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What do I have?

R

Redfx2

Mar 3, 2009
33
0
#1
I purchased this bass from a friend with a hardcase roughly 20 years ago, the only markings I could find were on the inside, it was a circular stamp in an asian language.
It is not a solid body and it has a wooden bridge


Any ideas would be appreciated.
 
#5
It's one of the many Japanese copies of US basses, probably from the 70's. Anyone familiar with the genre could give you a good guess. The tuners, bridge, tailpiece, pickups and neck plate font are usually helpful in pointing out the manufacturer. You can always post close-up pix of those items if you wish.

Many of these are pretty good basses!
 
#6
Well, in the 60's and 70's, Japanese factories churned out large quantities of copies of Gibson basses. Later on, China and other countries got into the act. The ones coming from Japan were made with whatever "brand name" an exporter or importer wanted put on the headstock, and many were distributed with no brand label. So unless somebody recognizes a specific detail from a specific factory, this bass is a "no brand generic Japanese copy of a Gibson Les Paul".

A lot of those copies were great though, so I'm not at all dissing this bass. It's probably sweet.
 
#7
bongomania said:
Well, in the 60's and 70's, Japanese factories churned out large quantities of copies of Gibson basses. Later on, China and other countries got into the act. The ones coming from Japan were made with whatever "brand name" an exporter or importer wanted put on the headstock, and many were distributed with no brand label. So unless somebody recognizes a specific detail from a specific factory, this bass is a "no brand generic Japanese copy of a Gibson Les Paul".

A lot of those copies were great though, so I'm not at all dissing this bass. It's probably sweet.
Click to expand...

I had a guitar of similar fame. A guy in KC had them imported to support his chain of pawn shops. Mine was a single cut gibson hollow body ( can't remember the number) guitar. Thing was super sweet. Sold it for more bass gear. Also, sadly, probably not worth too much.

you could probably put a 3 point bridge on it if you really wanted to lower the action.
 
#9
hope this can help the quest, there are no markings on this beauty. The bridge on this thing is quite odd, not much in the way of adjustability. as you can see in the blurry pic, an actual name plate was on it at one time.

Thanks
 
#13
I found this on an "old guitar and instrument" website. He says the hardcase is lined with puke yellow velvet, mine does as well. my pickguard was removed. 150.00 Dollars and it looks mint, I am jealous

Thank you all for the help in figuring this out!! I will talk to yall later:bassist:
 
#17
Hi.


Extremely cool bass, thanks for posting.


That bridge is fully adjustable, as is the Höfner bridge as well. The definite plus of the design is that You'll never run out of adjustment range :).

Since the fret placement on these is somewhat irregular IME, getting the entire FB to intonate correctly is impossible, so the minor misplacement on the bridge end is a moot point.


I'd buy a Hofner copy bridge and mod that if You don't want to cut the original. Which I wouldn't.

Regards
Sam
 
#20
I'm brand new to this forum. I've been a bass player since the early 70s. I have a nice selection of fender basses among others. I also like to collect univox. My first guitar was the hofner copy of the Paul bass. I'm on the verge of buying a lp bass exactly like the one disscused above. It doesn't have any markings either, but the seller says its Univox. The case does say univox. He has a univox lp 6 string and says its exact right down to the knobs. I hope that she is a univox. I thought it was kool the see this thread. Thanks Brad
 

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