Odd Ball bass roundup

[Malak the Mad]

I don't remember the radius of the Axestar off hand but I seem to recall typical Ibanez which is thin and large radius so yes very flat, I can find the old Ibanez catalouge in the archive and tell you for sure what the neck dims are, just give me a bit, I'm at a gig, just taking a break so on my phone, will look it up when I get home.

Wow! Thanks for taking some time out to reply!

No rush at all. That is…unless you're rockin' out some RUSH on stage. In which case, carry on my friend!

 

[JIO]

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that is weird looking

 

[cdef]

I'm not a collector and don't own any of these, but they are some of the odd ones out, nearly forgotten:

G.L. Stiles:

Gretsch 7615:

Gruggett Stradette:

Orr:

Acme:

 

[phangtonpower]

So these Riverheads are a new one on me. Where were these made, Japan? I mean they're blatant ripoffs of a Spector and the other thing is a knock off of one of the wooden bodied Steinbergers, the XP I believe the V shape one was called, there was an XM with a more traditional body he made as well. I'm guessing these guys got sued into the stone ages by Stu Spector and Ned Steinberger

Yup Japan. It's a little different than the steinberger. The body shape for one. It's not a stick and at least has some character. Looks like a squid Second it uses regular long scale strings not the double ball end strings. From what I understand they were pretty well priced when they came out in the 80's. Think the Unicorn started at $800 and went up.

 

[JimmyM]

This thread is totally delivering!

 

[JIO]

It's a continuation/parallel of the "In Praise of Weird-looking Basses" thread of a while back - http://www.talkbass.com/threads/in-praise-of-weird-looking-basses.1095757/page-35 Who knew there were so many?

 

[JimmyM]

Yep...blows my mind how creative some of the designs are.

 

[JimmyM]

Jerry Casale of Devo is good for a couple oddballs. Since 81 he's only used a Steinberger L2 except for one gig where he used an EB-3, but here's his more notable early basses:

 

[blindrabbit]

That Gretsch is gorgeous. Seriously...if they ever reissued that, I'd be all over one of them in a heartbeat.

I'm not a collector and don't own any of these, but they are some of the odd ones out, nearly forgotten:

G.L. Stiles:

Gretsch 7615:

Gruggett Stradette:

Orr:

Acme:

 

[blindrabbit]

I've wanted one of these so badly since I first saw a picture of them.

 

[scourgeofgod]

I've wanted one of these so badly since I first saw a picture of them.

I saw that in a rickenfaker thread, I have no idea how well it's made but I really like this take on ric styling.

 

[spectorfreak]

Yup Japan. It's a little different than the steinberger. The body shape for one. It's not a stick and at least has some character. Looks like a squid Second it uses regular long scale strings not the double ball end strings. From what I understand they were pretty well priced when they came out in the 80's. Think the Unicorn started at $800 and went up.

I think what they were ripping off was the XP series, not the Xl which is what most people think of when you say Steinberger, but he sold 2 basses with graphite necks bolted to wooden bodies though they added the little pieces near the neck joint I see in your photo, the XM he introduced later had a traditional wooded body with actual upper and lower horns.

 

[Camaro69]

I've wanted one of these so badly since I first saw a picture of them.

I want one, it's like Ric meets Ren and Stimpy

 

[phangtonpower]

I think what they were ripping off was the XP series, not the Xl which is what most people think of when you say Steinberger, but he sold 2 basses with graphite necks bolted to wooden bodies though they added the little pieces near the neck joint I see in your photo, the XM he introduced later had a traditional wooded body with actual upper and lower horns.

Not saying that they didn't heavily borrow from the steinberger, but still good quality bass and not a cheap rip off. And I still think it looks more like a squid than a small bodied flying v.

 

[blindrabbit]

I saw that in a rickenfaker thread, I have no idea how well it's made but I really like this take on ric styling.

They are made by a luthier in South America. By all accounts, he does amazing work, including making his own hardware. He's also got his own takes on the styling of other instruments, his "jazz bass" is not quite as audacious, but still extremely cool. Not surprisingly, none of his basses are cheap.

 

[bholder]

I'll take one of each, please. I have a couple downstairs that'd fit here, but no pics at the moment, so here's something almost completely different (I have on order):

That's the seller with the tats, not me!

 

[M.R. Ogle]

Okay, I'll play... my Wishbass "copy."

 

[bholder]

Okay, I'll play... my Wishbass "copy."

Woah. Waaay nicer than a wishbass - what a wishbass wishes it was!

 

[Maxdusty]

Yup Japan. It's a little different than the steinberger. The body shape for one. It's not a stick and at least has some character. Looks like a squid Second it uses regular long scale strings not the double ball end strings. From what I understand they were pretty well priced when they came out in the 80's. Think the Unicorn started at $800 and went up.

Also Riverhead came out with a model called the Phantom which looks a little bit like the Axstar but with a quasi-head (no tuners) and Steinberger style bridge. I haven't seen one of these in person and don't really know anyone that has one. Really curious about it though.

 

[spectorfreak]

I notice the guitar was only sold in black and grey, but the bass even offered pink, you think they were trying to say something about bass players? "Our guitar is too cool for anything other then black or grey, our bass however!"

Not saying that they didn't heavily borrow from the steinberger, but still good quality bass and not a cheap rip off. And I still think it looks more like a squid than a small bodied flying v.