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Cool 60's basses (OTHER than main-stream brands)

#241
Dynacord said:
BTW on the relative usability of these, here's an isolation project recording I did recently. The bass track is doubled: upright bass (1957 King Mortone) and the Maton Ibis (played with highs rolled off and keeping the notes short to match the upright - but using a deeper tone than typical with the Bass VI/tic-tac style). It's fairly invisible even though both tracks are at about the same volume. Gives it a nice punch and presence IMO:



Also, posted earlier but this is a Bulgarian Orpheus solidbody violin bass on this (from a film soundtrack set in the Sixties - flats with a pick and keeping it simple to fit the era)

Click to expand...


I like hearing Seasons Change again - but the other song won't play for me. :( I had a King Mortone! Here's a pic of young Geo playing it in 1976 - (SX-70!)

upload_2022-2-14_8-1-38.jpeg
 
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#244
Eli_Kyiv said:
The first bass I ever tried to play (in high school) was like this:
View attachment 4583874
It's Bulgarian Orpheus of late '60s. Baseball bat neck w/o truss rod I think, high action, weak sound, microphonic pickups, scratchy pots... the whole nine yards. Had flats on it. Was barely good enough to play I-V with a pick.
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My first bass in 1966 was a $40 (new) Japanese solid body. (long-scale if I remember correctly, which would have been sorta' rare as most were short-scale then) It too had a baseball-bat neck with strings a mile off the fb. How we all stuck with playing bass starting on such an instrument is remarkable.
 
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#245
Dynacord said:
Nice. This is the one I have that I used on the recording above. I did add a ground wire - it was ungrounded - one could unscrew the pickguard and lift all the electronics out as a single unit. This one does have a truss rod. Intonation is 'iffy' but it does have a good tone.

View attachment 4583875
Click to expand...

So cool! :cool:
 
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#247
Dynacord said:
Nice! I'd sure like to find the chrome pickup cover for mine but figure that's pretty much impossible. I did see there's a guy who's trying to make reproductions.
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Yah, finding parts for some of these vintage basses is a daunting task.
Dynacord said:
Nice! I'd sure like to find the chrome pickup cover for mine but figure that's pretty much impossible. I did see there's a guy who's trying to make reproductions.
Click to expand...

Since it's already been modified, one thing you can do to get the bridge lower is to rout a shallow cavity under it. That way it will look the same but be lower. I did this on one of my custom basses -

upload_2022-2-14_8-23-17.jpeg
upload_2022-2-14_8-24-34.jpeg
 
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#248
Mark76 said:
Fender should do a Bass IV in that colour.
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It's funny how another company made a Bass VI clone with the same hs shape. I guess they didn't copyright that one, as they did with most of their hs shapes. I'm waiting to see the colour in person (metallic Fiesta red) because in some pic's it looks sorta' grapefruit pink. I hope mine is more orange than pink.

Here's another demo - this one the ESP branded Tetsuya sig model playing an L'Arc-en-Ciel song

 
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#249
JIO said:
I like hearing Seasons Change again - but the other song won't play for me. :( I had a King Mortone! Here's a pic of young Geo playing it in 1976 - (SX-70!)

View attachment 4584214
Click to expand...

Oh, wow! Sorry that wouldn't play. Strange as I have it set to 'public' - just uploaded to soundcloud so hopefully this will work:



Anyway, the bass is the Maton Ibis and the Mortone doubled.
 
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#250
JIO said:
It's funny how another company made a Bass VI clone with the same hs shape. I guess they didn't copyright that one, as they did with most of their hs shapes. I'm waiting to see the colour in person (metallic Fiesta red) because in some pic's it looks sorta' grapefruit pink. I hope mine is more orange than pink.

Here's another demo - this one the ESP branded Tetsuya sig model playing an L'Arc-en-Ciel song

Click to expand...

Im tryna fins one of these, what were the models and makers again? Esp bass iv? And grassroots tetsaya? A little confused by the prev posts
 
#252
H K said:
Im tryna fins one of these, what were the models and makers again? Esp bass iv? And grassroots tetsaya? A little confused by the prev posts
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The 'mother company' is ESP (Japan) the model is called (the) Bass IV and was badged ESP, Edwards, and Grass Roots and considered to be their "Squier-like" lines. (less expensive) The Tetsuya signature model was ESP branded and have the gas-station (Philips 66/76) stickers. All exactly the same bass (Bass IV) - just marketed with different brand names. The reason you don't see many (at least in the US) is because they were made for the Japanese market only. The one I bought is coming from Nagoya Japan - should be here by March 9th.
 
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#253
Dynacord said:
Oh, wow! Sorry that wouldn't play. Strange as I have it set to 'public' - just uploaded to soundcloud so hopefully this will work:



Anyway, the bass is the Maton Ibis and the Mortone doubled.
Click to expand...


That worked - really nice song/playing and well recorded/mixed. :thumbsup:
 
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