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Hartke bass guitars???

Fingerpickingood

Fingerpickingood

Guest
Oct 30, 2014
1,103
1,277
Texas
#1
The only threads I could find on the actual instruments that Hartke made (or just sold) were very old and contained little to no actual information regarding the quality of the basses.

Have any of you fine folks played one. I'm currently on a road trip, and I found one in a pawnshop for less than $100. I'm wondering if it's even worth checking out.

TIA!!!
 
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#4
I'm actually not certain. I had a destination in mind, and the pawnshop happened to be right next to the restaurant where I had lunch. I just saw it hanging there, and had to make sure I wasn't reading the name incorrectly. I'll pass by on the way back in a couple of days, so I can get a pic then. It was priced at $70, so I wondered if it was worth a grab.
 
#7
They used to sell cheap starter basses.

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#12
mrufino1 said:
They also had a line of basses using the vaccaro aluminum necks, they were somewhat expensive at the time if I remember correctly. But the one that has been pointed out here is obviously not that.
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No, I would've noticed an aluminum neck! :roflmao:

dreamadream99 said:
I worked at a music store during Hartke's golden era, and all I remember were the very cheap starter packages, with uniformly poorly set up basses.
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So, it's not worth it even as a cheap mod platform?
 
#13
Actaully Hartke/Samson had some very nice basses

There was an XL series that had aluminum necks, the was a NT series that had flame maple tops both in 4 and 5 string, there was an AK series, a WK series, and the entry level SB series they ranged in price from $200.00 all the way up to about $1000.00

I actually owned one of the NT series when i first got back into playing after a hiatus because the local music store was blowing them out cheap...was around 2002...was actually a very nice bass...but i ended up selling it for mare than i paid for it and moved on to an ESP
 
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#15
I would check it out! Play it and see if you like it. That's what counts.
It's probably more of a novelty item, considering that they never really caught on.

Harte basses are now sold by Samson, or were until recently.
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These are probably not very similar to the old aluminum necks.

The recent Harte X4 has a poplar body. Poplar wood basses sell in the $200-$350 range used, if I'm not mistaken, and that's for the good ones.
 
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#18
fretter said:
I would check it out! Play it and see if you like it. That's what counts.
It's probably more of a novelty item, considering that they never really caught on.

Harte basses are now sold by Samson, or were until recently.
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These are probably not very similar to the old aluminum necks.

The recent Harte X4 has a poplar body. Poplar wood basses sell in the $200-$350 range used, if I'm not mistaken, and that's for the good ones.
Click to expand...

Great answer- ultimately, I would recommend trying it out. I remember one of the best P bass clones I played personally in terms of feel (the pickups were terrible though but of course could be changed) was a Crate. lol.. Better than the Squier that was sitting next to it.

That Hartke X4 though listed for over $2000, street price of around $1000 - not a cheap bass. Currently a used one for under $900 on Reverb.

Here are some of the features.

Hartke XL-4 Electric Bass Guitar w/ Aluminum Neck
Poplar body
34″ scale length
Double T-Bar aluminum neck
Chrome-plated headstock
Rock Tiger maple neck
Nickel silver frets
Zero fret for flawless open string response
EMG pickups
Dual volume controls
Bass/Treble control
Chrome bridge
Custom Sperzel locking tuners
Brushed aluminum finish pickguard
Made in U.S.A
 

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