Elias Bass guitar.

[Randall]

Has anyone ever heard of or own a Elias bass guitar?. Peter Elias made them in Canada during the 1980's. I bought mine ( Solid Padauk) for $700.00 (half price dutch auction sale) during that time period. It had emg P pickups and I added a set of emg jazz bass pickups. Mine is #087. Was searching the web and cannot find much if anything about them. Must have been a very low volume luthier.

 

[bassteban]

Pics?

 

[Randall]

Sorry phone pics.

 

[pimpdaddyeatman]

:scowl:yo guy i have that same bass i found my like on the side of the road iam glad some one els has the same bass i couldent find eney info on them and if u have eney more info on them now can u let me no

 

[LM Bass]

HI Randall,

I had #015, which was a fretless Koa bass I purchased from Dave Young. Actually, my teacher in Edmonton had told me this was up for grabs, and I bought it from Dave when he was playing with Oscar Peterson at the high school stage band festival in 1981. Ah, memories!

Later, I had #073 which was an all-cherry fretted. Your bass was called the AP-1, I think, and was a slightly less expensive and smaller version that Peter came out with later. He went into Doublebass and 'Cello making, and now lives in Switzerland. Fantastic Canadian bass maker, and you're lucky to have this!

 

[Randall]

Thanks guys for the replies. I picked it up and without plugging it in even -the feel of the neck made me want to buy it and at half price who could resist.

 

[bungalowbill]

Same thing for me; half price, Dutch auction (got up at 6:30 to be first in line) at Mother's Music on Whyte Avenue in the eighties. Mine is #096, and all original. Beautiful playing instrument!

From the it's-a-small-world department, I also have the fretless #015 that LM mentioned (although I didn't know it was koa...)

 

[LM Bass]

Koa, Maple and Rosewood. Ebony board. Play it in good health!
: )

 

[Flatty Banks]

:scowl:yo guy i have that same bass i found my like on the side of the road iam glad some one els has the same bass i couldent find eney info on them and if u have eney more info on them now can u let me no

Wow.

 

[basses55]

Its really cool to see this thread. I bought one from Peter after seeing a really good local guy( at the time) named Dave Piltch play one several times here in Toronto back in the 80s. I owned it from the mid 80s for at least 4-5 years.
I also visited Peter's shop several times regarding the order- he built them at his place in Cobourg Ontario about 45 min from Toronto. All Padauk I believe with an EMG P. I think at that time it may have been the only model he offered...cool bass...a very organic/woody tone with great playability and he was a very nice guy .

Glad to read he is still building instruments.

 

[Randall]

I have read that Peter Elias is building classical instruments in Switzerland. Good to hear from all of you as there is not much info to be found about him. I notice some new warwicks has a similiar shape lol.

 

[bungalowbill]

I found an article on the web a few years ago about Peter and his work. The original link to the article seems dead, but I downloaded it at the time, and have posted it here for anyone who is interested:

Invalid Link Removed

I'm just glad he made a few electric instruments before moving on!

 

[woolysock]

I owned a fretless jazz-style Elias bass with what I thought was a walnut body, a very sexy maple neck that ran through the body, and a rosewood fingerboard. As best I recall it was #19. It came w Dimarzio pups I replaced w Schecter tap-coils looking to liven up the sound. I found the sound kinda dark and choked and blamed the pups and the walnut body. In hindsight, the rosewood board might have been the problem. Eventually I had frets installed and then sold the bass to someone living in Whitehorse in the Yukon. Back in the very early 80s I was playing around BC and Alberta with a great guitar player named Dane Deviller. He had an Elias guitar that sounded great. I believe I found my bass at Mother's Music in Edmonton or maybe Calgary and paid around $1100.

 

[LM Bass]

I played with Dane occassionally in the late 80's as well- fantastic player! Didn't know Peter ever made a guitar, but I bet it was great!

 

[Bassflute]

Has anyone ever heard of or own a Elias bass guitar?. Peter Elias made them in Canada during the 1980's. I bought mine ( Solid Padauk) for $700.00 (half price dutch auction sale) during that time period. It had emg P pickups and I added a set of emg jazz bass pickups. Mine is #087. Was searching the web and cannot find much if anything about them. Must have been a very low volume luthier.

HI Randall,

I had #015, which was a fretless Koa bass I purchased from Dave Young. Actually, my teacher in Edmonton had told me this was up for grabs, and I bought it from Dave when he was playing with Oscar Peterson at the high school stage band festival in 1981. Ah, memories!

Later, I had #073 which was an all-cherry fretted. Your bass was called the AP-1, I think, and was a slightly less expensive and smaller version that Peter came out with later. He went into Doublebass and 'Cello making, and now lives in Switzerland. Fantastic Canadian bass maker, and you're lucky to have this!

I owned a fretless jazz-style Elias bass with what I thought was a walnut body, a very sexy maple neck that ran through the body, and a rosewood fingerboard. As best I recall it was #19. It came w Dimarzio pups I replaced w Schecter tap-coils looking to liven up the sound. I found the sound kinda dark and choked and blamed the pups and the walnut body. In hindsight, the rosewood board might have been the problem. Eventually I had frets installed and then sold the bass to someone living in Whitehorse in the Yukon. Back in the very early 80s I was playing around BC and Alberta with a great guitar player named Dane Deviller. He had an Elias guitar that sounded great. I believe I found my bass at Mother's Music in Edmonton or maybe Calgary and paid around $1100.

I remember they were all the rage for a while. Tom Hazlitt had one, as I recall, and everyone was in total awe of it (and him) back in the early 80's. And I remember yours, too, from back then Rod. Read the article on his string basses, and glad to see he has progressed so far in his lutherie.

Cheers,
Cameron

 

[The Monk]

Hi there, I was searching on the internet for some info on my Elias bass and came across this thread. I have ser#032 a koa and birds eye maple fretless jazz style with an ebony fingerboard, maple inlayed fret markers, and dimarzio pups. I've had this bass a long time, I bought it used at Guitarworks in Calgary in the early '90s. I actually traded a worn out '68 strat for it. At the time I was getting into Jaco's stuff and this bass fit the bill. Ive been toying with the idea of selling it for a while now. Does anyone know what they are worth?

Here are some pics I took today.

 

[Randall]

That looks real sweet. Hard to put a value on it as they are so rare and dont come up for sale often.

 

[bungalowbill]

Koa, Maple and Rosewood. Ebony board. Play it in good health!
: )

I have a couple of other basses that are koa, and after seeing #032 (sweet!), I'm pretty sure #015 is something else... I seem to remember something vaguely, from way back when, about it being walnut... does that sound right?

It really is a lovely instrument... looking forward to getting it back from the shop!

 

[Dark Horse]

:scowl:yo guy i have that same bass i found my like on the side of the road iam glad some one els has the same bass i couldent find eney info on them and if u have eney more info on them now can u let me no

Say what ?

 

[LM Bass]

#15 is Koa for sure. Play it in good health!
: )
LM