From Russia with Love - Tonika project

[JIO]

First some history:

So yes, I bought a Soviet era Tonika... but wait, there's more! This one is more than a quirky bass. It's a quirky bass that someone used as a platform for creative socio-historical modification. A shout out to Georgii at musicismysoul from Kiev on eBay for bypassing the tariff in order to make buying it reasonable. I've seen these clubfooted basses for years but this one caught my eye because of the added "flair". (think Office Space)

I couldn't tell from the pics exactly what was going on other than what was obvious. In person, it revealed much more. It's hard to determine not knowing its back-story, but it appeared it was deliberately 'distressed'. Being plywood, whoever did it went down deep enough so that after adding the plastic Soviet era badges, they were imbedded using clear epoxy (!) and it was really well done. Some serious modding for an ugly duckling.

Note strings/string ends -

They didn't go quite as deep on the back, so some of the faces in relief were flattened. Both front & back were leveled and buffed and the black was sprayed over/touched-up as you can see some overspray. Very DIY, but all & all a decent job ATC and extra points for coming up with this concept.

Two screw neck connection with a crude black plastic cover held down by tiny screws. On other examples I've seen, this part is chromed metal.

It's deceivingly heavy for a short-scale - 9lbs/6oz. I will have more time to deal with it later in the week, but this is what I'm seeing right now - the electronics aren't functional. Need to lift the hood to see what's going on. It has a 4-way chicken head rotary switch so curious to see what it does. The neck is pretty straight, but the frets are... pretty bad. I strung it with the strings that came on it just to check the neck but they are also pretty bad, a mix of flats/rounds and brands. Tuners need to be taken apart, cleaned and lubed. I have a set of the same tuners in my parts bin which are decent when working well. 'Strap pegs' are screws with small collars, so they will be replaced. The non-original floating ebony bridge looks new (good quality) and will work for the bass. I'm pretty sure I can sort the electronics and after doing some work on the frets, I should get it playable.

 

[JIO]

The harness & pu's work - there's only some sort of grounding issue.

The lower pot is volume and reversed, which is completely odd. I think the upper is tone (it has a cap attached), but it won't be clear until I get it playable. The pu's are strong so it's just a matter of grounding.
The frets were so bad I pulled them out. Will also remove the fb as it is separated from the neck near the heal. The neck appears to have a plastic 'shell' which I've never seen an example of. I'll know more once I heat the fb and separate it from the neck. The tr seems to work as it should. Once I remove the fb, clean both surfaces & re-glue - I should have a decently straight fb to work with. I will re-fret it and string it with D'Addario nickel flats.
The rotary switch appears to be this -

The control cavity disclosed more oddness with crumpled aluminum foil buried under clear epoxy. That's one way of shielding...

 

[JIO]

The neck has some sort of flexible but rigid plastic "shell" which made removing the fb more difficult than removing a standard fb, as in - I could only go lengthwise. Using an iron worked from the hs end to about 5 frets down and then the white plastic position dots started melting. So I then switched to using a long kitchen knife (don't tell Beth...) which I heated against the iron and worked it south as far as I could before reheating.

Side-note; yes.., most people seeing what was going on with this neck would just throw it into the fireplace, but as I've said many times and those who follow me know - I like a challenge. Add to that it felt like a puzzle that was falling apart as I continued. (the fb 'stripes', fb ends and white side dots kept falling apart/out.

The plastic shell/trough which added to the fb removal difficulty is totally left-field. The hs (connected to the neck) is part of that plastic trough with the hs face being a separate layer with a white perimeter. It's basically wood encased in black plastic. The only other bass I've worked on like that was a (MII) Parker Hornet.The body was made of hard/dense styrofoam with thin hard vacu-formed shell/coating. (think M&M's)

It took a while, so to help pass the time I watched a documentary of the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald. Very well done and interesting.

Anyway, I finally got the fb off and even though there was need to repair/re-glue a couple sections that er... liberated themselves - I cleaned up both surfaces (underside of the fb and face of the neck platform) and they are ready to re-glue. The neck & fb appears to be made of beech, which I've seen on a '80s era Czech bass I once worked on. It has a grain-identity similar to oak and seems to be hard enough to be used on a neck. Thin black plastic 'skin' creating a trough that the fb sits in up to the edge. Side position dots are seen through holes in the 'walls'.

Interesting multi-tasking unit. The tr ends at the heal like a bicycle spoke anchored to the round (brass) plate, with threaded bolt channels that acts as the neck/body connection. A really simple, smart design. The neck is a multi-lam, which you can see in this pic. I think once back together the neck will be pretty spot-on.

Since I removed the frets before doing this, the fb curled a bit in the process - but frankly that aided me in removing it under this (trough) circumstance. I ordered pre-cut Fender frets (that will be trimmed to fit) and will decide if I'll install them or make it fretless when they arrive. You can see the hole in the shell 'fence' and the white dot in the fb. I mean, if it were like those cool Italian guitars/basses with vacuum-formed pearloid over the entire body & neck... but why did the go to this level of complexity for black?

