Bass identification

[Chris Dow]

Hi Going through some old slides recently and found this pic of myself many years ago (1970's roughly).

Can anyone identify this bass,  It's not a Gibson EB-O as I could not have afforded a Gibson

at the time. I am convinced it was a Yamaha copy of an EB-O but cannot find any record of a Yamaha 

bass matching this. I doubt if it was an Epiphone and I can't match that pickguard shape near the

volume knob anywhere on the internet. Did Yamaha make copies of Gibson basses? Any information

much appreciated.  

Cheers and Thanks

 

 

I

[binky_bass]

The scratch plate suggests 70's Jedson to me. The machine heads and Pickup cover also look Jedson-esque. That'd be my guess!

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will come along and confirm what it is.

Edited August 11, 2020 by binky_bass

[Chris Dow]

Cheers for that, I'm nearly  a 100% sure it's not a Jedson, pity the head stock wasn't in pic. Just annoying me in my twilight years.

Thanks for input though, most welcome.

[AndyTravis]

Avon Sg?

Antoria SG?

Ibanez SG?

Not a mega clear photo - if it’s Japanese/Korean in origin, @Bassassin will be able to ID it.

[AndyTravis]

Avon

[AndyTravis]

Antoria

[AndyTravis]

Ibanez (pretty much the same as Antoria)

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Chris Dow said:

...Can anyone identify this bass...

Ask Peter Hook, his first bass, with Joy Division, was this Gibson EB-0 replica (£35...). Recently sold for £11,000, I think. Any joy..? 

Edited August 11, 2020 by Dad3353

[Silvia Bluejay]

Topic merged.

[AndyTravis]

@Dad3353 think that was an Eko?

[EMG456]

My first bass was an Avon SG and it was uniquely awful. And it cost about £35 at the time.

Did the trick though, I suppose...

[itu]

I have played similar bolt-on Aria.

[EMG456]

As was the trend at the time, when I got my first "proper" bass, I decided to turn the Avon into a fretless.

I was astonished to find that the black fingerboard was in fact a maple one dyed and the actual neck was made of many thin laminates- very much like the neck on a Kubicki Ex-Factor if you've ever seen one of those. Very strange.

I also can't remember where it went or what happened to it. This age thing is very annoying!

[Chris Dow]

Thanks Douglas and all for that, I still think it was a Yamaha copy or an Ibanez could be possible. The pickguard is identical to the Peter Hook bass in pic.

Just bugging me in my latter years, I remember all my basses and always thought that one was a Yamaha.

[AndyTravis]

7 minutes ago, Chris Dow said:

Thanks Douglas and all for that, I still think it was a Yamaha copy or an Ibanez could be possible. The pickguard is identical to the Peter Hook bass in pic.

Just bugging me in my latter years, I remember all my basses and always thought that one was a Yamaha.

Yamaha SB-35 is the only remotely SG shaped bass Yamaha have done...doesn’t seem to fit?

[atsampson]

This one and this one both have lots of matching details, including the zero fret. Those are both Zentas which is another importer brand like Jedson...

[AndyTravis]

5 minutes ago, atsampson said:

This one and this one both have lots of matching details, including the zero fret. Those are both Zentas which is another importer brand like Jedson...

They look like the perfect crossover of the eko and the Ibanez/Antoria. 
 

Looks like a winner.

Zenta basses often turn up with various brands...was “yamano” one of them, rather than Yamaha....I’m off to google.

[AndyTravis]

Hmm. Yamano seems to be a shop/distributor in Japan...

[AndyTravis]

Yamato...doesn’t seem exactly like the picture. Will keep looking.

Edited August 11, 2020 by AndyTravis

[AndyTravis]

Well...google Yamato and lots of Zenta looking things (mainly guitars) and there are lots of hallmarks and features which match up.

Lots of crossover and distributor branded instruments made by the same factory.

So...not a Yamaha, maybe a lesser spotted Yamato/Zenta crossover.

[Bassassin]

All these brand names are only names & nothing to do with who made it. Might not even have had a headstock brand, many budget instruments from the 70s didn't.

However it's 99.9% MIJ (fractional possibility it's Korean or Taiwanese but I doubt, it and it's absolutely not an Eko!) and does look closest to Hooky's old EB copy & the 2 Zenta-branded basses - main clues are the shape of the scratchplate & trc. The same designs did appear on basses branded Jedson, possibly made by Sakai Mokko or Teisco Gakki, (which is a different Teisco to the one most people have heard of) but otherwise they're very different:

The scratchplate & trc might put Sakai/Teisco Gakki in the frame but isn't enough for a positive ID.

I don't have any pics of an identical bass (and the guitar versions are more common) but I'll have a dig around & see what I can find out. The Zenta name doesn't offer much of a clue, the brand was a John Hornby Skewes budget range & the Zenta literature I have shows 2 EB style basses, both identical to Korean-made Hondos & lacking the distinctive details of this bass. The business model back then was often to source the best deal on any generic instrument, so suppliers & instruments would change depending on what was available.

[Chris Dow]

Thanks Douglas and all for that, I still think it was a Yamaha copy or an Ibanez could be possible. The pickguard is identical to the Peter Hook bass in pic.

Just bugging me in my latter years, I remember all my basses and always thought that one was a Yamaha. 

[Chris Dow]

Going to search some old photos and see if any other pics turn up. 

[Paul S]

20 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

Yamaha SB-35 is the only remotely SG shaped bass Yamaha have done...doesn’t seem to fit?

That was mine. Serious seller's remorse. 

Edited August 12, 2020 by Paul S

[Chris Dow]

Cheers You are not alone Iv'e had many sellers remorse.