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

[JIO]

BAH! Welp, I just got some bad news. I've been waiting and wanting for a "re-issue" of the Ampeg Scroll bass by Eastwood for a while, and was excited about it coming back in stock this week. I went to the company website to order, only to find it still was not in stock. After emailing them, I was told that the shipment had been delayed until july... 2nd hand costs as much as they do new, if not more in some cases, so guess Ill just have to wait. Unless one pops up locally, which I highly doubt... There is an ampeg tho, but it's about 4000$ and I'd prefer the "updated" version. Anyway heres the ampeg and the eastwood.
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The headstock on the ampeg is better, but the neckdive tho

tb member Bruce Johnson over at the Luthiers Corner is our resident authority on all things Ampeg Scroll basses. He restores vintage ones and makes his own authentic 'clones' of them. He developed a strap-peg extension to address neck-dive which doesn't require modification. (neck-plate adapted)

Check his scroll bass thread out - love of Ampeg and other Scroll Basses, Part 2

 

[Nerve]

It was noted in a book I have "Electric Guitars - The Illustrated Encyclopedia" by Tony Bacon / 2000 Thunder Bay Press.

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This is amazing. It looks exactly as I would hope! Thanks for sharing this.

 

[JIO]

A buddy of mine started out with one of these Futurama basses...
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before getting his first Ric, then a whole host of Precisions.

When I started playing bass in '66 - these Hagstrom basses were on the wall of my local mom & pop music store. I recall playing a red one there with the gold 'swimming pool' between the pu's.

These (with the screws) were oddly made with a fiberglass cap on the front, a wooded core and a vinyl covered back.

 

[Nerve]

When I started playing bass in '66 - these Hagstrom basses were on the wall of my local mom & pop music store. I recall playing a red one there with the gold 'swimming pool' between the pu's.

View attachment 4605979 These (with the screws) were oddly made with a fiberglass cap on the front, a wooded core and a vinyl covered back.

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I have been looking for a healthy one of these for a long time. Something to go with my Hagstrom HIIB, below. Guess the fibreglass cap makes them a bit more susceptible to damage. Plus, seems like the big gaudy nameplate on the body is usually missing or broken.

 

[JIO]

I have been looking for a healthy one of these for a long time. Something to go with my Hagstrom HIIB, below. Guess the fibreglass cap makes them a bit more susceptible to damage. Plus, seems like the big gaudy nameplate on the body is usually missing or broken.

That's a very pretty powder-blue Haggy!

 

[Nerve]

That's a very pretty powder-blue Haggy!

Thanks! Rescued it from a small town where the owner had just pulled it out from under his bed to use as a play-around bass for his 7-year-old kid. A little work and it's now one of my favourites.

Not a chromes guy per say, but they work well on these darker vintage pickups.

 

[JIO]

Thanks! Rescued it from a small town where the owner had just pulled it out from under his bed to use as a play-around bass for his 7-year-old kid. A little work and it's now one of my favourites.

Not a chromes guy per say, but they work well on these darker vintage pickups.

And speaking of a very pretty (and showroom condition!) powder-blue bass - I wish I would have seen this '63 Danelectro Dane when it appeared on Reverb years ago. I may have already posted this here -

 

[saltymonkey]

The headstock on the ampeg is better, but the neckdive tho

These old Ampeg AEBs and AMBs, and Bruce Johnson's replicas do not neck dive. They balance on a strap very nicely. I believe the neck plate extension adapters Bruce made were for the Ampeg Devil basses which don't balance so well.

 

[Ric Vice]

Here’s an interesting one, I played on the road one spring and summer. When we played Cincinnati We visited a local music store
I saw a very interesting bass that was designed in Great Britain. After Burns quit his,own guitar company he worked at Haymann.
These basses were definitively insltwlelkwqk’’<s.

 

[JIO]

These old Ampeg AEBs and AMBs and Bruce Johnson's replicas do not neck dive. They balance on a strap very nicely. Believe the neck plate extension adapters Bruce made were for the Ampeg Devil basses which don't balance so well.

You are correct - sorry for not being clear.

 

[JIO]

Here’s an interesting one, I played on the road one spring and summer. When we played Cincinnati We visited a local music store
I saw a very interesting bass that was designed in Great Britain. After Burns quit his,own guitar company he worked at Haymann.
These basses were definitively insltwlelkwqk’’<s.

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Yes - those Burns related guitars/basses are unique.

 

[H K]

And speaking of a very pretty (and showroom condition!) powder-blue bass - I wish I would have seen this '63 Danelectro Dane when it appeared on Reverb years ago. I may have already posted this here -

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God I love Dans.. I've only got a 64 RI, but trying to get my hands on a DC long. There's a single one for sale in all of europe, haha.

 

[JIO]

'60s Italian style - '64 Crucianelli élite Bass -

 

[JIO]

someday ...

 

[GretschWretch]

That's a great design - the best mute adjuster I've seen as it can be added with nuance and easily 'rolled-off'. Unfortunately, the bridge leaves much to be desired.You can see how the saddles are bottomed-out with no room to intone correctly.

Gibson and Gretsch also had adjustable mutes for "nuanced" settings. The success of both depended heavily on how well everything was maintained and lubricated. I always considered Magnatone's the worst design, partly because of all the weight added and partly because of the inevitable resistance one met when turning the adjustment wheel.

 

[GretschWretch]

From the people who gave you the WEM Copycat. May I present my Wilson Sapphire,1968
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This is almost a Magnatone X-10 headstock.

 

[GretschWretch]

Here's a German made Fasan bass made in the mid 60's. Pretty rare but very cool.

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TD

Strong Gretsch influence in the cutaway horns and controls arrangement.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Definitely an import-bass skew here. Let's add a few domestic brews.

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Standel 400S

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Multivox Marvel and Magnatone Mark VI (late 50s)

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Kapa Continental

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Supro violin bass(es)

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Probably the first Precision bass copy ever
(Teisco, mid-sixties, although the earliest iterations
can be traced back to 1960 (i.e., very late 50s)

I had on of these in the early 70s.

 

[GretschWretch]

1968 Silvertone 1443, Dano via Sears. Same body as the Coral in post #1.
Yes, it is finished in 1442 brown burst. One of the very last ones built.
This one's been in the family since new. Still one of my favorite gig basses.
50 years, half a million miles, 100,000 songs. The aluminum nut on this one has slightly narrower string spacing than a stock 1443, cut to jazz bass specs, iirc. 2 V, 2 T, 3 way. Series wiring, huge Mullard cap (0.22 uf), 100k vol pots, 1M tone pots. PUs are around 3.7k. Typical Dano bridge. Only thing I've done is relocate the front strap button up to the tip of the horn and add strap locks. The extra inch does help with neck dive. "Thumb rest" is mounted to the underside of the pick guard, out of the way.
Flats, but I can't remember what kind (dark blue silk wraps, though).

Rick

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Same tuners as on the Magnatone X-10, which are like contemporary tuners on Epiphone/Gibson, only they don't have the slotted posts.

 

[JIO]

Waking my thread up for an outstanding Italian beauty currently on ebay - looks like a newer Italia retro model, but it's awesome!