My first bass resurrected (including back-story)

[JIO]

I always donate gear I'm done with to young musicians. The karma is worth more that guitar center/pawn shop trade in prices.

Good on yah!

 

[JIO]

Very cool project, looking forward to updates.

I really wish I had kept my first bass. A Hofner single cut, hollow body. A 60's version of the club bass. I bought it used for $100 in 1969. It would likely be worth thousands today.

Hah! Hindsight, as they say - is golden! My third bass, a '63 T-bird II, bought at a hock-shop in Omaha Nebraska (w/OHSC) for $150 in '74, stollen in '78, would be worth multiple thousands today as only 3 were produced that year. Who knew?

 

[JIO]

Rocker switches, slide switches, and wafer control knobs. I mean, how much more cool can you get? If only back then we had known about truss rods, set up, and intonation. Most of us just assumed the instrument as we got it from the store was set up like it was supposed to be.

This couldn't be truer - for years I too slagged these '60s Japanese gems in retrospect for this very reason. (before I became "woke" ) I still hear many on tb dis them as "junk" / "firewood" etc. (that's ok - it keeps the prices down ) Realistically, not all of these guitars/basses were capable of being legit players - but many weren't given the chance simply due to poor set-up. And in retrospect, these instruments are now over 50yrs old - so even if the wood was "cheap" then, it has aged into vintage tone-wood territory, like any Fender, Gibson, Guild, Gretsch etc.

 

[JIO]

Yeah. But intonation was a crapshoot with the mostly two saddle bridges. I used a tuning fork to help tune up. E on the D string.

But it was so much fun!

I could upgrade the two saddle bridge... but won't. I'll get it "close enough" and leave it at that. I'm guessing it won't be that far off.

 

[JIO]

But not this.

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definitely not...

 

[RexxRokket]

It has the Thunderbird vibes definitively, I'm curious about how will it sound. Very nice project.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Now, now people. Everybody knows the musician food pyramid is fat, sugar, salt, caffeine, but any of those "pyramids" are Boring for an inlay.

Would be abbreviated, but just enough room for recognizable DSotM

Then there's your all seeing eye floaty pyramid thing, etc.

But plane it off (and I assume put some veneer to build up thickness) has already been stated as the likely (and most "restore to stock") choice. Ah, I guess no veneer glue on, as this part is out where the thickness is not important.

 

[JIO]

It has the Thunderbird vibes definitively, I'm curious about how will it sound. Very nice project.

My initial check-over showed it made bass sounds and a pretty strong output at that. I'll use the original V/T pots, add a cap and install a new jack which should get it to sound decent. Being mostly mahogany, it should be in Gibson territory tone-wise.

 

[JIO]

But plane it off (and I assume put some veneer to build up thickness) has already been stated as the likely (and most "restore to stock") choice. Ah, I guess no veneer glue on, as this part is out where the thickness is not important.

I won't need to remove much wood - and I can use the saw-dust to mix w/glue and fill the few dings on the side.

 

[GretschWretch]

Man, I remember that era. Arlan's department store for me, plus the Sears catalog. I was mostly interested in the guitars then. I figured the ones with 4 pickups must be the best. Look forward to seeing your treatment of this.

Ah yes; the Sears Christmas Wishbook and all that.

sears catalog guitars - Google Search

spiegel catalog guitars - Google Search

ward's catalog guitars - Google Search

Play the game yourselves. Just keep catalog and guitars in all your searches and change the name of the store (being sure to always be looking at the "images" page). Not represented here are Lafayette Electronics, Radio Shack, Heathkit, even Western Auto.

 

[GretschWretch]

And as a postscript I'll add this; I had a light bulb moment when I was preparing my last post. I had never done this particular search before, but the results strongly indicate that Marvel is 1950s product, which gradually morphed into Premier in the 1960s.

sorkin catalog guitars - Google Search

 

[JIO]

And as a postscript I'll add this; I had a light bulb moment when I was preparing my last post. I had never done this particular search before, but the results strongly indicate that Marvel is 1950s product, which gradually morphed into Premier in the 1960s.

sorkin catalog guitars - Google Search

Thanks for all the archival links researching these old warhorses is always fun and part of why I take on projects like this.

 

[Wood and Wire]

Or this:
View attachment 5039561

Or this :

Make like the ambassador's reception, and really spoil us.

 

[Lo-E]

Not represented here are Lafayette Electronics, Radio Shack, Heathkit, even Western Auto.

My first bass was actually quite good (and I still have it; a 1979 Ibanez Studio) but my second was something out of the GEM Electronics catalog. It was from the very beginning of Korean instrument imports in the US, which coincided with Japanese quality increasing in the 70s and importers needing a new source of cheap guitars. I bought it from a friend for $50.

