Citylimits Posted May 18, 2021 Posted May 18, 2021 I surfed onto a listing featuring this Commodore Bass The listed amount is $NZD1899.00. There is very little by way of a written description, but there are a fair number of images to take the place of the proverbial one thousand words. So here we go, I hope you enjoy what I've posted here. Cheers and best wishes. Bruce 3 Quote
casapete Posted May 18, 2021 Posted May 18, 2021 Love it! Appeals to my liking of quirky basses ( Danelectro, Kay etc), not sure if it’s worth nearly £1k though ( to me anyway). But then find another one....😄 Quote
meterman Posted May 18, 2021 Posted May 18, 2021 I love the aesthetics but I’m not sure I’d go the full price on it. I used to have a short scale Commodore bass years ago, but I think it was a rebadged MIJ Aria from the 70’s. It didn’t look as cool as the one in the ad though Quote
Nail Soup Posted May 18, 2021 Posted May 18, 2021 I'd go for that on looks. Outside my normal price range.... it would have to play/sound pretty good too to even get a look in! Quote
Maude Posted May 18, 2021 Posted May 18, 2021 I like that. Where were they built? It's got an Italian vibe with all the pearloid like an Eko. Quote
mybass Posted May 18, 2021 Posted May 18, 2021 3 hours ago, Mykesbass said: Do you know these @mybass? Can’t say I do Mike, long times ago 🤪 Trademe is NZs equivalent of EBay. Quote
Crusoe Posted May 19, 2021 Posted May 19, 2021 Has it been in a fire? The top of the headstock looks charred. 😄 Quote
Happy Jack Posted May 19, 2021 Posted May 19, 2021 That's close on a thousand quid! You'd need to be pretty obsessed with 'quirky' to justify blowing that amount ... 1 Quote
Bassassin Posted May 19, 2021 Posted May 19, 2021 (edited) Never encountered the NZ Commodore brand before, clearly not related to the Matsumoku-built UK Commodore brand of the late 60s/early 70s. Did a very quick Google which unearthed this article which covers the origins of the NZ company & its founder, plus a few Commodore gutars: https://www.audioculture.co.nz/scenes/ten-guitars-nz-made-guitars And this Reverb listing for a very pretty Commodore 6-stringer, its styling owing an awful lot to 50s/60s Italian instruments, IMO. https://reverb.com/item/8244871-extremely-rare-vintage-commodore-electric-guitar-new-zealand-rare-50-s-1958 Aside from Australian manufacturer Maton, I'm hard-pressed to think of any Antipodean guitar & bass manufacturers. I'll see if I can dig up anything else about Commodore. Edit: Thread on Offset Guitars forum discussing the brand: https://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=53549 It's a 10-year old thread so probably a few dead links. Edited May 19, 2021 by Bassassin Moar stuff. 1 Quote
toneknob Posted May 19, 2021 Posted May 19, 2021 Wondered if this was going to be about this... 2 5 Quote
Citylimits Posted August 17, 2021 Author Posted August 17, 2021 On 19/05/2021 at 03:16, casapete said: Love it! Appeals to my liking of quirky basses ( Danelectro, Kay etc), not sure if it’s worth nearly £1k though ( to me anyway). But then find another one....😄 In the end, this Commodore Bass sold locally at $NZD600. Even locals had similar thoughts to you, mate. 1 Quote
casapete Posted August 17, 2021 Posted August 17, 2021 43 minutes ago, Citylimits said: In the end, this Commodore Bass sold locally at $NZD600. Even locals had similar thoughts to you, mate. That’s around £300 here, probably even a good price at that? With stuff like this it’s usually about finding that one person who will pay for quirky and rare. Quote
Lord Sausage Posted August 17, 2021 Posted August 17, 2021 On 19/05/2021 at 15:40, toneknob said: Wondered if this was going to be about this... Id forgotten all about that Quote
NancyJohnson Posted August 18, 2021 Posted August 18, 2021 A few years back, I approached Eastwood to see whether they could do us a limited run of an Eastwood BC bass. We had a few interested parties, but before we even got as far as agreeing on a body/neck design, the thread took an inevitable downward spiral of member-bickering about hardware/electrics, with members chipping in as to why they wouldn't be interested (which really wasn't the point of the exercise). Despite the number of members here, it would never have worked. In my head though, this bass is very close in looks to what I thought we should be doing and it certainly fits the Eastwood build ethic; a bit of a quirky 60s throwback, wouldn't look out of place on The Jetsons, I bloody love that headstock! 3 Quote
casapete Posted August 18, 2021 Posted August 18, 2021 It reminds me of some of the recent Fano basses ( but maybe not the same quality obvs!). Agreed about the headstock too, fabulous. Quote
BigRedX Posted August 19, 2021 Posted August 19, 2021 (edited) On 18/08/2021 at 08:31, NancyJohnson said: A few years back, I approached Eastwood to see whether they could do us a limited run of an Eastwood BC bass. We had a few interested parties, but before we even got as far as agreeing on a body/neck design, the thread took an inevitable downward spiral of member-bickering about hardware/electrics, with members chipping in as to why they wouldn't be interested (which really wasn't the point of the exercise). Despite the number of members here, it would never have worked. In my head though, this bass is very close in looks to what I thought we should be doing and it certainly fits the Eastwood build ethic; a bit of a quirky 60s throwback, wouldn't look out of place on The Jetsons, I bloody love that headstock! But how much of an Eastwood version would be true to the original and how much would be cobbled together from standard off the shelf parts, thereby loosing a good deal of what made the instrument different and interesting in the first place? Edited August 19, 2021 by BigRedX Quote
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