Zorko064 said:
Does anyone know its value?
They evidently built quite a few of these babys before they sold the patent to Ampeg. I've encountered 2 here in Texas where I guess they must have been popular with western swing and C&W players. Both the ones I've seen are essentially identical to the later Ampeg basses, only black.
From Marty Clevinger's great website (
Invalid Link Removed) on the evolution of the EUB, here's his story:
"Efforts to modernize the double bass continued through the '50's and by the late 1950's,
Rudy and Ed Dopera (of National and Dobro fame) introduced the
Zorko Bass. It featured a hollow fiberglass body, a slightly scaled-down head and fingerboard. "First electric nylon or gut string bass fiddle", trumpeted the 1958 Zorko sales brochure. The use of gut strings was made possible by a mechanically coupled bridge pickup system. A unique double bridge pickup system used one bridge to reduce downbearing force on a second bridge that included a magnet. A stationary coil placed next to the magnet, picked up vibration of the magnet when the strings were played. The Zorko fiberglass hollow body, with its bolt-on maple neck was later modified and became the Ampeg Baby Bass.
The Ampeg Baby Bass was widely marketed in the USA during the '60's. It featured an improved aluminum bridge pickup system compatible with non-ferrous or traditional gut strings. Like the Zorko pickup system, the Ampeg used a bridge inductively coupled to magnetic pickup devices. The Ampeg bridge feet rested upon two spring steel diaphragms that acted like magnet assemblies. The vibration of each diaphragm generated signals in the coils. Though weak, and plagued by phase distortion problems, the Ampeg pickup was a considerable improvement over the Zorko pickup. The Ampeg's heavier body was made of a thermo-plastic called UVEX. This plastic is unstable as its melting temperature is very low. The Ampegs give off a somewhat foul odor due to continual out-gassing by the UVEX material. Many Ampeg basses show warping of the body due to exposure to heat inside parked cars on hot days.
Both the Ampeg and the Zorko instruments produced a percussive tonal
quality with little sustain and minimal overtones. However, the hollow fiberglass body of the Zorko produced more overtones than the filled and dampened Ampeg. The Ampeg bass is still heard today in Afro-Cuban music where a percussive drum-like tone is preferred. Hundreds of Ampegs were produced in the '60's. Steve Azola is now producing a bass called the Azola baby bass. This bass draws on the Ampeg and Zorko tradition and is somewhere in between the two in construction. It features up-to-date pickups and electronics. Azola makes a reissue of the Ampeg Baby Bass for the St. Louis Music Company."
Everybody clear?
I'd say depending on it's condition, it's worth the going rate for a vintage Ampeg Baby Bass + 10-15% for rareness. Ultimately, it's only worth as much as someone will give you for it. Most likely a Baby Bass collector. (Shutter to think such exisits but I collected Peavey T-40's for a while, so anything's possible.)
