Where does my "Bird Electric Bass" come from?

[bearfoot]

Yes, good. Good. Test the bass in your guitar amp. Just for functionality. Maybe a few riffs, with the bass knob turned down to avoid damage.

Once you start down the bass path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

 

[wraub]

[snip]

Once you start down the bass path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

At first, I read this as "Once you start down the bass path, forever will it dominate your density.", but then I realized it still works either way.

 

[Dabndug]

Matsumoko, Hoshino, and Fujigen, amongst others, marketed unbranded product to distributors all over the world in the '70s. The hardware on the Bird is pretty indicative of a '70s product - i had the same tuners on my first bass, a Cimar-branded J copy back in '78 - a Hoshino product.

There are some images of an"El Degas" branded P-bass that looks rather similar to the Bird in this old thread.

 

[GretschWretch]

Let’s get @GretschWretch involved

If @GretschWretch had a clue, @GretschWretch already would be involved.

 

[BikerMouse]

I found another Bird bass for sale in the Netherlands

I found his ad too in the Netherlands (where I'm from). Already contacted him but he couldn't provide me much more than a site about various Japanese guitar builders.

This morning I found a second seller on the same site, he sells a Bird Strat. The information in his ad says that Bird was an importer from the UK who bought "batch" guitars from Matsumoku. This is the best info I got so far.

Thanks to everyone for the tips on trying a bass on a guitar amp, much appreciated!!

Now I am going to dig in this thread: Post your vintage Japanese basses

 

[BikerMouse]

Looks like you have Charlie Parker's bass.

According to wikipedia (I never completely believe wikipedia) Charlie played alto and tenor sax. But his nickname was Bird... so, you never know

 

[cdef]

There was a British company named Bird building tube amps into the mid-'60s. To speculate, they may (like Marshall) have tried importing guitars/basses for a while. At a guess, these Birds came out of the Chushin Gakki factory. Chushin belonged to the Matsumoto Musical Instrument Manufacturers' Association and supplied their Maya brand until the Rokkomann trading house acquired it and built its own plant. Another possibility would be Kiso Suzuki (also an occasional source of Mayas), which typically had a neck plate like on the Bird P here (plain "Made In Japan" on upper third of plate). - At any rate, not Matsumoku, IMO.