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Bass guitar

#61
BassDaddy77 said:
What does your husband (Steve) say about it? Where and when did he get it? I would think his information would the best starting point since it's straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. The bass in post #19 is the same thing albeit with different electronics and headstock logo.
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He can’t remember. He bought it from a music store in Nashville he believes. We would go there when he would remix certain songs.
He doesn’t play guitar, he’s a drummer by hobby, but was an investment banker for large instutions. He has chemo brain and doesn’t remember alot.
 
#62
Steve carleson said:
He can’t remember. He bought it from a music store in Nashville he believes. We would go there when he would remix certain songs.
He doesn’t play guitar, he’s a drummer by hobby, but was an investment banker for large instutions. He has chemo brain and doesn’t remember alot.
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And he believes between 2002-2006 he purchased it because that is when we were recording in Nashville.
 
#63
Steve carleson said:
He can’t remember. He bought it from a music store in Nashville he believes. We would go there when he would remix certain songs.
He doesn’t play guitar, he’s a drummer by hobby, but was an investment banker for large instutions. He has chemo brain and doesn’t remember alot.
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honestly he bought SO much equipment to build a studio at that time it could be from anywhere! He had 2 studios in our town and one in Nashville he produced in so he could use well known Nashville musicians that are only studio musicians.
 
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#66
BassDaddy77 said:
I'm very sorry he's going through that (and you and the family as well). I would bank on it being an Antonio Tsai model (as referenced in post #19), but at some point it had some work done on the headstock to change it's appearance/logo. That bass (post #19) is a dead ringer, and it's a VERY distinct design - so it's gotta be one of those, IMO.
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Thank you! I value everyone’s opinion:)
 
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#69
BassDaddy77 said:
I would bank on it being an Antonio Tsai model (as referenced in post #19), but at some point it had some work done on the headstock to change it's appearance/logo. That bass (post #19) is a dead ringer, and it's a VERY distinct design - so it's gotta be one of those, IMO.
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Yeah, I tend to agree that's very likely, just based on the body shape. Tsai seems to be known for some elaborate inlay work, so I'm a bit mystified by the rather pedestrian dot fret markers on this one. It's possible the builder just patterned this after one of Tsai's instruments. From what I've seen, Tsai also appears to emulate the overall body shape of big name instruments including Ibanez, Smith, Carl Thompson, so there's no telling. If it is a Tsai, they don't sell for much and they're not known for being exceptional players, as far as I can tell.
 
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#70
BassDaddy77 said:
... I would bank on it being an Antonio Tsai model (as referenced in post #19), but at some point it had some work done on the headstock to change it's appearance/logo. That bass (post #19) is a dead ringer, and it's a VERY distinct design - so it's gotta be one of those, IMO.
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red_rhino said:
...Tsai seems to be known for some elaborate inlay work, so I'm a bit mystified by the rather pedestrian dot fret markers on this one. It's possible the builder just patterned this after one of Tsai's instruments. From what I've seen, Tsai also appears to emulate the overall body shape of big name instruments including Ibanez, Smith, Carl Thompson, so there's no telling. If it is a Tsai, they don't sell for much and they're not known for being exceptional players, as far as I can tell.
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AFAIK, Antonio Tsai is is more of an inlay entrepreneur than a luthier. His MO has involved buying up surplus and B-stock guitars/basses from the KHL Corp. in S Korea, and then farming them out to workshops in e.g. Vietnam for his trademark decorative stylings. OP's bass has just the standard dot markers, and what the S logo represents is not clear, but it's quite possibly out of the KHL factory as well. Or it may be one of the myriad Chinese brands that come and go. In any case, not an expensive instrument.
 
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#71
cdef said:
AFAIK, Antonio Tsai is is more of an inlay entrepreneur than a luthier. His MO has involved buying up surplus and B-stock guitars/basses from the KHL Corp. in S Korea, and then farming them out to workshops in e.g. Vietnam for his trademark decorative stylings. OP's bass has just the standard dot markers, and what the S logo represents is not clear, but it's quite possibly out of the KHL factory as well. Or it may be one of the myriad Chinese brands that come and go. In any case, not an expensive instrument.
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When I brought it to guitar center, they were not sure of brand but because of how it was made thought a starting price for selling would be around $2500.00 if I wanted to sell it. They said it was very unique and great quality.
 
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#72
Steve carleson said:
When I brought it to guitar center, they were not sure of brand but because of how it was made thought a starting price for selling would be around $2500.00 if I wanted to sell it. ...
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Really? Just based on the pics here, that strikes me as overly optimistic... like, by a factor of 10. What can they have meant? - But best of luck, anyway.
 
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#75
Steve carleson said:
I’m not sure why they would say that but it is what the guys there told me they would sell it for.
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I wonder if they'd change their tune if you asked to sell it to them. GC usually pays 50-60% of what they think "market value" is. $1250-$1500 would be a pretty good amount for an unknown bass. I'm not sure what they'd even list it as. "Unknown custom 4 string bass guitar"?
 
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#77
Queue said:
I wonder if they'd change their tune if you asked to sell it to them. GC usually pays 50-60% of what they think "market value" is. $1250-$1500 would be a pretty good amount for an unknown bass. I'm not sure what they'd even list it as. "Unknown custom 4 string bass guitar"?
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I have no idea and really don’t care about selling especially when I don’t know worth. If I knew worth I may sell but I could never ask for money not knowing.
 
#79
Folks, I think I found it. Or at least a major clue as to its heritage. It's a Vester Argus Bass, or possibly a clone of one.

Check out the example at Invalid Link Removed . It appears identical in every way with the exception of the S logo, which in this case seems to be a V. The headstock also doesn't come to quite as much of a point as Steve's bass. A bit more rounded. The pickups are also branded, so the electronics might be different.

An even closer match is the Suche Vester Argus, seen at Suche Vester ARGUS Bass The headstock profile is equally as pointy, and I also notice that the pickups on this example are unbranded, similar to Steve's.

upload_2023-3-31_20-30-20.png


upload_2023-3-31_20-30-48.png


upload_2023-3-31_20-31-14.png


upload_2023-3-31_20-31-48.png


Here's the Suche Vester Argus.

upload_2023-3-31_20-47-44.png
 
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#80
red_rhino said:
Folks, I think I found it. Or at least a major clue as to its heritage. It's a Vester Argus Bass, or possibly a clone of one.

Check out the example at Invalid Link Removed . It appears identical in every way with the exception of the S logo, which in this case seems to be a V. The headstock also doesn't come to quite as much of a point as Steve's bass. A bit more rounded. The pickups are also branded, so the electronics might be different.

An even closer match is the Suche Vester Argus, seen at Suche Vester ARGUS Bass The headstock profile is equally as pointy, and I also notice that the pickups on this example are unbranded, similar to Steve's.

View attachment 5017605

View attachment 5017606

View attachment 5017608

View attachment 5017609

Here's the Suche Vester Argus.

View attachment 5017626
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Wow! That does look like it!
 

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