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

[HaphAsSard]

the hundreds(?) of violin-shaped basses that have been made since the early '60s. I imagine Hofner was the first,

The Gibson Electric Bass (later known as EB-1) was the first viol-shaped electric bass guitar, in 1953. The Höfner 500/1 (1956) was the first hollowbody violin bass.

and because of one Paul McCartney many variations of that style of bass were produced by many makers across the world.

There are exceptions.

The Eko 1150, a solid-body, appeared as early as 1962;
Eko 1150 – Fetishguitars.com
even the hollowbody Eko 995, "first mentioned in a price list circulated in April 1964",
Eko 995/395 – Fetishguitars.com
though indubitably inspired by the 500/1, came out too early to be an intentional move in order to capitalise on Beatlemania. IOW, it was a Höfner violin bass clone (of sorts), not a Beatle-bass clone.


Here's the mighty ViolinBasses.org (fka fuenfhunderteins.de)
https://www.violinbasses.com/history.htm

 

[JIO]

The Gibson Electric Bass (later known as EB-1) was the first viol-shaped electric bass guitar, in 1953. The Höfner 500/1 (1956) was the first hollowbody violin bass.

There are exceptions.

The Eko 1150, a solid-body, appeared as early as 1962;
Eko 1150 – Fetishguitars.com
even the hollowbody Eko 995, "first mentioned in a price list circulated in April 1964",
Eko 995/395 – Fetishguitars.com
though indubitably inspired by the 500/1, came out too early to be an intentional move in order to capitalise on Beatlemania. IOW, it was a Höfner violin bass clone (of sorts), not a Beatle-bass clone.


Here's the mighty ViolinBasses.org (fka fuenfhunderteins.de)
https://www.violinbasses.com/history.htm

Thanks for posting! The ViolinBasses.org is a really comprehensive overview - yes, a few examples were around before the Hofner but clones really took off after Beatlemania. Some really creative and odd-ball versions! I learned from that site that the bass I just bought is a Kremona (Bulgarian) and not a Cremona (Czech). The seller probably listed both names to attract more attention.

 

[ardgedee]

I learned from that site that the bass I just bought is a Kremona (Bulgarian) and not a Cremona (Czech).

As long as it's not a Cremora, you're probably good.

 

[JIO]

As long as it's not a Cremora, you're probably good.

 

[H K]

Here's a neat one that I had never seen up until recently. I've had 300+ basses come through, mostly unusual and vintage ones, but never one of these.
It's a Orpheum Starfire bass from 1969.
Oversized violin shape body, it's "deeper"/thicker than the average Höfer, bolt on neck.
But what I really really like about this one is actually; the case. HUGE case with patterned silk padding. Reminds me of the inside of a coffin case. Gorgeous.

 

[JIO]

Here's a neat one that I had never seen up until recently. I've had 300+ basses come through, mostly unusual and vintage ones, but never one of these.
It's a Orpheum Starfire bass from 1969.
Oversized violin shape body, it's "deeper"/thicker than the average Höfer, bolt on neck.
But what I really really like about this one is actually; the case. HUGE case with patterned silk padding. Reminds me of the inside of a coffin case. Gorgeous.
View attachment 7276671

The case interior is pretty plush! That bass is included/pictured on the history of the violin bass site that @HaphAsSard posted above. I sent them pics of the Kremona I just bought - there are a couple of tb members who have their violin bass collection posted there. Are you a dealer of basses considering your "300+ basses coming through" comment? Yowza!

 

[H K]

The case interior is pretty plush! That bass is included/pictured on the history of the violin bass site that @HaphAsSard posted above. I sent them pics of the Kremona I just bought - there are a couple of tb members who have their violin bass collection posted there. Are you a dealer of basses considering your "300+ basses coming through" comment? Yowza!

Not a dealer per se, more of a collector with space limitations

 

[JIO]

That was relatively quick!

