Double Bass Help me ID this Bass (Cremona?)

[jmpiwonka]

Not saying that at all. But the owner of this bass bought it in 1989, and at that time was told it was a Japanese instrument. This totally fits with the timeline of the Japanese Cremona brand, and the first I ever heard discussion of the Chinese ones wasn't until years later. I think it would be great if someone could find out when the Chinese brand started being sold. It might clear some things up for the OP. If the Chinese brand of Cremonas was being sold in the US in 1989, and the labels for them matches the one in his bass, then I'd say that's pretty solid evidence of what he has. On the other hand, if the Chinese basses weren't exported until 1998 or so, it's probably not what he has. So I hope someone will contact the company and find out.

Edit: Well, there you go. Thanks Martin.
From the Saga website: The Cremona brand was established in 1981 by Saga Musical Instruments in San Francisco, California
and the logo is what's on the OP's label. I stand corrected. Maybe the OP should ask SAGA where they were being made in 1989, but I'd guess they have no connection to the Japanese brand.

Saga could’ve definitely sourced instruments from romania and/or japan before china really got rolling with their db production.

The bass in the original post looks similar to a “Suzuki” labeled db that I saw locally a while back. From the late 80’s or early 90’s.

 

[Martin Beer]

One of Saga's other lines is the Kentucky range of mandolins, and those have been made in Japan, Korea and China over the years, if I recall correctly. I've seen mandolin players on other forums contact them and get good answers on what was made where and when. So it does seem possible that they've had the same branded instrument made in different places over time, and that they could probably help clarify.
I'm not certain when the Chinese basses we're familiar with started appearing - I remember looking at entry level basses as a kid in the early-mid 90s and a local shop had one Chinese bass called a Skylark that was visibly much cruder then even the cheapest today, a Korean bass that looked a little better, then Romanian above those.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

I get about a dozen of these through my shop every year. Some are decent student grade basses and some are just awful. Some I don't mind working on, and some I hope to never see again. As someone already posted, don't put too much into it beyond maintaining playability... not much point in spending $$$ on restoration.

Unrelated funny story... one of these came in one time -brand new bass- with the soundpost sticking clean through the back. It evidently took a hard shot to the top in transit from A to B, and the force was enough to jam the post right on though the plywood without hurting anything else. That one's out in the world somewhere with a big square patch inside and a plugged hole in the back.

 

[getBAK]

I've pretty much decided to keep the thing as-is. It's not worth restoring, I don't think it's worth anything to sell, and there's no reason to get rid of it. Honestly my days of gigging an upright are long over - too much of a PITA. I may end up getting an EUB at some point... but I would need to be consistently working with a group where that was part of the vibe.

 

[SwedeChariot]

I know this isn't a recent thread, but I've just joined the forum with some questions about my daughter's Japanese Cremona, and I thought one link in particular might interest you. A Japanese blogger has a page about Cremona basses, which you can read with Google translate here.

You can also see my post with pictures of my daughter's Cremona bass, which is similar to yours.

I think you'll find it reassuring, in that the author believes Cremona was making good quality instruments by the 1970s (though whether that applies equally to export and domestic basses, I can't say). My daughter shopped her Cremona against a couple of recent Eastman's and chose the Cremona.

If Asian bass production has followed the same pattern as other stringed instruments, I think what probably happened is this: the brand started in Japan, then was moved first to Korea (sometimes Indonesia) then to China as labour became more expensive in each country. They often moved the patterns and tooling, so the same model might have a Japanese era, a Korean era, a Chinese era (and sometimes QA was a little shoddy after making the jump, and then later instruments would improve).

Saga is actually quite good at finding good makers, as evidenced by their Kentucky mandolins and Blueridge guitars. These, along with Eastman, have a reputation of being the "good" Chinese instruments.