Got an Epiphone ET-285 with a case today...

[radioripster]

... and I'm really glad that it does.

Hey everybody,

Ding-dong goes the door bell and there's the FedEx guy with a bass case. Yep, I could tell it was a bass case alright.

That's exactly as it was delivered to me.

I signed my name on the electronic gizmo, thanked the guy, shook my head and sent him on his way with me saying something like, "You'd think that they might have put it in a box." heh.

A fair amount of packing tape was applied directly on the case, along with the address paper and a few shipping stickers.

I wasn't irked too much because it got here in pretty good shape, and after few minutes, I began to think about old luggage and how that old base case is essentially luggage too.

It's an old case...and sure enough, there's an old bass inside.

It's an Epiphone ET-285.

How I came about this thing was because I have been looking around for good, used cases so that all my basses would have one and I can get rid of some the ratty gig bags that I have.

While I was looking around for prospects, I ran across this cool old case that just happened to have an Epiphone bass included. Then I noticed that it wasn't listed properly.

I waited and put in my offer and I got it for 130 bucks.

I wasn't looking to buy this bass, but I thought..ok, I'll keep the case, sell the bass and come out ahead with a free case and probably make a few bucks.

Problem with that scenario is..this Epiphpone is really nice.

This bass is really clean in its fit and finish with a very nice factory nitro lacquer sunburst paint job and 34" scale.

I had read about these and some people liked them..some think they're early 70s crap -junk- pawn shop stuff like what was coming out of Japan back then. This one ain't one of those.

The same people that made the good Aria Pro II, Westone, Washburn, Electra..etc. instruments, made this bass for Epiphone from '72 to '79..er. something like that. My first bass was an Aria Pro II CSB-380 and it was a really nice little bass...still is.

It was made at Matsumoku plant in Japan.

This is an early one from what I can tell. It has the early pickups without the pickup rings and the old original knobs.


First things first..does the truss rod work? Yes, and quite nicely after I removed the truss rod nut, cleaned it and smoothed it up with some 000 steel wool..applied some Johnson's wax to it and on the threads. Smooth operator now.

The bridge pickup wasn't working so a checked the resistance with a meter and it was reading zip. I de-soldered the wires from the circuit then put the meter on it...yep..9.3K or there abouts. hmmm..I soldered back in and it worked..must of had a wonky solder joint.

Deoxit-ed the pots and selector switch, cleaned the bling, Mean Greened the really nice, but funky-dirty Brazilian rosewood board and sealed it with a light coat of boiled linseed oil. Disassembled the tuners..cleaned and lubed. Cleaned the body and neck..gave it a coat and buff x 2 with Johnson's wax. I strung it up..tweaked the truss rod a couple of times..set the action...intonation..attached the last of the little stuff and plugged it it.

I'm here to say that this bass is a pretty nice instrument. The action is low and will be able to be lowered further after a small amount of of fret leveling . possibly a small amount of neck shim and take about a 32nd off the nut to lower the string height on that end of the neck

It has its original frets that are in really good shape thanks to the flatwounds that this bass has probably worn for all of its life.
It's not heavy..it's balanced well..and it sounds good. It really does.

It has an above average feel of real quality for that era too. The neck is a bit chunky, but that's not a big deal to me.

So, I got a really cool old bass case that I had been looking for...and a great bass thrown in too.

It was a good day..

yep...


rattle...rattle.

 

[Oren Hudson]

That's a fantastic score! Those basses are very cool. I've had one for about 15 years.

 

[radioripster]

That's a fantastic score! Those basses are very cool. I've had one for about 15 years.

Cool! I think I'm a new fan of old Epiphones now.

Do you ever gig with yours? I think I might with this one.

Got a photo too?

 

[Oren Hudson]

Cool! I think I'm a new fan of old Epiphones now.

Do you ever gig with yours? I think I might with this one.

Got a photo too?

I have gigged with it, but it's been a while. I'll work on getting some pics. I'll need to check, but I think that I also got a case just like yours with it.

 

[radioripster]

I have gigged with it, but it's been a while. I'll work on getting some pics. I'll need to check, but I think that I got I also got a case just like yours with it.

No foolin'? That would be fantastic if they turned out to be original cases.

Something that came to mind while I was playing this thing with its single pole piece per string pickups is that it's like playing a early-mid 50s p bass in the way that you pluck the strings. You have to give it a good tug and sharp release sometimes more than a modern bass. I like that though. heh.

 

[mtdkingstonheir]

Cool find - that bass looks near mint!

 

[Oren Hudson]

Th

Cool! I think I'm a new fan of old Epiphones now.

Do you ever gig with yours? I think I might with this one.

Got a photo too?

I was finally able to get a few shots of mine. I checked the case. It's not where I can get a good pic of it, but it's identical to yours.

There you go.

 

[Oren Hudson]

Sorry about the double pic posts. I'm not sure how that happened.

 

[radioripster]

Lookie there! She's a sweetie too!

You have the early one as well.

From what I can tell and it's certainly not the gospel, but I get the impression that the first version was only around for a year...possibly two. I've yet to find an early catalog where our version is shown.

I've also googled -yahoo'd with as many combinations of key words in the search to find the "H-47 Hardshell (Plush) Case" .

