Cheesy project bass- what is this thing?

[JIO]

It does look like it could be a type of oak, but who knows what they might have sourced in Japan during the 60’s. It certainly is heavy enough.

Mahogany seems to have mostly been used for bodies and some necks.

 

[JIO]

Many of the old Japanese guitars I’ve worked on had beautiful fingerboards. I don’t know if it’s Brazilian rosewood, though.

Check out the fingerboard on this guitar I rescued recently:
View attachment 4691453

One of my favourite parts of getting an old instrument like these is cleaning and oiling the fingerboard to uncover that hidden beauty.

This bass fingerboard was covered with nasty finger gunk, so did a scrub with 99% isopropyl and followed up with Dunlop “conditioner” (seems like lemon oil to me). This is halfway through the clean:
View attachment 4691456

Always loved the Norma graphics.

 

[Engle]

Always loved the Norma graphics.

I took some liberties with it. I was going to call it a Kent, but Norma suits it better.

 

[JIO]

I took some liberties with it. I was going to call it a Kent, but Norma suits it better.

what's not to love?

 

[GTHintz]

This is just my wierd taste but I'd get a decent fretless neck that'll fit the joint and put in a bartolini or something nice where that tele style pickup is and it'll look like a Pedulla, curbow Ibanez hybrid and probably be really cool. Definitely a fun project.

 

[RedVee]

I think we determined it is a Decca if I remember correctly.


I was thinking the same thing - pretty rare that oak is used for instruments.

Not sure but I thought you thought it a Teisco?

The brand sticker is “Challenge” but we all know that means nothing

That’s a cool bass! Is the neck really thick (front to back)?

Yep, a baseball bat pretty much

 

[JIO]

Not sure but I thought you thought it a Teisco?

The brand sticker is “Challenge” but we all know that means nothing



Yep, a baseball bat pretty much

"Challenge" doesn't appear on my MIJ reference radar screen (Teisco or otherwise) - it has same period knobs as appeared on Teisco's and the pu's are the same as on Decca's... who knows?

 

[Engle]

This is just my wierd taste but I'd get a decent fretless neck that'll fit the joint and put in a bartolini or something nice where that tele style pickup is and it'll look like a Pedulla, curbow Ibanez hybrid and probably be really cool. Definitely a fun project.

Interesting idea, but I don’t play fretless much, and it would just end up looking cool on the wall with my other fretless basses