The Kremona made it from the other side of the world in good stripe only using wadded shipping paper as padding - pu's/electronics work as they should.

Regarding the image subject matter. As much as I wanted to post detailed close-ups of the artwork, I ran it through a Mod first and... the image would be flagged and I don't want my threads to be shut down. It is what it is. I can't remove my original post of it at this point, so if it disappears, this is why.
Anyway... crazy skilled execution of this type of fantasy imagery - this was done by a seriously talented artist/painter. Artwork is 8" x 9"

My personal take on it as an artist who has taught figure-drawing at renowned university-level art academies (KCAI/SAIC) - I frankly do not consider it offensive to anyone and instead feel it's a quite remarkable example of hand painted fantasy (folk?) art. The whole bass was also incorporated and hand painted into the colour scheme/gestalt.

I did some work on it starting with the neck/tuners. The flanges on the back of the tuner-plate prevented them from seating flush like early Fender Kluson tuners, so I drilled cavities which solved the problem. De-rusted the tuners and lubed them. Two of the post ferrules don't match but considering how old this bass is, at least they are included.

The neck is relatively straight (with a working tr) but the frets are very worn over the whole fretboard. My impression after studying such details is that this was a very played bass and chosen as a platform for the artwork because it had become nearly useless as a playable instrument. I considered this when purchasing it and have now determined that it is to live as a 'wall hanger'. (essentially artwork)

To set it up correctly for intonation the floating bridge/plate would land on top of the artwork and the tail-piece already covers the lower artwork. The metal tail-piece is crudely made, not original. The bridge and plate also are crudely hand-fabricated.

Definitely hand fabricated -

The bass could just be presented w/o those parts in order to showcase the artwork but if I wanted to make it look 'playable' (with bridge/tailpiece/strings) I'm considering a creative solution...
which includes a Hofner-style wood bridge. It is narrower than the one that came with the bass and if positioned right under the N-pu it would not interfere with the artwork image. Being positioned there it wouldn't intone correctly, but as I said it would only serve to appear to be a playable bass.

And a short minimal trapeze-style tailpiece. (4", same as the crude metal tailpiece) What I will do is fabricate the removable 'string-stop' bar of clear lucite to replace the cast metal bar, thus allowing the image to be seen below it. Thank you for tolerating my thread detour - unfortunately I have nowhere to post further work on it due to the restriction on the imagery.

 

[JIO]

Update: Got both the Hofner-style 'floating' bridge and the tailpiece/string-stop.

I needed to cut the (top section) thinner so it works with this bass. The curved 'base' section was perfect for the basses curve. I applied electrician-tape on the bottom to keep the artwork in good shape. Again - I will snug the bridge under the B-pu as shown to leave the lower artwork unobstructed. If I positioned it for correct intonation - it would land right over the artwork ~

I marked the tailpiece anchor for modification and will fabricate a clear lucite 'stop' bar to allow a view of the artwork below it.

I drilled a few holes and used my Dremel tool & files to open a window in the anchor. I deliberately roughed it up because I want it to visually fit-in with the 'imperfect' hand-made perfection of this basses history/story.

As you can see, the 'stop' makes a better door than a window as my mom used to say if I blocked her view! The "horned monster/demon" needs to be seen! A trip to Tap Plastic here in SF on Monday will start the process -

 

[JIO]

Just for reference - here's what looks to be what was originally the tailpiece on this bass. Not unlike a big belt-buckle and cleverly connected in a most elemental way. Also note old-school Eastern Europe 'jack'. Most of the vintage ones sold on eBay etc have this switched out to a standard phone-jack.

Different pu's and a most likely non-original "bridge". Same twin finger rests, same knobs (above - but different knobs on the one below). I'm guessing that many of these vintage gems are being pieced together for sale in the US (especially). "original" is a relative term here...

...as in, these appear to be the original tuners - I have a set of them but unfortunately in this case they are 4 in-line. The worm-shaft posts are not removable w/o damaging them.

