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

#22
my contribution - unfortunately one of the previous owners changed out the pup...

1963 Maton Ibis


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#25
Pet Sounds said:
This thread is great, but I'd be interested in knowing which, if any, if these basses play and sound good in addition to looking cool.
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Well, I have a couple of these cool 60's MIJ basses and they both play and sound really good. Too many times basses in this category may not have been taken care of or set up correctly and are discounted due to warped necks or bad electronic connections. I think depending on condition, any of the examples posted will produce tones that offer a certain pleasant/acceptable character and are real instruments. The stigma they received for many years of being "toys" is quickly erased once played through a nice tube-amp. My Teisco Del Rey (w/flats) can out-Motown any vintage P-bass and the Conrad hollow-body sounds every bit as sweet & thumpy as a vintage Hofner.

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A few changes including missing Conrad hs badge, missing pg, and replacement single-coil pu (pre me) - but regardless it sounds great and is fun to play!
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#27
Pet Sounds said:
This thread is great, but I'd be interested in knowing which, if any, if these basses play and sound good in addition to looking cool.
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Here's my Welson that I restored (almost...still looking for a bridge cover). Given that the body is made of the cheapest crate plywood I ever saw it has a rather unique tone that sounds great (sort of like the way a Danelectro has a different but unique cool tone from the masonite) And as you can see the looks are magic! Italians! Bad news is the neck was warped and I steamed it back to straight, but under tension the warp sort of slowly returns so you can only play it for short times and then take the tension off and put it back on the wall!

Welson01.jpg


Note that tuners are not original. The original had really crappy guitar-style tuners and had long ago been changed by previous owners. I love the way it has a little sign that says "bass" screwed to the headstock presumably for those people so clueless as to not be able to tell a bass from a guitar!
 
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#28
Nebula24 said:
Love the excessive chrome in some of those...ashtray covers...pickguard..so shiny.

Bmx/flatland part of my soul digs it. :)
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For sure - many cues were picked up from the main-stream brand guitars and then turned up a notch. A Strat had 3 pu's? so they made one with 4 pu's! (same with knobs and switches!) On the "flooded by guitars" link that @M.R. Ogle posted there are a couple of awesome 4 pu guitars with slider switches for each pu and knobs galore! Many designs were also surfing the "space-age" vibe from the 50's into 60's - a spaceship cockpit always had lots of knobs and switches!
 
#29
bassbenj said:
Here's my Welson that I restored (almost...still looking for a bridge cover). Given that the body is made of the cheapest crate plywood I ever saw it has a rather unique tone that sounds great (sort of like the way a Danelectro has a different but unique cool tone from the masonite) And as you can see the looks are magic! Italians! Bad news is the neck was warped and I steamed it back to straight, but under tension the warp sort of slowly returns so you can only play it for short times and then take the tension off and put it back on the wall!

View attachment 3043511

Note that tuners are not original. The original had really crappy guitar-style tuners and had long ago been changed by previous owners. I love the way it has a little sign that says "bass" screwed to the headstock presumably for those people so clueless as to not be able to tell a bass from a guitar!
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:thumbsup: Love the Welson's - the divided island pg design was riffing Burns of London.
 
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#35
JIO said:
So, there may be various threads that bump up against this one but here's what I'd like to more specifically do here.

What I'd like to do is start the ball rolling to create a reference library of sorts that covers non-mainstream brands . So not Fender, Gibson, Ric, Gretsch, Guild, Vox, etc. They can be from various parts of the globe like Japan, Germany, the US, Russia, England or Italy with an emphasis on the electric guitar/bass boom that went into high gear once the Ventures and Beatles inspired young people to learn to play electric guitar. ('62-'64) Basses that were created in the late 50's can be posted but I want to avoid the 70's as many non-mainstream brands started becoming mainstream then and started making direct copies of Fenders etc moving away from more unique designs, which is what I'm hoping for here.

Here's a few examples to set the visual tone for this thread - please feel free to post basses that fit within the overview I've laid out. Pics can be of basses from your own collection or culled from an on-line/book source.

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St George - Japan
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Silvertone - Japan
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Egmond - Canada
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Coral - (Dano) US
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Framus - Germany
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Hollywood - Italy
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Teisco - Japan
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Guyatone - Japan
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Teisco (Baritone) - Japan
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Thanks for the great thread! Subbed!
I heard in the Russian basses, when they were being reconditioned, they found extra wireless microphones inside! :roflmao:
 
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#38
markjazzbassist said:
i love this thread. i've been wanting to take the dive on one of these types of basses for a while. sad thing is most are short scale, i've got my eye out for a long scale funky something or other.
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Most were 30"/30.5" but a few were longer. The first pic I posted of the St George was standard (34") scale as far as I know. I had the same bass (my 1st) badged "Stadium" and remember it as being long. If anyone has more info related do chime in.
 
#40
Loring said:
my contribution - unfortunately one of the previous owners changed out the pup...

1963 Maton Ibis


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I've seen small pics of these before - thanks for posting yours. :thumbsup: It is just off-the-charts cool with the molded moto ashtray! That bass epitomizes well designed off-center style. Carvin picked up on the upper horn swoop on their recent basses.
 

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