Vintage MIJ "ELK" basses?

[Green Knight]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I think it looks killer. Has anyone heard of these? Are those guitar pickups or '51 P pickups? Is Elk associated with a better-known brand?

 

[Sapatown]

Just saw one myself, looks so good!
Would love one with a 34 inch neck

 

[lowendblues]

Very retro.

 

[RickBlair]

The neck pickup doesn't look original. You can see 4 tiny holes in the body and the cutout for the pickguard suggests a much larger pickup housing. Of course those pickups could have been under a larger shell but the pole pieces don't align with any of the strings so that's strange.

Rick B.

 

[Stylee Mousse]

It looks like there are two more for sale below the ad and they all have the same oddball neck pu

 

[Killing Floor]

Wow, a little Mosrite and a little Burns. Love it.

 

[ac100X]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I think it looks killer. Has anyone heard of these? Are those guitar pickups or '51 P pickups? Is Elk associated with a better-known brand?

I saw this on E Bay too and thought it was a cool bass. It will be hard finding the original pick up cover. Was the finish stripped off? Why do the Japanese list the same bass, several times on E bay with 4-5 different prices, usually some include shipping some don't.

 

[Green Knight]

I saw this on E Bay too and thought it was a cool bass. It will be hard finding the original pick up cover. Was the finish stripped off? Why do the Japanese list the same bass, several times on E bay with 4-5 different prices, usually some include shipping some don't.

Because they're all trying to sell the same bass. Only one shop owns the bass--a pawn shop or a music store--and it might not even have an internet presence; the ebay sellers, once they catch wind of it, will advertise it as their own stock, either with an inflated price and/or "shipping" charges, then hurry to buy it once the customer's payment goes through. Sometimes the instrument is already sold when you buy it.

 

[cdef]

Elk was a brand owned by Miuki Industrial and started out as an amp manufacturer. Guitars/basses were built from 1965 (many by Matsumoku). Kanda Shokai bought Elk in 1969, and it was ultimately absorbed by Fender Japan.

This bass has an undecipherable/destroyed label on a different headstock, but seems to be the same model otherwise:

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Some history on Elk. Invalid Link Removed
They produced the traditional style jazz and pbasses under Kanda Shokai ownership as well, but as the article mentions, the brand was shoved aside by Kanda's higher profile Greco brand.. An Elk branded Jazz bass

 

[Green Knight]

Thanks!!

 

[PennyroyalWe]

It looks like there are two more for sale below the ad and they all have the same oddball neck pu

I’m pretty sure those are all the same bass. They all have the same numbers stamped into the fretboard heel.

 

[chichiohanlon]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I think it looks killer. Has anyone heard of these? Are those guitar pickups or '51 P pickups? Is Elk associated with a better-known brand?

Here’s an updated photo of the bass CDEF posted. I scrubbed most of the residue from the Elk sticker off the headstock before I learned what it was. Kind of wish I’d left it. Here’s a neat history of Elk guitars:
Invalid Link Removed

 

[Green Knight]

Makes sense the designer was a C&W fan!

 

[chichiohanlon]

The neck pickup doesn't look original. You can see 4 tiny holes in the body and the cutout for the pickguard suggests a much larger pickup housing. Of course those pickups could have been under a larger shell but the pole pieces don't align with any of the strings so that's strange.

Rick B.

The small holes and pick guard cutout were for pickup covers. Originally, they were at both the bridge and neck, but they were gone by the time I found mine :/