reverb.

A few pics here, with links that can be followed.

arirang bass guitar - Google Search

Also, there is this.

 

[McKind]

thanks GtretschWretch,
yes I watched that; the bass is similar to the one on Reverb (Philips screws and brand label), except it has 2 PuPs
cheers!

 

[McKind]

I've eventually restored the Arirang, taking the black painting away from body and neck, and the white painting away from pickguard.

The body was originally something like Olympic white over Arctic white, or so it seems to me. Some marks were left by the sander (my bad...), but all in all, the painting wear is pretty much how was when the former owner repainted the bass black. The body is obviously plywood, but the Mahogany neck looks Wonderfull. I used 8 layers of boiled linseed oil, after sanding 450 grit.

I think that someone put hands on the electronics, because the wires did not seem time-corrected; anyway, I rewired it completely using Fender cloth wires while the original pots were cleaned and kept, as they are now noiseless. After new strings (Höfner short scale) and a proper setup, now it sounds like a short scale with flats should sound, quite percussive with low sustain. I've recorded some three short demos (two by Macca*, the last by Zaz), using the true bypass channel on the Hotone Ampero, I've uploaded on a Dropbox folder: Dropbox - Arirang - Simplify your life


I post here some pictures.

*rumors say that George Harrison told Paul McCartney what to play on bass. he didn't take it well, but Something's bass arrangement is one of the best ever, among Beatles songs)