From Russia with Love - Tonika project

[TeeSee]

The heal is 2-3/8" tapering to 2-1/8", nut 1-5/8" and it's 31-1/4" scale (15-5/8" zero-fret to 12th fret. It also has a deep heal-block (1-3/4") so this is not a generic fit. Then there's the stripes on the fb. I imagine I could just have the fb made of maple and stain the black & red leaving the maple as the stripes and do a clear coat on top. In that regard, making it fretless might be the way to go. Ric bound fretless's have a similar vibe going on.

But if I had Dan make the neck, he could use ebony and mahogany and maple stripes. (no staining) That would be a pretty fancy neck for this body.

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If you have the resources to do it then do it. Think about all the Gibson (and other) players who have had to replace their necks in the past. You will be doing one better by using a top rate neck maker and actually improving the weak link. With the electronics hardly touched/replaced it will still retain it's soul and hopefully will still sound like it's intended but you'll have a more stable guitar.
Not all classic cars have all their original parts on and sometimes a compromise must be met in order for it to be saved or go to scrap. Think of it that way, and what you've said in your opening post that this thing is the Soviet version of Plan B From Outer Space only in a guitar form. Nice one!

 

[JIO]

If you have the resources to do it then do it. Think about all the Gibson (and other) players who have had to replace their necks in the past. You will be doing one better by using a top rate neck maker and actually improving the weak link. With the electronics hardly touched/replaced it will still retain it's soul and hopefully will still sound like it's intended but you'll have a more stable guitar.
Not all classic cars have all their original parts on and sometimes a compromise must be met in order for it to be saved or go to scrap. Think of it that way, and what you've said in your opening post that this thing is the Soviet version of Plan B From Outer Space only in a guitar form. Nice one!

My ideal vision voice... we'll see -

 

[HoHumbucker]

I have the impression that these plastic badges of Lenin (and baby Lenin!) are pretty common. Probably flooded the market then for every man, woman & child in Russia. "...where's your Lenin badge comrade?"

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Those badges are incredibly common. I would often see boxes of them at stall after stall in the flea markets in Moscow and Siberia. You could pick up a small handful for a dollar or two. Many are made of plastic, some are made of unremarkable pot metal. All shapes and sizes, but a lot of Lenin busts and red stars to be sure. I think they look pretty cool embedded in the epoxy.

 

[JIO]

Those badges are incredibly common. I would often see boxes of them at stall after stall in the flea markets in Moscow and Siberia. You could pick up a small handful for a dollar or two. Many are made of plastic, some are made of unremarkable pot metal. All shapes and sizes, but a lot of Lenin busts and red stars to be sure. I think they look pretty cool embedded in the epoxy.

Without knowing for sure that was my impression - if I saw them at a flea market I would definitely grab a handful or two!

 

[JIO]

Another Tonika... with only a pu-selector rotary switch and volume? (I have a set of knobs like this) A more standard bridge and bridge-cover, white faced pole-less pu's, wider hs shape, same pg material on the hs face w/Soviet badge, no fb racing stripes.., and that crazy antenna "sputnik" strap-peg extension! Totally cosmonaut! He states late '60s- '70s, which I knew but wonder which came first - this version or like mine. It seems like the bridge/cover & strap-peg extension on this one would logically be an "improvement" so later, '70s. If true, is mine (the more common version w/2 pots and a rotary knob) late '60s?

 

[JIO]

Interesting - similar situation (needing a neck) and one of my considerations (cheap MIC neck converted to the bass) but in this case changing the scale. I think I'd want to keep it short-scale and go with a more authentic clone neck. A 12-click selector knob? Mine is 4. He mentioned his being "light"?!? - mine.., not light. The thick clear epoxy definitely adds weight. Different pu's & knobs also.

 

[HoHumbucker]

I would expect that every single Soviet bass from that era is a bespoke creation. They would have built what they could from the resources and components they could get their hands on, rather than being able to build to a spec sheet. No two of the basses are likely to be the same.

