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my new Magnatone Hurricane

jjmartone

jjmartone

Feb 6, 2007
54
15
Baltimore, MD
www.joemartonebass.com
#1
Hey guys, just wanted to show off my new bass that I got for Christmas. It was found at a flea market and purchased for $20. Apparently Magnatone only made these for 2 years, 65-66. I was told the serial number is from 66 but I'm not sure. I've had a really hard time finding info on this bass. Was hoping some of you might be able to tell me more.

Well the highlight of this bass is definitly the neck, hard maple, fat and feels great, very tight and punchy sound, with a great looking brazilian rosewood fingerboard. Reminds me of a Ric 4001 neck a little bit. The poplar body doesn't weigh much but has a great resonant and gritty tone. The passize pickup actually sounds really good.

When first bought this bass had black felt thumbtacked all around, the original bridge was broken, and there were only two strings attached but hanging slack. She's had a good re-painting along with new tuners, a new input, and a bridge that doesn't quite fit. Here's my dilemma. I need a bridge that uses five mounting screws and has a string spacing of 1 and 7/8 inches if the strings are to be directly above the poles on the pickup. The only bridge I've found that comes close is the Hipshot Vintage bridge at 2 inches (.667) but these are on backorder and I can't find them in music stores or online. Was wondering if anyone here would know of a similar bridge that might work?

There really isn't much more to do except fix the 8th fret which has worked its way out a little bit and wait for the neck to settle in now that new strings have been put on.

Some pictures:
hurricane1.jpg

hurricane3.jpg

hurricane2.jpg

hurricane5.jpg
 
#4
Very nice! I've got one that I plan on restoring. The Magnatones were a Paul Barth creation - he was the one who designed the original pickups for Rickenbacker when they started.
The original bridge had an adjustable mute built into it. A wheel on the bottom (next to the knobs) allowed you to raise/lower the mute at will. Another interesting thing about these basses is that they were using a zero fret long before it became popular.
They are great little basses. You got a great deal on this. In good shape, they go from $350-600, when you can find one. I spent about 2 years looking for the one I have, and I still need to restore it.
 
#6
Thanks for the info gweimer! Have any plans for your Hurricane? If all else fails that neck is definitly worth throwing on another body.

I don't have the bridge with me right now, but I'm pretty sure it just needs saddles. I suppose the person who fixed it up just wanted to get strings on as soon as possible and went with the Fender replacement. I'll post some pics tomorrow after I get the bridge back.
 
#7
Have any plans for your Hurricane?
Click to expand...

The person I got it from had painted it completely black, including the neck and headstock. And really poorly at that. I'm going to have to try and strip off the finish and see if I can restore the neck and headstock. I'll probably refin the body. I might keep it black, but that pink is pretty tempting. I have all the pieces, and I believe that they all work.
 
#8
gweimer said:
The person I got it from had painted it completely black, including the neck and headstock. And really poorly at that. I'm going to have to try and strip off the finish and see if I can restore the neck and headstock. I'll probably refin the body. I might keep it black, but that pink is pretty tempting. I have all the pieces, and I believe that they all work.
Click to expand...

Magnatone also made a blonde Hofner -style violin bass. I picked one up at the factory in Harmony, PA., in 1969 for $125. They also made decent amplifiers -- the guitar amps has a true vibrato circuit -- pitch change, not volume. The bass amps were also very clean and sounded better than than Kustom.

No infor on guitars, but here's a link to a Magnatone amp archive.
Invalid Link Removed
 
#11
Very cool bass - love the color. I have a MP-1 (amp) that I hope to get working one day, needs caps.

For your bridge, if you can't find anything to give you the string spacing you want you could get a cheap Fender style bridge and replace the saddles with a piece of wood like on some Hagstroms and Danos. You'll probably have to enlongate the holes for the strings to get a straight/er approach to the bridge.

I've been thinking about doing that for quite a while and experimenting with different woods for different tones. I don't believe body wood makes as much difference as some others, but do suspect that playing around with different bridge woods would give some interesting results.
 
#12
bridge2.jpg

bridge1.jpg


gweimer - I don't know how much the restoration was since this bass was a Christmas present. A good friend of ours fixed it up though and I doubt he charged much The tuners and bridge are on the cheaper side. The paint job was probably the most expensive part of it all. Could you maybe explain a little about your Hurricane bridge? From here it looks like there's simply a rectangular metal piece that acts as a saddle? I read somewhere else that each string for this bridge should have its own saddle.

GlennW - That is a really cool idea but I'm kind of worried about intonation and being able to adjust it for each string. Would that be possible with one piece of wood acting as a saddle for all the strings? What kinds of woods have worked best for you?
 
#13
If you look at the bridge on mine, you see the mute pad. The two circular posts are where the bridge saddles mount. They float on top of the posts, and are held in place by the string tension.
Your bridge appears to be missing the mute pad, and also the wheel that adjusts the mute position.
 
#14
gweimer said:
If you look at the bridge on mine, you see the mute pad. The two circular posts are where the bridge saddles mount. They float on top of the posts, and are held in place by the string tension.
Your bridge appears to be missing the mute pad, and also the wheel that adjusts the mute position.
Click to expand...

Ah! Thanks for clarifying. You wouldn't happen to have a picture of the saddles would you?
 
#15
You could cut a piece of wood to straddle the thumbwheels as on the Tune-o-matic or an archtop bridge. It might take a while to get it perfect, but could be done and you'd be able to use the original tailpiece.
 
#18
Hey gweimer thanks for that picture. So I'd pretty much have to find an unslotted tunomatic and modify it for bass, don't think I'm cut out for that...If I had the mute and the adjustment knob I might consider it but it's prob. better not to worry about it. Well I decided to go with the Badass II which should give me the spacing I need, although it will be a very tight fit. And I can easily remove it again without modification.

So your up buddy! Let's see your restored Hurricane soon I hope!
 
#19
jjmartone said:
Hey gweimer thanks for that picture. So I'd pretty much have to find an unslotted tunomatic and modify it for bass, don't think I'm cut out for that...If I had the mute and the adjustment knob I might consider it but it's prob. better not to worry about it. Well I decided to go with the Badass II which should give me the spacing I need, although it will be a very tight fit. And I can easily remove it again without modification.

So your up buddy! Let's see your restored Hurricane soon I hope!
Click to expand...

I think you're on the right track by simply finding a bridge that works. I've got a Warwick bridge that I'm probably going to try and sell soon. ;)
 
#20
Hey guys,
I found this forum while trying to find some info on a 'hurricane' bass that I have as well. Here are some pics of mine. She has been repainted countless times and an aftermarket pickup has been installed. I plan on restoring her once I locate the original parts I need.
One thing that I havent seen on any of the basses here is the chrome bridge cover which originally came with the bass.

full.gif


headstock.gif


rearbody.gif


bodydetail.gif
 

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