Identify this lump of cack - Never seen one of these before

[far0n]

A Satellite P-Bass !! Anyone know anything about them at all ?? Found this one at an auction for £20.... no I didn't buy it.

[mentalextra]

I remember "Satellite". I dont remember them being anything special, just another copy. But it must have some age to it, 70s even?

[LemonCello]

Vintage 'cack' by the look of it. Might clean up tho and be a bit of a project. New body, neck, tuners, pup's, bridge, nut, strings and it'll be as good as new! Had to be worth 20 quid surely?

LC

[daz]

You should have bought it. they go for up to £1100

[markstuk]

that would be the 3 string custom version? [quote name='daz' timestamp='1318089251' post='1398013']
You should have bought it. they go for up to £1100
[/quote]

[Slipperydick]

Late 70s really heavy, cheapo copies iirc.

Having said that, a lot of 70s copies were better than present day copies, so might not be all that bad, might be good as a project,

They [i]really[/i] fetching £1100 ?

[tazza1]

[quote name='Slipperydick' timestamp='1318090820' post='1398040']
Late 70s really heavy, cheapo copies iirc.

Having said that, a lot of 70s copies were better than present day copies, so might not be all that bad, might be good as a project,

They [i]really[/i] fetching £1100 ?
[/quote]

No - more like £2,000 these days! Highly sought after! whoops sorry too many noughts £2 thats better.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

[quote name='Slipperydick' timestamp='1318090820' post='1398040']
Having said that, a lot of 70s copies were better than present day copies, so might not be all that bad, might be good as a project,
[/quote]
That's not my recollection of 70s copies.

[Mr H]

Satellite guitars and basses were sold in the Kays catalogue (others too? - probably) in the late 70s/early 80s. I have one from there/then with a 24" scale-length. Still works - I just checked. It's not quite as grimy as that P in the OP, and there's nothing left to say where it was made.

Should such short-scale basses be tuned as normal I wonder? Maybe it would respond well to being tuned an octave higher...

[Slipperydick]

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' timestamp='1318093542' post='1398072']
That's not my recollection of 70s copies.
[/quote]

I didnt say ALL of them, you got what you paid for. . Some of the Antorias for example, were excellent, I stll have an old Eros Jazz copy from 72 ( cost me £65 new, that was about 3 weeks wages to most people then ) that still plays really well, even some of the Jedsons played OK if set up well.

There was rubbish about though, and by the end of the 70s build quality had gone down the drain and there was a LOT of rubbish about.

[KingBollock]

I know nothing about them, though I'd like to. I was given one when I was a kid. It was the Boss's son's and he had originally offered it to me for a tenner. He brought it in to work and when he saw that I actually did play he gave it to me for free. I later sold it for £35. For £20 it would make a great starter or project Bass. It certainly wasn't anything special, as you'd expect, but there wasn't anything wrong with it either.

[lemmywinks]

I'd have had that for twenty squids, not a bad looking body. Would look ace with a black scratchplate.

Would make a nice cheap little project i reckon.

[tonyf]

one string still too many.

and you can remove all but the first three frets. no need to go beyond them.....that's the bad place.....

;-)

[Mr. Foxen]

Bah, I'd have paid up to about £35 for that.

[Billy Apple]

Ah-Ha! Satellite! The first Bass I ever played. She was a short scale finished in two-tone red sunburst. Not mine tho, bought for my mates' birthday, and he was knarked 'cos the noises I got out of it were better than the noises he got out of it! I was 13, so must have been 1979. Not a bad piece of kit to start on. Later on his Mum got him an Ibanez Roadster, and I had that off him too! But the first proper Bass I bought was a Westone Thunder 1A, although the Ibanez p**sed all over it.

Yes, the Satellite's are now fetching £1k, and once you've been to the Bank of Toytown to withdraw the reddies, Noddy will give you a lift to the shop.

[benebass]

[quote name='Mr H' timestamp='1318094045' post='1398080']
Satellite guitars and basses were sold in the Kays catalogue (others too? - probably) in the late 70s/early 80s. I have one from there/then with a 24" scale-length. Still works - I just checked. It's not quite as grimy as that P in the OP, and there's nothing left to say where it was made.

Should such short-scale basses be tuned as normal I wonder? Maybe it would respond well to being tuned an octave higher...
[/quote]

Is it like [url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/vintage-satellite-bass-guitar-shortscale/86924700"]this one[/url]? My mate brought one of these round my house & now refuses to take it back! It was pretty much impossible to use as a bass, so I put guitar strings on it - better, but still terrible.

I was going to take it down the charity shop, but think I'd never have kept playing if this was my first bass - don't want some poor beginner being saddled with it!

B.

[lojo]

Pine bass , great, its better than my first bass its got a real neck

[Billy Apple]

I think the Logo looks kinda cool, in a retro-Space 1999 way.

[Mr H]

[quote name='benebass' timestamp='1318152828' post='1398492']Is it like [url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/vintage-satellite-bass-guitar-shortscale/86924700"]this one[/url]?[/quote]

Ezzackly. It's a handsome beast, eh?

[benebass]

[quote name='Mr H' timestamp='1318158652' post='1398576']

Ezzackly. It's a handsome beast, eh?
[/quote]

[benebass]

[quote name='billyapple' timestamp='1318154229' post='1398514']
I think the Logo looks kinda cool, in a retro-Space 1999 way.
[/quote]

Do have to say the logo is the best bit!

[henry norton]

Apparently Brian May used to use a modded Satellite Strat copy in the studio. In comparison to most plywood copies from that era, I guess the Satellite must have been a bit of a cut above the Malins and Encores.

Yeah cool logo, very 'Space 1999'

[Green Alsatian]

Bloody hell - was someone using that as a shovel? I've seen Satellite Jazz copies on eBay recently - a clean one sold for £71:

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Satellite-electric-bass-guitar-/190577929779?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2c5f546e33#ht_6608wt_1185"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Satellite-electric-bass-guitar-/190577929779?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2c5f546e33#ht_6608wt_1185[/url]

I've got a cheap CMI P-bass from that era with the same tuners - the one with the Telecaster guitar pickup instead of a split-coil. As it is a pleasant-feeling and playing bass, I popped in a Seymour Duncan SCPB-3, so now it sounds good.

A stark contrast to my first bass - a Kay P-copy for £30 in 1989. In hindsight, this was awful with warped neck (I didn't know anything about setup/truss rod adjustment then) that you could pitch-bend by moving it forwards/backwards - you could fit your fingers under the strings at the body end of the neck! Temperamental electronics, which when they were working didn't sound very good. It was only when I picked up my second bass a few months later - a Marlin 'Slammer' (P-bass copy) that I bought off a mate for £60 that I realised how rotten the Kay sounded/felt in comparison and flogged it to my mate for parts - the neck had been shimmed with a beermat!

I still loved it at the time though - first bass and all!

[dave_bass5]

We used to have a couple in my school back in the 70's. Cant remember if they were good or not but they seemed to do the job.

[paul h]

My first bass was a Satellite. £25 from the local second hand shop. I want to say it was a P bass but I have a sneaking suspicion it was a short scale ric-a-like. Can't remember.