Bulgarians

[chriswareham]

Nope, not a frothing at the mouth Daily Mail rant about imaginary hordes of immigrants, but a link to a nice looking Eastern European P-Bass:

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/80s-unique-Vintage-RARE-ORFEUS-ORPHEUS-PB-Soviet-USSR-Electric-Bass-Guitar-/171226580659"]http://www.ebay.co.u...r-/171226580659[/url]

I love the look of the wood, but it seems very overpriced for a Communist era bass.

Same seller also has this USSR made bass, which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole, but it certainly qualifies as weird:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-RAREST-Tonika-ural-First-Soviet-USSR-Russian-Electric-Bass-Axe-Guitar-/181307699334

Edited February 16, 2014 by chriswareham

[Ou7shined]

One for the anti-ply brigade

[Bassassin]

Nicest looking bit of plywood I've seen in a long time - possibly ever!

Most old Eastern European stuff is as crude & weird as that other bass, but I really like this! £328 is a bit steep, though.

Jon.

[great harry]

I like the belly contour on the Bulgarian one. Looks like it was made for me.

The other one looks like an under developed foetus of a bass.

[discreet]

Cherished roaring in the voice formants!! What's not to like??

[BigRedX]

The Russian bass is a fantastic looking thing. If it was a sensible price (under £100 delivered) I'd consider buying it to use as a template to have a decent one made (with 5-strings!)

[Happy Jack]

[color=#000000][i]The disadvantages are the hefty weight[/i] ...[/color]

[color=#000000]He's not wrong, is he? The glue used in that body probably weighs as much as a normal bass.[/color]

[color=#000000]It does look bloody wonderful though.[/color]

[chriswareham]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1392635109' post='2370788']
The Russian bass is a fantastic looking thing. If it was a sensible price (under £100 delivered) I'd consider buying it to use as a template to have a decent one made (with 5-strings!)
[/quote]

If you do a "worldwide" search then these weird Soviet things come up quite often and usually for very low prices. I've bought various music related bits and pieces from Russia (as well as Ukraine), and never had any problems - posting *to* Russia is more risky, as the customs officials that have a reputation for stealing stuff on its way into the country.