 

[JIO]

I would expect that every single Soviet bass from that era is a bespoke creation. They would have built what they could from the resources and components they could get their hands on, rather than being able to build to a spec sheet. No two of the basses are likely to be the same.

for sure - whatever was available

 

[Engle]

The heal is 2-3/8" tapering to 2-1/8", nut 1-5/8" and it's 31-1/4" scale (15-5/8" zero-fret to 12th fret. It also has a deep heal-block (1-3/4") so this is not a generic fit. Then there's the stripes on the fb. I imagine I could just have the fb made of maple and stain the black & red leaving the maple as the stripes and do a clear coat on top. In that regard, making it fretless might be the way to go. Ric bound fretless's have a similar vibe going on.

But if I had Dan make the neck, he could use ebony and mahogany and maple stripes. (no staining) That would be a pretty fancy neck for this body.

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My 2 cents:
Since it's already customized, I'd get a Chinese rosewood on maple neck, 32" scale and modify it to fit. Gluing a maple block under the heel will give you the additional depth. You may need to trim the end of the neck so you don't need to move the bridge.

Of course that doesn't get you the striped fingerboard.

 

[JIO]

My 2 cents:
Since it's already customized, I'd get a Chinese rosewood on maple neck, 32" scale and modify it to fit. Gluing a maple block under the heel will give you the additional depth. You may need to trim the end of the neck so you don't need to move the bridge.

Of course that doesn't get you the striped fingerboard.

I went a similar route on my retro inspired bass. https://www.talkbass.com/threads/jio-vintage-hybrid-bass.1660833/ - I sent my needed specs to a MIC seller on eBay and they created a custom neck for a reasonable fee. It took a long time and wasn't exactly how I specified but with some modification I made it work.
A cheap MIC generic paddle-head neck has a 65mm/2-1/4" heal, the Tonika heal is 2" wide so an extra 1/8" on both sides should still work. Their usual option is short-scale (30"), medium scale (32") or full scale (34") but they offer that they can make it any scale. (the Tonika is 31-1/4" so almost med scale) It would be the most economical tact.

Oh, and I don't know if they would do a zero fret...

 

[JIO]

Offered $59 (+ tax) from a US based eBay seller of this MIC neck. Same neck is being sold from China for only a few dollars less. It's 32" scale, 20 frets with a 42mm/1-5/8" nut, 64mm/2.5" heal. So same nut width, a wider heal, 2 less frets & no zero fret. I'm hoping I will be able to make it work as is but am prepared to modify as needed. As much as I would like it to be to 'original' specs - I can't justify the cost of a custom neck for this bass. I'll get it visually as close as possible and also have a playable bass w/o breaking the bank.

 

[HoHumbucker]

Offered $59 (+ tax) from a US based eBay seller of this MIC neck. Same neck is being sold from China for only a few dollars less. It's 32" scale, 20 frets with a 42mm/1-5/8" nut, 64mm/2.5" heal. So same nut width, a wider heal, 2 less frets & no zero fret. I'm hoping I will be able to make it work as is but am prepared to modify as needed. As much as I would like it to be to 'original' specs - I can't justify the cost of a custom neck for this bass. I'll get it visually as close as possible and also have a playable bass w/o breaking the bank.


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To be honest, this is about the same way Soviet builders of just about everything they had to make went about provisioning their builds (instruments, tractors, vacuum pumps, electronics, et al.). They had to make do with what they could get. I doubt that there is any one clean standard bass that went out the door. Sure, I expect most of them looked the part or close, but no guarantee they were the same. I don't see a lot of difference with how you are going about this rebuild in such a similar pragmatic fashion. Almost makes it more "realistic" to have a bit of a bodge job.

 

[JIO]

To be honest, this is about the same way Soviet builders of just about everything they had to make went about provisioning their builds (instruments, tractors, vacuum pumps, electronics, et al.). They had to make do with what they could get. I doubt that there is any one clean standard bass that went out the door. Sure, I expect most of them looked the part or close, but no guarantee they were the same. I don't see a lot of difference with how you are going about this rebuild in such a similar pragmatic fashion. Almost makes it more "realistic" to have a bit of a bodge job.

Good points all - it's more of a continuum... I feel that way about (vintage especially) instruments in general. We pass on and our instrument continues to provide creative input/output for its next owner(s).

