Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Vintage cheap basses
- Thread starter Reclaimer
- Start date
Another reason I like odd basses. Last year I took my pre lawsuit Electra p-bass with a motet mite neck and active EMG’s to play at the Chet Atkins festival in Nashville. I played thru their fender amp patched thru the system. When all 12 players had finished their songs we headed back to our booths.I get a kick out of some of those weirdass 60s era Japanese and Italian basses. Many of them have their own sound and can sometimes even be made somewhat comfortable to play - if they have a still working truss rod - assuming there is one and it ever worked to begin with.
Can’t say I love them. Love is a pretty strong emotion to lavish on something like a bass IMO. I don’t even love my main player. But I do like it a lot. Same goes for some of the oddball basses I’ve spent time with.
I had a few old cheap Tiesco and Motsumoku basses that went missing in a move once that I kinda miss. None of them were stellar tone machines. But they played well (or well enough) and had some interesting sonic character.
Only old cheap basses I’ve still got are a Tiesco that’s in pieces (came that way in a box) I think somebody disassembled for storage or something…and this nice little old Kay I plan on restoring:
View attachment 3004562
Most recent cheap bass I’ve bought is a Baltimore “brand” bass. I originally got it thinking I’d route a swimming pool in it so I could use it as a test bed for pickups. Cost a whole whopping $48 new off the clearance rack at GC. But when I got it home and played it a bit I realized it’s actually a very nice bass. And its totally gonzo Dr. Seuss inspired pickguard was oddly attractive and started to grow on me. So I did a setup, cleaned up the electronics a bit, and dropped a better pup in it, and it now turns heads whenever I haul it out at a jam.
View attachment 3004563
It’s not vintage. But it has that same “bicycle factory” and “accordion shop” vibe written all over it.
“Once you’ve played the best it’s time to try the rest!”
Had 3 people stop me to ask about my bass than several more came around during the next few minutes. The bass was a factory red with metal flake and red candy. I made a new pickguard from the white cracked ice pickguard material with white pickups.
My brother has it in Texas, I’ll get him to shoot some pics and I’ll post them. Everytime he plays a gig some tries to buy it. They can’t believe how great it sounds and looks.
While at the top of the price range I'd consider cheap ($200-300), I had two very fun cheap vintage basses - Eko Barracuda and Electra Phoenix.
Don't have pics, but they were like these
Don't have pics, but they were like these
I was at guitar center in Chattanooga a few weeks ago. I had brought my Phoenix in to show an employee. When another employee asked if I would be interested in a bass he has similar to mine. It was that exact Phoenix in a triangle Ibanez hard case for $200
I never knew there was a change in ownership -- the development of the brand seems pretty contiguous...
Does it still exist? If so where? I’m interested I have that same neck ( no hardware) to put on.
I was doing some research on the hondo brand and that was in the multi page article I found. Even Harmony was made in New Jersey. They started loosing money and wound up being bought by this company. The way it read was Ibanez became their top of the line, the rest were renamed or faded away. That Japanese company later turned into Samick. I’m not an authority, that’s what I read. Then last year while playing a gig In Nashville I met this guy who started giving me a history lesson on the Electra p-bass I was playing and all the others that came from that company. I also found out that Kustom and Kasino amps were the same amps. The face colors and name were different. Kustom was made in California and Kasino using the same electronics was made in Kansas. The little purple power light ( lense) is the give away. I have done some more digging, but, I haven’t found much more info. Please if I’m wrong I am open to correction.
I have no idea what ever happened to it, it hasn’t been in the store and I’m pretty sure they didn’t turn around and sell it to anyone. Maybe it’s hanging on their “certified technician’s” wall as he looks for a new job! It wouldn’t be the first time instruments have made their way out on the floor with something seriously wrong that it isn’t disclosed and has the set up tag hung on it!
I know I shouldn’t ask, but, the next time your in there could you ask about it? I know it’s a long shot. Or give me the number to the store and I can ask. Not that it’s worth anything, I just hate to see them tossed. My wife and I are on the board of directors of an boys and girls homes. We have kids from all over the country and all walks of life come in and out. If one of the shows an interest in playing bass I find something I can set up for them and find a small practice amp and help them get started. When they either go back home or get adopted or go to college they take it with them.
I own this lovely hunk of cheapness. (Teisco, Kingston????) It had a broken truss rod and all sorts of issues that needed to be addressed, so it is currently undergoing a major overhaul/rebuild. I will post a thread when it's finished.
I didn't like the cheap basses in the sixties. To me they were hard to play and sounded "cheap" Even the "Made in USA" basses. I didn't like them then so I'm not nostalgic about them.
I spent 11 years selling Kay basses made by Teisco, Cort, Sangjin, and several other Far East companies, while I worked for A.R. Musical Enterprises, owner of Kay since the 70's. No love for those things at all. I
had to send UPS call tags to pick up so many defective ones that I would never be able to call them "vintage"instruments. Sorry.
had to send UPS call tags to pick up so many defective ones that I would never be able to call them "vintage"instruments. Sorry.
Depends on how inexpensive and what it sounds like. I can't exactly find it in the budget to buy strange looking decorations that just look like electric guitars to everyone else.
I am charmed by the look, but usually not the sound, and even LESS the usual fussy playability. So I put together a few basses with the LOOK, but more modern components.
Retro (Harmony H22) inspired project
Retro (Harmony H22) inspired project
Some misinformation there. The Hoshino Gakki company has been the same throughout -- changes have been branding changes. Contracting manufacture out to particular *factories* has changed -- the Mid seventies through early eighties lines that were made in the Matsumoku factory, for instance, were still Ibanez guitars. When manufacture switched to the Fuji-Gen factory, the same was true. I have axes from both factories, and all are excellent.
I've read nothing about a Samick connection; I don't think that's true. Here's a link -- Invalid Link Removed
No - my MusicMaster was used. $100 at a pawn shop like you say. Used P's & J's were $300 back then. I bought it 40 years ago. It was also much better than the cheap basses of the day. I know the Musicmaster wasn't a P or J or Alembic or whatever else. But is also wasn't a piece of junk like many other basses back then. I still own it and I still like it.
