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What kinda Bass is this?

Bob Martocchio

Bob Martocchio

Jul 10, 2020
17
22
#1
I recently purchased a used Bass and it is unbranded. The guy who sold it to me bought it second hand and never learned how to play it as his friend who was to teach him moved just after he acquired it. So it sat until I bought it. He knew nothing about it. I can't find a picture of this Bass anywhere to positively id what it is. The Teisco basses from the sixties are close but still I haven't found one exactly like this. I've enclosed some photos and removed the bridge cover so you can see the bridge. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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#5
Bob Martocchio said:
The bass is the same type I have. Is it a Teisco a Kimberly or a Kent? I'm a little unsure by your response. I've been looking every where and am glad to see another one finally lol!
Click to expand...
Yes..... The same factory made the same basses and guitars and slapped whatever brand name the purchasers wanted. It could have been any of those brands.
 
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#6
Yeah Im beginning to find out that a lot of companies were using the same factories and just doing minor changes and putting their name on instruments in Japan in the 60's. I found another online like mine and the picture you posted and I am certain it is a Teisco bass who had several name badges they used and was made in the FujiGen Gakki plant and is in all likelyhood a Kimberly model. The Kimberly part is just based on seeing two with that name on it but as mine is unbranded, which was common to some degree back then, it's still open for question. Thanks for the info as it helped steer my search in the right direction.
 
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#7
Bob Martocchio said:
Yeah Im beginning to find out that a lot of companies were using the same factories and just doing minor changes and putting their name on instruments in Japan in the 60's. I found another online like mine and the picture you posted and I am certain it is a Teisco bass who had several name badges they used and was made in the FujiGen Gakki plant and is in all likelyhood a Kimberly model. The Kimberly part is just based on seeing two with that name on it but as mine is unbranded, which was common to some degree back then, it's still open for question. Thanks for the info as it helped steer my search in the right direction.
Click to expand...
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#8
Bob Martocchio said:
Yeah Im beginning to find out that a lot of companies were using the same factories and just doing minor changes and putting their name on instruments in Japan in the 60's. I found another online like mine and the picture you posted and I am certain it is a Teisco bass who had several name badges they used and was made in the FujiGen Gakki plant and is in all likelyhood a Kimberly model. The Kimberly part is just based on seeing two with that name on it but as mine is unbranded, which was common to some degree back then, it's still open for question. Thanks for the info as it helped steer my search in the right direction. I uploaded a picture of the other bass like mine and identical to the other one posted
Click to expand...
 

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  • 02BA0493-1765-4CDD-8BD6-BB0366C3E63F.jpeg
    02BA0493-1765-4CDD-8BD6-BB0366C3E63F.jpeg
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#9
Bob Martocchio said:
I recently purchased a used Bass and it is unbranded. The guy who sold it to me bought it second hand and never learned how to play it as his friend who was to teach him moved just after he acquired it. So it sat until I bought it. He knew nothing about it. I can't find a picture of this Bass anywhere to positively id what it is. The Teisco basses from the sixties are close but still I haven't found one exactly like this. I've enclosed some photos and removed the bridge cover so you can see the bridge. Any help would be greatly appreciated!View attachment 3900418View attachment 3900419View attachment 3900420View attachment 3900421View attachment 3900422View attachment 3900423
Click to expand...
I dig it
 
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#11
Bob Martocchio said:
I recently purchased a used Bass and it is unbranded. The guy who sold it to me bought it second hand and never learned how to play it as his friend who was to teach him moved just after he acquired it. So it sat until I bought it. He knew nothing about it. I can't find a picture of this Bass anywhere to positively id what it is. The Teisco basses from the sixties are close but still I haven't found one exactly like this. I've enclosed some photos and removed the bridge cover so you can see the bridge. Any help would be greatly appreciated!View attachment 3900418View attachment 3900419View attachment 3900420View attachment 3900421View attachment 3900422View attachment 3900423
Click to expand...
Nice!
 
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#16
I dig it, I especially dig the neck. Looks like that laminated (glued strips of wood) neck on my Kubickies. If it is glue-lam, I wonder if all of these basses were made this way or yours is a one-off?

Can you intonate with that bridge perfectly?
 
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#18
Back in 1977, I used to have a bass that must have been made by the same manufacturer. It was a sunburst P-bass copy with the same tailpiece, humbucking-esque pickup (was actually only one coil), and a neck with with the same truss adjustment as well as the umpteen dozen laminated strips. The black at the edge of my sunburst hid the fact that the body was made with almost the same number of laminates as the neck! It was a piece of junk that, had I known then what I later learned, I would have insisted that the store pay me to take it home.

OP, I hope your experience is better than was mine.
 
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#19
Bob Martocchio said:
I'm not quite sure what you mean by laminations?
Click to expand...
The neck is a plywood of sorts. It's thin layers glued up but the grain all runs the same way instead of rotating 90 degrees each layer.

This bass also has a zero fret. The zero fret and the laminations were often touted as signs of being crap (and were on tons of crappy basses) but are both trendy and high end today.
 
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#20
Bob Martocchio said:
Yeah Im beginning to find out that a lot of companies were using the same factories and just doing minor changes and putting their name on instruments in Japan in the 60's.
Click to expand...

They still pretty much are doing it today as well. Except the companies are now in Indonesia, China, and Korea too.



That's one reason I laugh any time I hear someone say: I want a new "Made in America" bass. Because it begs the question: which parts of it do you insist on being made in America?
 
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