 

[Bruce Johnson]

To be honest, this is about the same way Soviet builders of just about everything they had to make went about provisioning their builds (instruments, tractors, vacuum pumps, electronics, et al.). They had to make do with what they could get. I doubt that there is any one clean standard bass that went out the door. Sure, I expect most of them looked the part or close, but no guarantee they were the same. I don't see a lot of difference with how you are going about this rebuild in such a similar pragmatic fashion. Almost makes it more "realistic" to have a bit of a bodge job.

Yeah, and I'll add that there were a lot of European and American smaller manufacturers playing that same game. The musical instrument business is a constant battle to build as cheaply as possible. Not to get rich, but just to survive. Buying up batches of leftover/excess parts for cheap and adapting them to their designs is/was common practice.

 

[JIO]

Yeah, and I'll add that there were a lot of European and American smaller manufacturers playing that same game. The musical instrument business is a constant battle to build as cheaply as possible. Not to get rich, but just to survive. Buying up batches of leftover/excess parts for cheap and adapting them to their designs is/was common practice.

So true. Our TSC drummer Phil joked that if he ever "won the lottery" he would open a drum store and lose all that money!

 

[JIO]

Update about the neck...when you click "make offer" on eBay, a three tier 'offer' window appears. All three offers are below the stated price. You can also post your own lower offer but it's unlikely they will accept it. So since there was a number of the same MIC neck being sold by different US sellers at different prices, I chose the lowest 'offers'. Usually it's accepted otherwise why would it be an option? However, the first three sent a 'counteroffer' only a few dollars less than their BIN price. One sent a 'counteroffer' of the same asking price! So I kept searching and found a CA seller who had a 32 scale 21 fret version. (all others were 20 frets) So I sent an offer ($57, asking $67) and regardless of how they respond, I'll buy it because I want 21 frets.

Breaking news -

Hah! Cancelled my offer because I found the same neck BIN for $37.32! ($40.54 w/tax) Now I'll have no qualms doing whatever I need to do to make that neck work!

 

[joeLowB]

Update about the neck...when you click "make offer" on eBay, a three tier 'offer' window appears. All three offers are below the stated price. You can also post your own lower offer but it's unlikely they will accept it. So since there was a number of the same MIC neck being sold by different US sellers at different prices, I chose the lowest 'offers'. Usually it's accepted otherwise why would it be an option? However, the first three sent a 'counteroffer' only a few dollars less than their BIN price. One sent a 'counteroffer' of the same asking price! So I kept searching and found a CA seller who had a 32 scale 21 fret version. (all others were 20 frets) So I sent an offer ($57, asking $67) and regardless of how they respond, I'll buy it because I want 21 frets.

Breaking news -

Hah! Cancelled my offer because I found the same neck BIN for $37.32! ($40.54 w/tax) Now I'll have no qualms doing whatever I need to do to make that neck work!

This is great! And in the Spirit of this bass...almost as if you wandered down to the open air market in Minsk or St Petersburg and started scrounging around with the vendors...making offers...getting responses...having odd negotiations...and then, you found the one you really wanted after the rooting around was done for the appropriate time. Gotta figure so many of these instruments were likely built in such a similar manner originally.

Glad you found a neck that can work!!

 

[JIO]

This is great! And in the Spirit of this bass...almost as if you wandered down to the open air market in Minsk or St Petersburg and started scrounging around with the vendors...making offers...getting responses...having odd negotiations...and then, you found the one you really wanted after the rooting around was done for the appropriate time. Gotta figure so many of these instruments were likely built in such a similar manner originally.

Glad you found a neck that can work!!

A good story always makes things better! You'd be a good 'press agent'!

 

[JIO]

Check out all these vintage Russian guitars/basses! (thanks @Torkhov !)

Советские гитары: Форумы / Гитары СССР / АТЛАС ЭЛЕКТРОГИТАР СССР

 

[Wyrdlow]

Check out all these vintage Russian guitars/basses! (thanks @Torkhov !)

Советские гитары: Форумы / Гитары СССР / АТЛАС ЭЛЕКТРОГИТАР СССР

Some great looking instruments there. Some... less so!
I could be tempted by some of the violin shaped ones or semi-hollow bodies. The most bizarre to my eyes is the Tonika - no idea what they were aiming at aesthetically. It does have a certain something, though.

Some of the factory names are interesting; I can't imagine the "750th Plant of Technical Means of Propaganda" was a hotbed of luthiery excellence!