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Whackiest mass-produced basses?
- Thread starter Doctor Roberts
- Start date
Looks like Gibson wanted to get in on some of that sweet, sweet 1970s "pawnshop bass" money.
More like Alembic/Japanese basses influenced by Alembic/try to make money out of a failed product money. The active electronics in the Victory Artist originally came from the RD Artist guitars and basses. They were designed at Moog, which like Gibson was owned by Norlin at the time. But the RDs were a bit too radical for most players, and the Artist version especially so. So sales were poor. So Gibson decided to use Artist electronics in all sorts of other products in the hope some model would catch on. There was even a Sonex Artist, a version of their budget body made of composite materials pseudo Les Paul with Artist electronics. Steve Howe used several ES Artist semi hollow guitars during his original stint in Asia.
Not exactly mass produced but Tom Clement has made quite a few of his Ergo basses. This is mine:-
There's a couple of ones listed on the 1st page which I'd like:
A Burns Flyte bass.
My Rickenberger (OK - it's not mass-produced, but the doner Spirit and Ric parts were!).
A Kramer where they chopped some of the edges off.
Oh, and if anybody tells you they've got a Frankenstein...
- The Roland synth (I have a pickup and control panel for one which I may put into a Rickenbacker).
- The Westone Rail (I have a Quantum).
A Burns Flyte bass.
My Rickenberger (OK - it's not mass-produced, but the doner Spirit and Ric parts were!).
A Kramer where they chopped some of the edges off.
Oh, and if anybody tells you they've got a Frankenstein...
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That thing needs a chiropractor bad! Talk about an offset design.
I got one this year. It's one of the best basses in my collection and it competes with Pedulla's, a Musicman and a F-Bass easily. It sounds remarkably consistent, and is delightfully gritty. Pickups are very loud for passive ones.
Can't believe no one mentioned this yet...
That's because they make a T-40 seem like a Hofner. You need a forklift to get one out of the case.
The Marleaux Diva is a strange instrument.
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There's this thing from the now-defunct Soviet Union:
It was made during a time when rock music was sort of illegal, and many builders didn't have an idea of electric guitar/bass. As a result it didn't play or sound very good, but it had spawned a generation of bands such as Aquarium, Picnic, Zemlyane, Kino, and Lyube (of course they later upgraded to better instruments). Eastwood released a reissue of it, which should play and sound better thanks to modern manufacturing techniques.
It was made during a time when rock music was sort of illegal, and many builders didn't have an idea of electric guitar/bass. As a result it didn't play or sound very good, but it had spawned a generation of bands such as Aquarium, Picnic, Zemlyane, Kino, and Lyube (of course they later upgraded to better instruments). Eastwood released a reissue of it, which should play and sound better thanks to modern manufacturing techniques.
I have one and yep it's odd looking but is in fact well made and sounds and plays great!
D
I wonder if I had liked this one better if had been an original design? Unfortunately, it's not an original design but a rather cringeworthy Frankenbacker-copy that makes me want to
every time I see it. And even if it was an original design I would probably not have liked that pointed headstock on an otherwise "vintage" looking bass.What were they thinking???
View attachment ROLAND G77.jpg
I know this was already posted by the OP but I'd like to add that when I saw this bass on stage in the mid eighties I thought it was the coolest and most futuristic looking bass ever. I think it's a great looking design but since I never had the opportunity to play one I have no idea if the playability, reliability or sound is up to par with a well made traditional style bass.
I know this was already posted by the OP but I'd like to add that when I saw this bass on stage in the mid eighties I thought it was the coolest and most futuristic looking bass ever. I think it's a great looking design but since I never had the opportunity to play one I have no idea if the playability, reliability or sound is up to par with a well made traditional style bass.
Why wouldn’t one use it while playing across the neck? And a single cut access to B on upper frets is no different than a double cutaway. You’re not using your thumb.
Great for all of those Thunderdome gigs! Works of art!Michael Spalt basses. I own these two (for now). Top is a Terminator 5. It's a series he does. The bottom one, Thuya Bass, has a whammy bar and Sustainiac. It's one-of-a-kind.
BBB
Hey Chris Squire player a Kramer Ferrington! That is the reason I bought one in the 80’s. I had a nice burst, #89 made in Neptune NJ. It never played well as an acoustic and made horrible feedback when plugged in.
So I sold it 30yrs later for 4x what I paid for it new. I saw a red one at Gruhn’s back in 2018 and the market had dropped on them 
they only valued it at a few hundred.That Goya headstock looks like the Nordstrand short scale, I guess that was an influence.
The Green One is awesome!
There is a lefty version in the TB classifieds.
Uh, the entire Nordstrand Acynonyx is a self-declared reimagining of the (Zerosette) Goya Panther.
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