What bass is this???

That's an Eastwood / Airline "Map" body style bass:



Airline Map Bass

 

Looks like an Airline, which Eastwood has been replicating many of their guitar variations the last couple years. Not sure exactly what this particular bass is though.

Love Widowspeak’s debut record, so I’ll definitely be giving this a watch.

 

Yeah it's most likely the Eastwood Airline reissue, but it could possibly be an original vintage Airline from "way back when", not sure they ever did the Map shape as a bass back then though.

 

I don't have that exact model, but I do have a bunch of Eastwood gear, they're pretty good value for the money, imho. Their quality has improved.

 

An original also could be a National, or even a Supro. All three badges came from the same factory. Aside from the Eastwood there also is the contemporary Supro Huntington.

 

They did, a music store near me has one on display. The vintage one in the shop has a wooden bridge though, like an acoustic guitar/bass.

 

Growing up in the 60s and 70s your family was either a Montgomery Wards or Sears family. We shopped at Monkey Wards.
All of their electronics were branded Airline.
Radios, TVs, Stereos and of course, Guitars,basses and amps.
My first 3 amps were Airlines ( Valco made)
When I formed a band in high school the guitar player showed up with a brand new Strat, and a Silvertone amp.
I said " Oh, your folks shop at Sears huh"?.

 

My college band's drummer had a National guitar (looked just like that) from...had to be the 50's or 60's - it still had the original strings on it (which were gold plated). It looked "Jetson-ish" even in the 1970's.

 

Yep. Even says airline. Eastwood.

 

It's an Eastwood. The tailpiece is a generic that you can buy from AliExpress.

The original National and Val-Pro was 25" scale (the Eastwood is 30.5"), and had (as far as I can tell from pics) a different tailpiece, pickup under the bridge, single magnetic pickup, and both thumbrest and tug bar.
(source)

 

Ah, yeah, then - nice for a vintage piece, but yeah, I'll take the Eastwood any day thanks.

 

That bass would give Jack White a boner. He prob has one in every color. Lol

 

The original version intrigues me mostly because of the "Res-o-glas" body. Which I guess was a hollow fiberglass shell. I have a weakness for non-traditional instrument materials.

 

Right, except you left out Speigel. ward's gave you Airline and sears gave you Danelectro and Harmony under the Silvertone badge. Speigel gave you Kay.

 

I love Eastwood basses.Their take on classic designs along with their original models is refreshing.I'm lusting after a Warren Ellis 4 string baritone guitar myself.I have been leaving not so subtle hints for a Xmas gift.

 

The chrome noodle tailpiece is a dead giveaway that it's a modern copy. I hate those things. The first thing I would do if one of these fell into my hands would be to replace the cheap generic tailpiece with a different (i.e., non-noodle) cheap tailpiece. And then throw on some flatwounds. Or maybe it wouldn't be hard to fashion some kind of cover piece to go over the shiny noodle.

 

Hehe I love how the switch says "TONE SWITCH" on it (even though it's actually a pickup selector), just in case you might mistake it for a button or a knob, or you come from a place where switches are generally not found on things... The two volume and single tone knobs are unlabeled though. It would be funny to make a little sticker for it that says "KNOBS" with three arrows pointing to the knobs...

 

Here's a cool dude playing different map guitars 9 years apart.