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Oddball Basses

My custom 4 string fretless uke bass is going through final assembly.
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I own a few oddballs. If I had the money to blow I'd love to have a custom bass put together that is a hollow body 30" scale in the shape of the Harmony H22 that uses Aquila thunderblack synthetic strings (which would have to be special ordered in that length, if that's even possible) and a piezo pickup. So sort of a cross between the Harmony H22 and the Gold Tone. Or have a double-neck made with acoustic guitar on the bottom and a "Gold Tone"-style fretless back w/ synthetic strings on top. That would be very odd indeed.
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And I've had my eye on this mysterious 60's Japanese oddity, which is for sale down the road from me in San Antonio. Sooner or later I'll get down there to give it a closer look.
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Lastly, I've also thought about picking up a Harmony Silhouette like the one pictured below (photo not mine).
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Speaking for only myself, I'd like to have these 2 bass guitars. Not because I think that there would be some kind of sound advantage but because they visually appeal to me.

A 50s or 60s Danelectro Longhorn. (not a reissue!)
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A Tokai Talbo aluminum body bass (there was one that I found on eBay about 15 years ago for about $800 and I came so close to buying it) (I guess that today, I'm glad that I didn't. I've too many basses.) Still, the aluminum body and shape and strange pickups appeal to me even today. Sort of a "robot bass", kind of.
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the old Ovation Magnum bass that was popular in the 70s and 80s

It was never really popular. I actually never saw anyone playing one in the flesh and don’t even remember seeing them hanging in stores, either.

When I was a little kid the bass player at our little church played a Silvertone labeled Dano. It was black with a white plastic wrap around the edges and it sounded great.

I have one of these, got it for $65 in 1978.
 
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Speaking for only myself, I'd like to have these 2 bass guitars. Not because I think that there would be some kind of sound advantage but because they visually appeal to me.

A 50s or 60s Danelectro Longhorn. (not a reissue!)
1959-danelectro-longhorn-bass-guitar.jpg


A Tokai Talbo aluminum body bass (there was one that I found on eBay about 15 years ago for about $800 and I came so close to buying it) (I guess that today, I'm glad that I didn't. I've too many basses.) Still, the aluminum body and shape and strange pickups appeal to me even today. Sort of a "robot bass", kind of.
tokai_b135_022.jpg
tokai-talbo-b135-996151.jpg

Love the Tokai.

I had a late 50's Dano Longhorn and, while it sounded great, some of the frets were physically misplaced so it was impossible to intonate. Frustrating. I have one of the "Dead On 58" reissues and it's a much better bass functionally even if it doesn't have the cool factor of the original.
 
It was never really popular. I actually never saw anyone playing one in the flesh and don’t even remember seeing them hanging in stores, either.

Maybe a regional thing. I remember seeing them in SF Bay Area stores in the late 70's - early 80's. I wasn't a Journey fan but remember Ross Valory playing one in that band. Jah Wobble later as well. But, yeah, "popular" is an overstatement.

Ovation and bass related, I had the '64 t-bird that Tiran Porter played in The Doobie Brothers and when I sold it (shouldn't have) the buyer was Ovation founder, Charles Kaman.