Odd extremely short scale bass I found

[Twunkbass]

Found this odd little thing and got it for free. I think it's from catalogue in the 70s? 

The scale length seems to be shorter than a regular fender guitar which is baffling to me. I'm going to attempt to restore it, the electronics are really fragile and odd. 

 

Anyone know anything about it, and whether it's worth putting some effort into? 

[Grahambythesea]

Looks short enough to be a Uke bass. 😆

[Bassassin]

Korean-made cheapo from the late 70s, I think made by Cort. Not a catalogue bass, Eros was a brand owned by UK distributor Rosetti, mostly starter/midrange electrics.

 

I had what was pretty much the guitar version of this a few years back (£6.50 from my local car boot) and it looks like the bass is essentially the same neck/body but with different hardware. If you can make it play OK it might be a fun little curiosity, & a lot of people these days seem to like this sort of lo-fi approach. Certainly worth giving it a wipe down, a squirt of switch cleaner & maybe even some new strings.

 

Here's the guitar I had, definitely part of the same family.

 

 

[Guest]

Now that's a pickguard!

[Boodang]

 

My Jedson equivalent from the 70s, slightly modified! However the 24" scale is ridiculous, not so much a bass as just a guitar with thicker strings. Also a terrible instrument, intonation is appalling above the 9th fret, and not enough string tension at this scale to tune to regularly. 

 

Is it worth restoring? Depends on how much you like it but it's never going to be worth much money and given it's scale length (what were they thinking, it's a toy scale length!!) it will play like shyt. Having said all that, i love my Jedson for all its idiosyncrasies and would never sell it.... still plays like shyt tho.

[Bassassin]

7 hours ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Now that's a pickguard!

Was actually pretty cool - it's clear acrylic with the design printed/painted on the back. Probably the best thing about it, to be fair.

[Pea Turgh]

I’d love to find one of these old things in a boot sale/charity shop/skip.  It’s be a fun project just to make it useable without spending any money.  And if it showed some sort of usefulness, sting tension could probably be sorted with the right sort of strings from Newtone.

[Boodang]

31 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

I’d love to find one of these old things in a boot sale/charity shop/skip.  It’s be a fun project just to make it useable without spending any money.  And if it showed some sort of usefulness, sting tension could probably be sorted with the right sort of strings from Newtone.

Interestingly given the toy scale length of 24", I put on heavy gauge nylon short scale strings (stringing thru the body is a must to use up some string length) and the tension on low E wasn't quite there but it's ok tuned solo at F#. Putting on light gauge Bass VI roundwounds and the tension on low E was ok but the sound was not as deep. Also the nylons intonation above the 9th fret gets very iffy, whereas the roundwounds faired better. 

[Badscrew]

How about making it a tenor guitar?

[Boodang]

28 minutes ago, Badscrew said:

How about making it a tenor guitar?

... or just a guitar!

[whynot]

My first bass was a lefty Jedson from a shop that sold a bit of everything in Camberwell, London. Short scale but was longer scale than the lefty guitar version sitting next to it. Both £22 new, in old UK money.

[ezbass]

7 minutes ago, whynot said:

My first bass was a lefty Jedson from a shop that sold a bit of everything in Camberwell, London. Short scale but was longer scale than the lefty guitar version sitting next to it. Both £22 new, in old UK money.

Camberwell! My old manor for many years, man & boy.

[Grahambythesea]

The Goldtone Micro Bass has a 23” scale which looks like it might be similar. May worth finding out what strings are on those.

[Badscrew]

1 hour ago, Boodang said:

... or just a guitar!

Or a piccolo bass

[Boodang]

3 hours ago, Badscrew said:

Or a piccolo bass

What's the difference between a piccolo bass and a guitar?

Answer.. 2 strings.

[Badscrew]

Answer: string spacing

[Twunkbass]

Is yours also 24 inch? The intonation on this thing is hilariously bad (when i can actually hear an audible note from the thing)

 

I found some spare short scale strings at work amazingly, gona have a go at a restoration. Wish me luck, the electronics are DISGUSTING

[Maude]

Keep us posted if you restore it. 

I love the madness of saving a terrible bass. 

🙂👍

[NikNik]

On 11/02/2022 at 02:02, Bassassin said:

Korean-made cheapo from the late 70s, I think made by Cort. Not a catalogue bass, Eros was a brand owned by UK distributor Rosetti, mostly starter/midrange electrics.

 

I had what was pretty much the guitar version of this a few years back (£6.50 from my local car boot) and it looks like the bass is essentially the same neck/body but with different hardware. If you can make it play OK it might be a fun little curiosity, & a lot of people these days seem to like this sort of lo-fi approach. Certainly worth giving it a wipe down, a squirt of switch cleaner & maybe even some new strings.

 

Here's the guitar I had, definitely part of the same family.

 

 

 Do you reckon these pips were real gold foils?

[Bassassin]

15 hours ago, NikNik said:

 Do you reckon these pips were real gold foils?

Lack of gold foil (bits of black fake leather instead) suggests not!

[prowla]

On 11/02/2022 at 18:04, Badscrew said:

How about making it a tenor guitar?

That's about what it's worth!

 

(Real fun to have one, though...)

[NikNik]

2 hours ago, Bassassin said:

Lack of gold foil (bits of black fake leather instead) suggests not!

Leather?? How did I miss that?😆

#Specsavers.

[Bassassin]

14 hours ago, NikNik said:

Leather?? How did I miss that?😆

#Specsavers.

When I had mine I did briefly toy with the idea of buying a pack of 20 Benson & nicking the foil to replace the fake leather - obviously the fags would go straight in the bin.

 

Hardly worth twice what I'd paid for the guitar though!

[BigRedX]

I'm confused! What's leather and what should be gold foil?

[CPCustomdubwise]

38 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

I'm confused! What's leather and what should be gold foil?

Yes, me too.....

The bass has neither that I can see....Bassassin's guitar has the leather-not-foil pickups, but the thread is (mainly) about the bass....or was.....