Do I own an Ampeg Baby Bass, or is it a Zorko hybrid?

[Lodekka]

I own what I always thought was an Ampeg Baby Bass, but I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't, in fact, a hybrid. The fixed metal tailpiece says 'Ampeg' on it, but the body is hollow and not foam filled. Also, the body's sides don't have a seam and is completely smooth (any Ampeg Baby Bass I've seen has a raised seam where the two halves of the body are joined together).
From the inside, the body looks to me like it's made from built-up layers of glass fibre, reminding me of the inside of a fibreglass dinghy's hull.
The pickup looks Ampeg to me, and there's a single metal bridge.
Could it be that my bass is a Zorko body with Ampeg fittings on it?
I seem to have uploaded the entire file of photos onto this thread, which was not my intention. Sorry if it's overkill.

I bought this bass in 1998 in Sacramento, California, from its first owner. I'm afraid I didn't ask much about it at the time, as he was actually lending it to me for the Jazz Jubilee and I wasn't thinking about buying it initially. It's in ok condition, but, as you can see, there's some warping on the front around the pickup hole. It was white when I bought it. The neck has been stripped and re-dressed by a luthier here in Edinburgh, UK.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what I might have here?

 

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Lodekka

[Happy Jack]

Does the bass smell?

That's a serious question. The material used to build an Ampeg BabyBass is a type of plastic that - after time - emits a pungent and really quite unpleasant aroma, especially after the bass has spent a period in a case or gigbag.

I have to say that the finish on that bass doesn't look like anything that would have left the Ampeg factory.

 

[Lodekka]

Happy Jack, thanks for replying.

It does have a smell inside the body that I don't notice other than when the pickup assembly is removed. You have to get your nose in close to pick up on it. The aroma is only slightly unpleasant and not one I've experienced before, I don't think. Somewhere between glass fibre resin and pear drop sweets (almost an esterification smell, but not quite). 

It was difficult to photograph, but there is a sort of webbed/meshed effect to the inside of the body, reminiscent of the inside cavities of a glass fibre dinghy. Light shows through it when you are looking from the inside.

And it's definitely hollow apart from the fibreboard type material built up around the pickup area (like three sides of an open cardboard box), and there's the wooden block towards the endpin assembly.

I always assumed that the white colour had been painted on by the previous owner, but I can't see any evidence of other colours underneath. I have a feeling that some BBs were white from factory, but perhaps I'm wrong about that? I've seen signal red ones and all sorts, but not sure about their originality.

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Lodekka
Typo

[Happy Jack]

Your description of the smell is actually quite re-assuring ... when I had mine that smell was one of the most distinctive things about it! Just ask @Clarky.

This was mine (nine years ago), and this finish was the one I used to see the most:

[Happy Jack]

A Google image search did turn up a few 'custom' colours, including this:

[Lodekka]

That ivory coloured one is very reminiscent of my baby bass, albeit in much better condition than mine. I'm not quite sure what to do with this instrument. It doesn't get played enough to warrant my restoring it, and yet it has some areas that could be improved. I'd really like to know what it actually is before starting any work or alterations. There's a serial number stamped into the tailpiece assembly, so I should start by checking that out. There must be an online resource for Ampeg gear.

That will give me a date of some sort, but probably won't relate to the body if it's a Zorko --- which seems likely given the lack of foam inside the bass and no seam visible on the  inside or outside of the body.

I believe the first Ampeg BBs used the Zorko bodies that were part of the inventory when the Dobro company sold the 'whole shooting match' to Ampeg. But they abandoned the double bridge setup and used a completely different tailpiece arrangement, as well as developing an improved version of the pickup unit. I'm not sure I'd want to do a full Zorko replica or just improve what's already there.

[Lodekka]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Your description of the smell is actually quite re-assuring ... when I had mine that smell was one of the most distinctive things about it! Just ask @Clarky.

This was mine (nine years ago), and this finish was the one I used to see the most:

That's a fine looking BB4 you've got there. Puts mine to shame, for sure!