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NBD Rare 1979 Epiphone Genesis Bass

Congrats. Those are brave little bass guitars. Even though they're long scale, the total length of the bass is not longer than a shortscale bass. But heavy as a boat anchor.
As far as I know the body is not mahogany. It believe it is maple (hence the heavy weight).
I have a Pearl Export Bass which is exactly the same instrument. The only difference is the shape of the headstock. The Epi Genesis basses were built in the Pearl factory.
(I did change the pickups over time on mine)
 
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Yes, the body and neck of the Genesis are maple, not mahogany.
A favorite of that period of Gibson & Epi solidbodies. I have a couple of Rippers and an RD Artist that are all maple, any one of which can put a groove in one's shoulder. ;)
 
Here's mine after the sex operation;)

The neck pickup is a Gibson Lo-z Bas humbucker (with 8 leads)
The bridge pickup is a Gibson Lo-z Guitar humbucker (with just 2 leads)
The controls are stacked volume/tone knobs per pickup.
A three way toggle for pickup selection. And a three position rotary switch for choosing the coil taps on the neck pickup.

3148124_orig.jpg
 
One of our guitarists had a Genesis bass. He bought it because he also had a Genesis guitar.

I had a go on it at his place over a guitar amp, nice sounding bass.
Played well, but quite heavy.

The guitarist said he'd give it to me if I'd sell my PJ.
He liked the idea of having a guitar & bass pair in the band.
But I liked the sound and feel of my PJ a bit better.

He sold the Genesis after a couple of months, it might be the one in the ad above.
 
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One of our guitarists had a Genesis bass. He bought it because he also had a Genesis guitar.

I had a go on it at his place over a guitar amp, nice sounding bass.
Played well, but quite heavy.

The guitarist said he'd give it to me if I'd sell my PJ.
He liked the idea of having a guitar & bass pair in the band.
But I liked the sound and feel of my PJ a bit better.

He sold the Genesis after a couple of months, it might be the one in the ad above.

Who nows... I bought it about 6 years ago in Leiden
 
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I think they were all U.S made? they weren't made for very long I regret selling mine I only sold it because I play seated and it didn't balance well because of those small horns.



The prototypes was rendered at the Gibson Kalamazoo plant, and later the "blueprints" were sent to Japan. to Shiro Arai founder and head of Aria, ( at that time in Japan the labor cost in half but was of exceptional quality, to even better than in USA)

Gibson states that Genesis guitars were made in Taiwan.
Epiphone Genesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Our Genesis collecting guitarist also said that the earlier models were U.S. made in Kalamazoo and the later ones Japanese. Turns out that only the prototypes were from the U.S. and Japan. I doubt that he had prototypes.
 
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I am primarily a guitar player. However, I got my first bass at age 17; it was an Epiphone Genesis.

I loved that bass. I sold it, out of spite & pressure. While in my first band, the bassist’s dog chewed out the speaker of my amp. But, he put the blame on me for leaving my amp at his apartment & refused to help with repairs.

For a month or so, I rehearsed with my guitar ran through a stereo speaker cab. The band held a meeting over it & gave me sh...

The bass player told me, “Come on, man. You’re the only one who doesn’t have “his own” equipment” (Everything was mine, I just didn’t have a cab speaker to HIS dog!)

I got p...ed & told him, “F... you! You don’t even have a bass! You’re playing my bass!”

So, I told him I was going to sell it & use the money to get my speaker fixed, which I did.

The kicker is, TWO WEEKS LATER, I got a settlement from a car accident I was in. So, I bought a Marshall 4100 JCM 900 FULL stack, a new guitar & a Peavy PA system. Way better equipment than my band mates.

I wish I still had that bass. It was a really good bass. It looked exactly the one in the original post. It was an awesome bass.

I didn’t want to sell it but, my band mates put me on the spot & pressured me.
 
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Update to my previous post (above). About a year ago I saw a couple of them fir sale online. One was in bad shape, someone took all the frets out and it was dinged up, badly.

The other was in good condition with an upgraded bridge, so I bought it.

As soon as I picked it up, I felt that old, familiar feeling. Again, an Epiphone Genesis was my first bass guitar. It’s what I first learned on. I wrote a lot of my early songs on it. So, picking it up, feeling the neck, the thickness of the body, the WEIGHT (it feels like wielding a battle axe), felt all too familiar.

I regretted getting rid of my other one. I’m glad I found another one. Now, I play the Genesis more than I play my heavily modded Fender Jazz bass.

These things are good basses.

I would edit to add a photo, but there is no need. Once you’ve seen one Genesis, you’ve seen them all. They all look the sane, unless they’ve been modded. But, the only Mod on mine is the bridge and the change to the appearance isn’t drastic.
 
Update to my previous post (above). About a year ago I saw a couple of them fir sale online. One was in bad shape, someone took all the frets out and it was dinged up, badly.

The other was in good condition with an upgraded bridge, so I bought it.

As soon as I picked it up, I felt that old, familiar feeling. Again, an Epiphone Genesis was my first bass guitar. It’s what I first learned on. I wrote a lot of my early songs on it. So, picking it up, feeling the neck, the thickness of the body, the WEIGHT (it feels like wielding a battle axe), felt all too familiar.

I regretted getting rid of my other one. I’m glad I found another one. Now, I play the Genesis more than I play my heavily modded Fender Jazz bass.

These things are good basses.

I would edit to add a photo, but there is no need. Once you’ve seen one Genesis, you’ve seen them all. They all look the sane, unless they’ve been modded. But, the only Mod on mine is the bridge and the change to the appearance isn’t drastic.
I always loved the 6 string version. Never knew that they made a bass. Cool that you found one, congrats.