If we have the original cases, unless it had a different model number than the '73 - '74 models, then H-47 it is.

Mine has had the handle replaced sometime during its existence.

Maybe one day when you can get to it or feel like shooting a picture..heh

Oren, I sure appreciate you taking the time and effort to take some pictures and share them.

..and get that thing out and play it some!

yeah!

 

[radioripster]

Sorry about the double pic posts. I'm not sure how that happened.

heh..I'm alright with it..

 

[radioripster]

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I was finally able to get a few shots of mine. I checked the case. It's not where I can get a good pic of it, but it's identical to yours.

There you go.

This picture of mine was taken just after I managed to get the case open with all the packing tape that was wrapped around it. It took me a good half an hour to get all that tape and adhesive off and cleaned.

Here's the only print stuff that I've found.

So..hopefully some more information will present itself down the road. I'll keep looking around in the meantime.

 

[radioripster]

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I was finally able to get a few shots of mine. I checked the case. It's not where I can get a good pic of it, but it's identical to yours.

There you go.

This picture of mine was taken just after I managed to get the case open with all the packing tape that was wrapped around it. It took me a good half an hour to get all that tape and adhesive off and cleaned.

Here's the only print stuff that I've found.

Adjusted for inflation (1973 vs 2015), the 285 would cost $1,038.28 ($194.50) and the H-47 case would cost you $293.60 ($55.00) today.

A total of $1331.88! A lot of coin back then. heh.

The top catalog page has a 1974 date at the bottom right the below it is probably a '73 catalog page since the price for the 285 was more expensive. ~shrugs~.

So..hopefully some more information will present itself down the road. I'll keep looking around in the meantime.

 

[bholder]

This picture of mine was taken just after I managed to get the case open with all the packing tape that was wrapped around it. It took me a good half an hour to get all that tape and adhesive off and cleaned.

Here's the only print stuff that I've found.

So..hopefully some more information will present itself down the road. I'll keep looking around in the meantime.

Cool catalog pages, has my favorite old Epi on there, the EA-260. My first bass that was actually mine, first I ever bought with my own money, like an idiot I sold it to get something better. I missed it, now I have 3.

 

[radioripster]

Cool catalog pages, has my favorite old Epi on there, the EA-260. My first bass that was actually mine, first I ever bought with my own money, like an idiot I sold it to get something better. I missed it, now I have 3.

Well..I'm glad that you have THREE others to replace it! haha.

I started with an Aria Pro CSB-380 and now I have two including my first one which is in such bad shape and looking for a replacement neck for it now The transparent blue one and even though I still have it, I miss it too. heh.

I really have been taken in with this Epiphone. I think a lot of it is that there's nothing really like it these days. It just has a different "thing" to it. Maybe all the years of Fenders and Fender-like basses put me in a pigeonhole of sorts. It's kinda outside of the Fender box and it's appealing because it works for me so far.

Anyway..rattle-rattle as I'm known to do. heh.

 

[Oren Hudson]

I had a chance to get a better look at my case. Discovered that, even though it looks identical to your Epiphone on the outside, it's actually for a 1981 Kramer Vanguard (flying V) that I have. That means that I'm not sure what case that I got with the Epiphone. I discovered some printouts that I had made for the ET285 from the unofficial epiphone wiki. If you can locate that, there's a fair amount of info there. Looks like there were maybe 2 versions during it's 7 or so year run. Differences being the pickups and control knobs that I can see. BTW - the original sale from Ebay is in my file. I bought it June 23rd 2003 for $199.99 plus $9.99 shipping.

 

[radioripster]

Hey Oren...

I'm glad you have a hard case for it anyway. It's not all that much of a big deal to me about the case, but I am wondering what the actual Epiphone hardshell case looks like in any event. Usually the cases that I've seen are the Epiphone fiber board kind or some other aftermarket case. ~shrugs~

Yeah..two versions..actually three if you consider the knobs. I've seen the old knobs like we have with the old and new style pick ups and newer style knobs with the newer style pick ups.

The old style pickups that we have, without the pick up rings, are single coil and the newer style appear to be humbuckers.

So here are examples of the three. pick ups and knob variations.

The first one is mine and the other two were found on the internet.

I'm no expert on the subject but, I like learning this stuff for whatever reason. heh.

 

[BillinAnchorage]

Amazing. That is the first bass I ever had. My Dad bought one for me when I was 15 years old. That and a crappy practice amp. Unfortunately the bass was stolen about 20 years ago. I wished I still owned it. Maybe I'll find one someday. Thanks for posting.

 

[radioripster]

Amazing. That is the first bass I ever had. My Dad bought one for me when I was 15 years old. That and a crappy practice amp. Unfortunately the bass was stolen about 20 years ago. I wished I still owned it. Maybe I'll find one someday. Thanks for posting.

Gosh, I'm sorry to hear that it was stolen.

I sure hope the opportunity for you to get another one comes around.

And thanks for replying.

 

[bholder]

Well..I'm glad that you have THREE others to replace it! haha.

The first was in very rough shape, more of a project, the 2nd is near mint, and the 3rd is a fretless stripped husk, have to decide what pickups it's going to get.

 

[25oclock]

Great looking bass! What do they sound like?