Soviet Tonika Bass - Exploded (Pic Heavy)

[MrLenny1]

Communist bass? Off to Siberia with you. Haha.
Nice Soviet clor scheme.

 

[JimmyM]

you all have zero idea how hard i'd rock that bass if i had it!

 

[Craigster]

with the way that neck looks zero is about how much rockin you'd do Jimmy

 

[cjmodulus]

What, 2 pages and only one 'in soviet Russia' joke?

 

[JimmyM]

with the way that neck looks zero is about how much rockin you'd do Jimmy

maybe i can get a luthier to build me a $4000 version of one...what do you guys think...emg's or barts? paduak or cocobolo? ebony or pau ferro?

 

[Bobby B]

you all have zero idea how hard i'd rock that bass if i had it!

I haven't ruled out getting it into shape to play. It's all original and I'm kinda torn between leaving it alone and turning it into a player. Thing is, it would never be good for more than a song, and I'm not sure it would stay in tune or not snap in half for even that.

Maybe your other idea is best, have a custom luthier-built $4000 version

 

[kesslari]

This basis of this thread is so full of fail that the thread itself is a paradigm of WIN.
Excellent work, sir.

 

[Joe Gress]

I really wanted this bass to be yellow. I was disappointed.

 

[laklandplayer]

Looking at the pics of this bass is like looking at a car wreck. Soviet stuff has always been poorly made. You'd drink too if you had to play one of these basses.

 

[Steveaux]

you all have zero idea how hard i'd rock that bass if i had it!

In Soviet Russia ... fugly bass rock you.

 

[BassZilla5]

The People's headstock kind of looks like a Sadowsky...

 

[JimmyM]

i wonder what a luthier would charge to make a good version of that bass. couldn't be too difficult except for the neck inlay. you think it could get done for under $1000?

not that i'm shopping...

 

[roadkill2309]

and this is the country whos technology had us (USA) worried for 40+ years...I'd be suprized if their nukes could get out of the ground let alone make it across the ocean to America

They also beat you into space.

 

[JimmyM]

They also beat you into space.

whoopee. made all the difference in the world, didn't it?

 

[KeithAlanK]

They also beat you into space.

By a couple of years.
And they beat Canada into space by how long?

 

[Zooberwerx]

By a couple of years.
And they beat Canada into space by how long?

All the Canadian astronauts quit when they heard there were no donut shops on the moon.

Riis

 

[Foamy]

Enjoyed, greatly. Thanks for posting pics and descrptions.

 

[bassteban]

and this is the country whos technology had us (USA) worried for 40+ years...I'd be suprized if their nukes could get out of the ground let alone make it across the ocean to America

At the risk/temptation of getting this locked, I have to say that IMO *we* were(at any time betwixt the end of WW-II and the fall of the wall, as well as quite awhile thereafter)more worried about the volume of the weaponry the fomer Soviet Union had than the level of high-tech. Quantity vs quality, to paraphrase Maki.

 

[bassbenj]

The pickup selector is 10 position! Not sure what they are all supposed to do. Some of the positions are "off", kinda randomly, so it may not be functioning exactly as intended. It seems that it has the 2 pups either ON or Kinda On or barely on or OFF.

Wow! I love that military grade ceramic wafer switch! I haven't seen any of those since the Cold War! And it contrasts really nice with the hokey hand-wound coil jammed around the broken magnets in the pickup!

 

[sps500]

WoW! And I thought it was the Chinese that were the first to make crap instruments!