Guess the bass...

[Bassybert]

I love a bit of Michael Nau and was watching a live performance on the Red Bull website of all places and kept looking at the lovely bass the bassist was using. I've never seen one like this before and was wondering what sort of model it could be - Looks like it might be an older Japanese bass that might have been stripped? Looks neck through and has a piece of dowel in a different colour near the bridge from looking at it.

 

Anyone have any ideas what it might be?

 

If anyone's interested the video itself is at https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/videos/michael-nau-live-and-qa

 

[Reggaebass]

First off I thought it was an aria or maybe vantage but the headstock is different, really not sure ,but a cool looking bass 

[Bassybert]

3 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

First off I thought it was an aria or maybe vantage but the headstock is different, really not sure ,but a cool looking bass 

I thought the same myself, an old Aria Cardinal or something but the body shape isn't quite right and the headstock has a slant to it whereas the Aria is straight.

 

Also pretty sure Aria's have bolt on necks?

Edited January 8 by Bassybert

[simisker]

Yeah, I'd say it was a Vantage that has seen enthusiastic sanding. The hexagonal-ish tuners line up, as do the controls on the bloaty body:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8XFw90ns-Y

[Bassassin]

31 minutes ago, simisker said:

Yeah, I'd say it was a Vantage that has seen enthusiastic sanding. The hexagonal-ish tuners line up, as do the controls on the bloaty body:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8XFw90ns-Y

 

 Exactly that. At first glance I thought it was a luthier build, but those old MIJ Gotoh tuners give it away. Reshaped headstock, & look closely enough & you can see where the original 3-point bridge mount holes have been filled.

 

 

[Bassybert]

53 minutes ago, simisker said:

Yeah, I'd say it was a Vantage that has seen enthusiastic sanding. The hexagonal-ish tuners line up, as do the controls on the bloaty body:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8XFw90ns-Y

That's the one!!!

 

Brilliant stuff thank you, I had a hunch it would be late 70s Japanese a la Aria, Westone etc.

 

It looks like these were made by Matsumoku as well, they definitely have that classic look for that era.

 

This place is a mine of information ☺️

Edited January 8 by Bassybert