Back in early 2015 I came across this appealing fretless violin bass, a Univox 'Lectra U1970, hanging on the used guitar wall at my local GC. As far as I can tell it has all its original parts, and the original case too (which isn't terribly protective -- the Japanese makers don't seem to have believed in padded cases or hard shells back then). I gave it a try out of curiosity and found that I rather liked it.
Although it's seemingly a copy of the old Gibson EB/EB-1, it's hollow. It needed a little cleaning and adjustment; someone had raised the pickup so high that it was actually above the fingerboard, so the string would hit the pickup if you played very far up the neck. Once I lowered it, the instrument became much more playable and its tone more pleasant. It sounds more like a standup bass than most fretless bass guitars I've played. I replaced the strings with a La Bella DTB 760FS-S set; the neck is handling the tension fine, but I may switch to 760FL-S to make the strings just a little easier to bend, or I might even try 760FX-S.
From what I've seen online, nobody seems sure who actually made these bases, though Matsumoku is a common guess. It's certainly well-enough made to be one of theirs.
I'm intermittently tempted to go looking for a U1970F (the same bass with frets) in as good condition as this one (and hopefully at a similar price -- GC only wanted $349, but I've seen optimists asking double or more online for the same model in much worse shape, often with the bridge cover missing), but so far I have successfully resisted.
If someone's handing out member numbers, I'll take one, please.
Although it's seemingly a copy of the old Gibson EB/EB-1, it's hollow. It needed a little cleaning and adjustment; someone had raised the pickup so high that it was actually above the fingerboard, so the string would hit the pickup if you played very far up the neck. Once I lowered it, the instrument became much more playable and its tone more pleasant. It sounds more like a standup bass than most fretless bass guitars I've played. I replaced the strings with a La Bella DTB 760FS-S set; the neck is handling the tension fine, but I may switch to 760FL-S to make the strings just a little easier to bend, or I might even try 760FX-S.
From what I've seen online, nobody seems sure who actually made these bases, though Matsumoku is a common guess. It's certainly well-enough made to be one of theirs.
I'm intermittently tempted to go looking for a U1970F (the same bass with frets) in as good condition as this one (and hopefully at a similar price -- GC only wanted $349, but I've seen optimists asking double or more online for the same model in much worse shape, often with the bridge cover missing), but so far I have successfully resisted.
If someone's handing out member numbers, I'll take one, please.
So, does anyone have any experience replacing the neck on a Univox hi flyer bass? I’m currently looking at a neck from eden guitars, anybody checked these out before?