However, the tuners that came on it show no other holes, so perhaps they are original from a different period.

 

[JIO]

Last post related to this unique Hungarian bass... (I promise!)

Love Tap Plastic - they cut 4 of these blanks and just gifted them to me. Yah, probably cut from pieces in the scap-bin, but it was a nice gesture. I bought two drill-bits from them - they have a sharper/pointier tip specifically for drilling clean holes in plastic.(and they most certainly did!)
Took less than a couple hours start to finish. I've worked with clear plastic before.

that's the ticket!

As good as it's gonna get... who's a good demon?

Added some of my own artwork to the hs - I copied the Kremona badge graphics using paint-pens and sealed it with gloss lacquer. Yes, that's an H when it's usually referred to as an N - but that's how it was spelled-out on an actual Kremona hs badge. (pic below)

I strung it up with the strings that were on it which as you can see are very old. I'm going to order light-gauge flats for it - it's too risky to attempt to tighten these strings to pitch but I think with new strings it could be made reasonable playable. Even if not, I'm more than happy to hang it on the wall as artwork - it's really exceptional and totally unique.

Posting this - I just realized that the R looks more like a P... Still something I can alter - the mind's eye plays funny tricks on what you want to appear...

Please excuse me for my thread detour and continue posting pics of your Cool 60's basses (OTHER than main-stream brands)

Hopefully this full-frontal pic (artwork is very small) won't offend anyone

 

[rickwrench]

That looks pretty cool.
My Martin F65 still has a plexiglass bridge (a rarity, I'm told).

 

[JIO]

That looks pretty cool.
My Martin F65 still has a plexiglass bridge (a rarity, I'm told).

Cool - If you have a pic, please post it here

 

[rickwrench]

As it is, now. I don't play it much except here in the house. A bit of a feedback monster.

 

[JIO]

I lied... - check out this awesome pic of the Kremora factory! You can see a number of violin-basses on the racks between the two workers, two being worked on by the man & woman and a number on the racks behind her! I'm guessing '70s ... it appears they are both using non-electric drills to create holes even as an electric drill is on the workbench. I have one that my dad used and I think they still make them. It's a ratcheted push-release mechanism.

 

[JIO]

As it is, now. I don't play it much except here in the house. A bit of a feedback monster.
View attachment 7291828

Very cool - nice guitar and thanks for posting! More recent Ric basses picked-up on the a-sym pu style. Yah, true hollow-bodies do tend to feed-back! I considered making a clear lucite bridge (like that) but it would land right over the figure's head/neck in order to intone correctly. At this point, it's not important for it to be a 'player' - I'm happy to consider it an objet d'art.

 

[ardgedee]

it appears they are both using non-electric drills to create holes even as an electric drill is on the workbench.

I grew up knowing those as "Yankee push drills". Probably mostly due to my family being from New England. But I'd bet the workers in that shop prefer them to the electric drill because they're quieter, faster and less likely to throw sparks, something that would kind of suck in a room full of outgassing varnish.

 

[JIO]

I grew up knowing those as "Yankee push drills". Probably mostly due to my family being from New England. But I'd bet the workers in that shop prefer them to the electric drill because they're quieter, faster and less likely to throw sparks, something that would kind of suck in a room full of outgassing varnish.

for sure - hand tools rule!

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I grew up knowing those as "Yankee push drills". Probably mostly due to my family being from New England. But I'd bet the workers in that shop prefer them to the electric drill because they're quieter, faster and less likely to throw sparks, something that would kind of suck in a room full of outgassing varnish.

I have one in the garage. The name in the cap is Yankee Handyman. The company was from Philadelphia. I always thought it was the brand name?

 

[ardgedee]

for sure - hand tools rule!

Agreed. But I'm not kidding about the "throwing sparks" thing. Even US-made electric drills of that era could be sparktacular, when you were buying at the low end of the market.