robjwood Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 (edited) I acquired two bass guitars off an old boss of mine years ago. One, as you'll see, is unplayable in its current form and other is marginally better. What I want to know is what the hell are they and are either of them worth bothering with? First guitar: Second guitar: Edited April 20, 2023 by robjwood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 I can only see the 2nd pic, looks like one of the odd Jap basses that we're knocking about late 60s early 70? I'd certainly say they'd be worth bothering with, if not your idea of fun I'm sure there's a few folk would happily take them off you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robjwood Posted April 19, 2023 Author Share Posted April 19, 2023 First pics should load now! It looks like this bass has been butchered a bit. The tuning pegs are Ibanez branded so I think the previous owner added them later. I've seen a few very similar-looking basses to the top one which all look basically the same but with different branding on the headstock (Aria, Commodore, Lyle). There are holes on the headstock so I'm wondering if the previous owner removed the original logo and stuck a Roland sticker on it? God knows why... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGBass Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 The first bass is reminiscent of KAY branded medium scale basses which were fairly common in the 1970s and even into the early 1980s. There used to be a pawn shop /music store I recall in the east end of Glasgow in the late 70s called Golumb's. That was when you could actually still come across a genuine pawn shop bargain. They sold all manner of new Kay design guitars and basses alongside pawned p-basses. jazz basses and even gibson RD basses and the like etc. The Kay stuff always seemd to have quite thin bodies and seemed flimsy to me but lots of people used them as they were inexpensive, cheerful, and actually quite playable. No idea what that second bass is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snorkie635 Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Send for bass assasin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyctes Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Is the second bass not one of those Russian jobs from the 70s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyctes Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 16 minutes ago, snorkie635 said: Send for bass assasin? @Bassassin might know, but I don't think they are Japanese? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Paging @Bassassin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meterman Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 I had a bass like the one in the first picture. Mine had both of the big chrome pickups and it actually sounded immense. Was a bit of a mutt to play though, so I moved it on. Name on the headstock was either Columbus or Commodore, I’ll check my old ebay photos later. I loved the look and sound of it. Short scale, 30”. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robjwood Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 Doing a bit more digging and it looks very much like one of these: https://reverb.com/uk/item/11161733-commodore-bass-seventies-sunburst https://reverb.com/item/6118381-aria-1802t-bass-vintage-70s-japan-matsumoku https://reverb.com/item/13360959-aria-diamond-tobacco-burst-bass https://reverb.com/au/item/2015367-lyle-bass-mij-teisco-style-s245 https://reverb.com/uk/item/34665137-dia-matsumoko-long-scale-bass-guitar-1970s-sunburst So many brands! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meterman Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 The one I had was like the first one on your list, a Commodore. The name on the headstock was a sort of gold plastic badge tacked-on with two little pins. On my old laptop I had all the pics I took of it for my ebay listing when I sold it but I only have 3 not very good pics on my current one: The bridge cover is an obvious later replacement and the tugbar was missing but that's how I got it. Thought I had more pics, sorry @robjwood 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robjwood Posted April 22, 2023 Author Share Posted April 22, 2023 (edited) @meterman Apart from the tone/volume knobs (the the parts that have been lost/replaced) it looks the same. Great pictures! Edited April 22, 2023 by robjwood Typo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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