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Help with an obscure Supreme bass.

Cycleops

Cycleops

Nov 13, 2019
118
117
#1
I hadn't heard of Supreme before but this popped up for sale locally. It's obviously a Jazz copy and looks nicely made. I enquired of the seller who said Supreme was a subdivision of Gibson that sold only basses. I have found absolutely no evidence of that.
There's no nothing on the back of the headstock and no serial number or make on the neck plate. It's being offered for $380.
Could it be a one off Chinese custom? Any ideas?
Worth a punt?

Screenshot_20240702-222250.pngScreenshot_20240702-221045.png
 
#2
Cycleops said:
I hadn't heard of Supreme before but this popped up for sale locally. It's obviously a Jazz copy and looks nicely made. I enquired of the seller who said Supreme was a subdivision of Gibson that sold only basses. I have found absolutely no evidence of that.
There's no nothing on the back of the headstock and no serial number or make on the neck plate. It's being offered for $380.
Could it be a one off Chinese custom? Any ideas?
Worth a punt?

View attachment 6970375View attachment 6970378
Click to expand...


Thomann has a page with a few items under that brand, but not any guitars or basses,
Invalid Link Removed. I can't find a website for them.
 
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#6
Clark W said:
Well it wasn't much of find other than country of origin. I would like to know more about them myself.
Click to expand...
I don't know if you're aware but I'm a Brit who is now living in Ghana. So I'm always on the lookout for real basses.
I should explain, About 95% of the basses being offered here are fakes, mainly Fender Jazz made cheaply in China, but they now fake cheaper brands now like Ibanez. So if anything comes along that looks half way decent I jump on it, but I could find anything on this brand. This particular seller has got some decent stuff which I think he brings from Japan like this Bill's Brother's, another make I hadn't heard of before:

Screenshot_20240703-172340.png


This is cheaper than the Supreme but I understand is good quality.
 
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#8
Cycleops said:
I hadn't heard of Supreme before but this popped up for sale locally. It's obviously a Jazz copy and looks nicely made. I enquired of the seller who said Supreme was a subdivision of Gibson that sold only basses. I have found absolutely no evidence of that.
There's no nothing on the back of the headstock and no serial number or make on the neck plate. It's being offered for $380.
Could it be a one off Chinese custom? Any ideas?
Worth a punt?

View attachment 6970375View attachment 6970378
Click to expand...
Gibson never had a Supreme division, although they did have upscale product lines with that moniker. Also, Gibson would never produce a Fender Shaped Object: all hell would break out if they did.
I'd say it's either a store house brand or an AliExpress made in China. Either way the asking price seems a little high.
 
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#12
I've just had a set-up on a Supreme jazzbass used at a local school. The sound is quite good (it seems like someone has upgraded the pickups), and after schielding the cavity, the noise is gone, but the tuners are really low quality and the wood in the neck is soft, so I think $380 is far too much, even for a brand new one. The quality of a low range squier, yamaha or ibanez will be much better. I changed the tuners, installed carbon fiber reinforcement rods under the fretboard (removed and glued back) and levelled the frets and now it is totally another bass :)
 

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