It. Was. Terrible.

It was a Jazz bass copy, of sorts. Plywood body, “mahogany” neck, rosewood veneer fingerboard (really! It was veneer!) with brass frets, big plastic block inlays with giant gaps, poor plating on flimsy hardware….

All in all, that Korean catalog guitar was nowhere near as good as the Japanese catalog guitars of ten years prior like yours. And, despite all its flaws and owning a much better instrument at the time (so I knew the difference), I actually had a lot of fun playing that GEM bass and I remember it sounding pretty okay.

Ultimately its veneer fingerboard started delaminating and the frets started falling out. At that point it became wall art and its whereabouts were eventually lost to the sands of time.

Your bass, on the other hand, has a lot more structural integrity than my old GEM ever had. I’ll bet it’s going to be a really cool player when you’re done with it. Enjoy!!

 

[JIO]

My first bass was actually quite good (and I still have it; a 1979 Ibanez Studio) but my second was something out of the GEM Electronics catalog. It was from the very beginning of Korean instrument imports in the US, which coincided with Japanese quality increasing in the 70s and importers needing a new source of cheap guitars. I bought it from a friend for $50.

It. Was. Terrible.

It was a Jazz bass copy, of sorts. Plywood body, “mahogany” neck, rosewood veneer fingerboard (really! It was veneer!) with brass frets, big plastic block inlays with giant gaps, poor plating on flimsy hardware….

All in all, that Korean catalog guitar was nowhere near as good as the Japanese catalog guitars of ten years prior like yours. And, despite all its flaws and owning a much better instrument at the time (so I knew the difference), I actually had a lot of fun playing that GEM bass and I remember it sounding pretty okay.

Ultimately its veneer fingerboard started delaminating and the frets started falling out. At that point it became wall art and its whereabouts were eventually lost to the sands of time.

Your bass, on the other hand, has a lot more structural integrity than my old GEM ever had. I’ll bet it’s going to be a really cool player when you’re done with it. Enjoy!!

Thanks for your reflections! Yes, as time moves on, quality gets better. Korean parts are very high quality now - similar to Japanese quality. If I see something made in Korea, I know it will be good quality.

 

[JIO]

Triangle gone (~poof~)

Removed the heal-joint finish residue while I was at it.

 

[JIO]

More on how I deduced that this was the bass I started on...

Since I don't have a picture of it or me playing it - I pieced together a number of (foggy) memories which lead to me believing this bass is like the one I started on.

I recall it having a ‘G-side’ pg, and that it was metal. I remembered this because at one point I used colored electrical tape to create a flag-motif on it. (red & white stripes & a blue field w/white stars) Everyone was doing the flag motif back then - it was a late '60s counter-cultural thing to do. I also recall making a small moquette/model of it of balsa wood and that I painted it red with a black halo. These days they sell these 'miniatures' of various guitars and basses on ebay - but they didn't then (no internet!) and I did it just because that's the kind of thing I did as an artist kid. I also remembered it being a 4-in-line tuner hs, and that it had a bound neck but with dotted position markers. I also remembered it had only one pu and two (V/T) knobs. And as already disclosed, I remember it being big (full 34" scale). As there were very few 34" scale basses coming out of Japan in the '60s - it kind of narrows it down. It only occurred in the late '60s in what was the waning days of the '60s guitar-boom.

 

[definenredefine]

Everyone was doing the flag motif back then - it was a late '60s counter-cultural thing to do.

Not to derail the thread, but I kinda wish it was still the counter-cultural thing to do...

 

[JIO]

Not to derail the thread, but I kinda wish it was still the counter-cultural thing to do...

We all need to 'tow-the-line' here at tb... trust me, I support your feelings but let's not get my thread shut-down shall we?

And FTR related to your "by-line" - I love my drummers. A good drummer who I can relate to personally and creatively inspires me to be a better bass-player. I currently play in two bands with two different drummers, and jam with a couple more - and absolutely love them all. I like a drummer.

 

[definenredefine]

We all need to 'tow-the-line' here at tb... trust me, I support your feelings but let's not get my thread shut-down shall we?

Apologies. Certainly no harm intended and...honestly was a bit hesitant to post that comment. Mods, feel free to to delete.

And FTR related to your "by-line" - I love my drummers. A good drummer who I can relate to personally and creatively inspires me to be a better bass-player. I currently play in two bands with two different drummers, and jam with a couple more - and absolutely love them all. I like a drummer.

I appreciate that. It's really just a mildly satirical comment on the "fire the drummer" meme that seems pretty common on these forums.