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Identify This Bass?


Frank Blank
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10 minutes ago, yorks5stringer said:

Looks like an Ampeg AEB1 horizontal Bass but not what he is usually known as playing which was a WAL, a Stingray and a Jazz

No, quite, it’s been a WAL or a Stingray every time I’ve seem them (and that’s too many times). Mind you, a lot of players used odd guitars/basses when they were miming on TV. There is hope, Eastwood make a copy of the AEB, an EEB...

 https://eastwoodguitars.com/products/eeb-1

...not that I know a lot about the company.

Edited by Frank Blank
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It certainly looks like an Ampeg Scroll Bass and yes, there weren't many of them made, but.... a gentleman in the USA, Bruce Johnson, makes replicas. Bruce is a regular poster on the USA bass forum talkbass.com, is a commercial luthier and has a website. http://www.xstrange.com (apologies if I shouldn't have posted a commercial address) I have no affiliation with Bruce and don't own one of his instruments, but he is a regular poster on talkbass and is very helpful to other builders. 

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41 minutes ago, durhamboy said:

It certainly looks like an Ampeg Scroll Bass and yes, there weren't many of them made, but.... a gentleman in the USA, Bruce Johnson, makes replicas. Bruce is a regular poster on the USA bass forum talkbass.com, is a commercial luthier and has a website. http://www.xstrange.com (apologies if I shouldn't have posted a commercial address) I have no affiliation with Bruce and don't own one of his instruments, but he is a regular poster on talkbass and is very helpful to other builders. 

Thank you Sir! Looks even more like I might be able to satisfy my yearning, now I need to find one to try out...

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9 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

No, quite, it’s been a WAL or a Stingray every time I’ve seem them (and that’s too many times). Mind you, a lot of players used odd guitars/basses when they were miming on TV. There is hope, Eastwood make a copy of the AEB, an EEB...

 https://eastwoodguitars.com/products/eeb-1

...not that I know a lot about the company.

The Eastwood is a copy in the very loosest sense only. Essentially (like all Eastwood instruments) it's a parts bin bass with a body designed by someone who saw a blurry photograph of the Ampeg AEB once. Put the two side by side and you can easily see that they have nothing in common and it won't sound anything like the Ampeg either. The Bruce Johnson versions are far more authentic.

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Just now, BigRedX said:

The Eastwood is a copy in the very loosest sense only. Essentially (like all Eastwood instruments) it's a parts bin bass with a body designed by someone who saw a blurry photograph of the Ampeg AEB once. Put the two side by side and you can easily see that they have nothing in common and it won't sound anything like the Ampeg either. The Bruce Johnson versions are far more authentic.

Excellent, thanks for this, I hadn’t compared them particularly.

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10 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

Ah, yes, having googled it I think you are right, however, as only twenty were made I don’t think I’ll bother trying to source one!

Don't know where you got that from - according to Bruce Johnson's page on the Ampeg AEB-1 and AUB-1 there were over a thousand made. They are still pretty rare. The Bass Gallery had one of the Johnson copies in several years ago and very nice it was too. If I had been playing 4-sting basses I might well have bought it.

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2 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Don't know where you got that from - according to Bruce Johnson's page on the Ampeg AEB-1 and AUB-1 there were over a thousand made. They are still pretty rare. The Bass Gallery had one of the Johnson copies in several years ago and very nice it was too. If I had been playing 4-sting basses I might well have bought it.

Probably the first thing I read on Google! Most unlike me to quote such things.

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Perhaps unsurprisingly there were copies in the early 70s. This from a '72 catalogue:

23.jpg

Never seen one in real life & this is the only catalogue appearance I'm aware of. Not really a lot more accurate than the Eastwood - the Rick style tailpiece is curious.

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12 hours ago, Bassassin said:

Perhaps unsurprisingly there were copies in the early 70s. This from a '72 catalogue:

23.jpg

Never seen one in real life & this is the only catalogue appearance I'm aware of. Not really a lot more accurate than the Eastwood - the Rick style tailpiece is curious.

Wow....I don't recall seeing that back in the day. Perhaps I was too focused on the Rick copy on the right.

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