 

[Level5wizard]

Leave the Stalin stickers

 

[JIO]

In case you're wondering, I moved the above posts from another of my threads. This post is from today -

As you can see, the fb separated at the 8th fret (top fret is a zero fret) which happened removing it. (no problem) I decided to ad my own modding and stained the light fb wood with ebony & red mahogany stain. I also sorted the grounding issue re-soldering a ground wire that broke loose. Once doing that, I found the rotary doesn't have an off setting - it seems to be another N setting(?) Not sure why that would be, but again I'll know more once it's back together and playable through an amp. I replaced the strap pegs with real strap pegs using the same screws and cleaned/lubed the tuners for fluid adjusting. Will need to get the frets and string-set before going further.

 

[JIO]

Leave the Stalin stickers

Lenin... They are plastic relief badges and they are imbedded under clear epoxy.

 

[Level5wizard]

Dude that is funny. I wish I could find a jem like that. I would play that in church. Just to see the people over 70 heart rates go up when they possibly realize what those are.

 

[GretschWretch]

Good score. You got your bass from the same seller as I got my Orfeus Plovdivs from, my less that six pounds Orfeus Plovdivs with the super aggressive pickups. I hope yours are as snarly.

On mine, the weak link across the board is the tuners, which are plastic grips on metal shafts. At some point, the ? holding the grip onto the shaft gives way, rendering the shaft useless.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I admire your tenacity in the face of such Epic Ineptitude. A real time traveler, that one, and eminently worth fixing... by anybody but me , of course. I once briefly owned a fever-dream Hofner Clone that was either Russian or surely Eastern Bloc of some sort, with some truly weird decorative and mechanical flourishes. It was unplayable, really, but I tried until it was stolen, the thief the recipient of Instant Karma. I hope his fingertips are STILL sore.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

So weird..that its cool ?
Dah!!

 

[GretschWretch]

I admire your tenacity in the face of such Epic Ineptitude. A real time traveler, that one, and eminently worth fixing... by anybody but me , of course. I once briefly owned a fever-dream Hofner Clone that was either Russian or surely Eastern Bloc of some sort, with some truly weird decorative and mechanical flourishes. It was unplayable, really, but I tried until it was stolen, the thief the recipient of Instant Karma. I hope his fingertips are STILL sore.

I bet that if you put that bass out on the curb, not only would next morning it still be there, but there would be two others with it.

 

[JIO]

Good score. You got your bass from the same seller as I got my Orfeus Plovdivs from, my less that six pounds Orfeus Plovdivs with the super aggressive pickups. I hope yours are as snarly.

On mine, the weak link across the board is the tuners, which are plastic grips on metal shafts. At some point, the ? holding the grip onto the shaft gives way, rendering the shaft useless.

Yes, Georgii - it's the second bass I've purchased from him, both art pieces. The bridge pu is way hot, hotter than the neck pu. (more than a J setup) Once back together I'm anticipating it will sound snarly, even with nickel flats!

Tuners work as they should after a little fine tuning. They are all metal, basic and pretty sturdy.

 

[JIO]

I bet that if you put that bass out on the curb, not only would next morning it still be there, but there would be two others with it.

 

[Why Nautilus‽]

I was hoping you’d make this thread soon! I’ll be watching along and enjoying the show

 

[Bass4ThePublic]

From Russia With The Love Bone, knowmsayn!

 

[JIO]

I was hoping you’d make this thread soon! I’ll be watching along and enjoying the show

Welcome!

 

[JIO]

From Russia With The Love Bone, knowmsayn!

Being of Eastern European lineage/heritage, I have nothing against Russian people. But specifically focusing on instrument making - one of the reasons I am drawn to these lambasted basses is considering/respecting when and where they were made. The US in the late '40s-'50s was able to produce a Leo Fender because of the prosperity then. Incomparable to Russia. So I respect the crudeness. I celebrate the ingenuity - ATC. That's what puts them in an all together separate category.

 

[Anjohl]

I can't decide if it excites or horrifies me.

 

[JIO]

I can't decide if it excites or horrifies me.

It is a sort of macabre attraction... but honestly, that's part of why I'm attracted to such - because it visually provokes my curiosity.

 

[JIO]

Georgii's pics -

The pg is really cool. Very subtly 3D - not apparent in this pic. Visually looks a bit like leather but it has a quartz-like depth of internal layering similar to pearl-oid/MOTO. Note: rotary switch is in N&B setting/position.

...and I haven't posted pics of the tuners yet - all metal, basic and do their tuning thing sufficiently. Screws aren't original but work. It's not the kind of bass you hunt down "same vintage" tuner screws for. They can easily be oriented for 4 in-line or 2x2. That's smart design. Opposite end of the spectrum Sperzel tuners can similarly swing either direction. Why don't all tuners operate like that? (hint; we all know why - $$$)