Check it out:

I’m pretty stoked to see these getting some mass-market play. When I saw this flyer the first thing I though of was Fritz Brothers and their “F.B. Bass”, which is a hand-crafted copy of the K5965. According to more of their marketing material, the current incarnation of Kay Guitar, Inc has pegged Mr. Fritz to oversee production of this ‘reissue’ line:

Any Kay purists reading this have probably already taken note of the fact that these ‘reissues’ aren’t vintage-correct because they sport the “Kelvinator” headstock instead of the more plain headstocks of the original 5965′s. But I’m not complaining – love the Kelvinator. It’s big, bold, and perfectly gaudy:

MSRP on these puppies is $1k. Based on that, I’m assuming they’ll be made in Korea. Price includes fitted hardshell case. See this catalog page for more specs:

I’ve got an email in to Kay to get some more info. If/when they get back to me I’ll post an update.

The K5965 “Pro” Bass isn’t the only thing Kay has up it’s sleeve. They’re also planning a reissue of the K5970 “Jazz Special” Bass! YES! The Jazz Special is my favorite Kay design, complete with Kelvinator and all:

I have no idea when/where/how these things will be available to consumers, but as I find out the info I’ll let you know.

Looks like someone over @ Danelectro had the same idea I did, or took my advice. (I’d like to think it was the latter.) At this year’s winter NAMM, Danelectro unveiled the “Dano ’63″ guitar and bass models. The guitar is a pretty faithful rendition of the two-pickup Silvertone 1457. To throw the bass players a bone, they’re releasing both long (34″) and short-scale (30″) models!

The basses are (probably) made in China, but I haven’t confirmed that fact – I’m guessing China based on the $299 price tag. It does look like they’re using the ‘nicer’ Dano hardware on these instruments (mainly an intonate-able bridge instead of the vintage-spec non-adjustable rosewood saddle version).
Unfortunately, they did not carry over the funky 6-in-line headstock that the old Silvertones had.

And for some reason they stiffed the bass players on finish options – you have your choice of Aqua, Black or Redburst if you want a long scale, but only Redburst if you go shortscale. The guitars have eight retro color options.

I’m gonna have to give one of these Dano ’63′s a test drive once they actually hit the market. Musicians Friend has them on preorder with a shipping date of 7/2/08. Music123 has them listed for sale with no mention of wait time – so they may be in stock already. Numerous eBay sellers also have preorders up.

View Danelectro’s website for product information: http://danelectro.com/bass_ss_red.html

If anyone has a chance to give these puppies a test drive, please post here with your comments.

Rimini 4
-Agathis chamber body
-Maple set-in neck
-Italia bass mini humbucker

The Rimini 4 is based on the Italia Rimini Guitar, which comes in a bunch of pearloid colors, so maybe the color choices for the bass will be similar. Check out the guitar in white pearloid:

Mondial Woody Bass
-Soft Maple top w/wood binder
-Mahogany body back
-Mahogany set-in neck
-ABR bass humbucker
-Piezo with 3band slide EQ
-Handbuilt wooden bridge

This model is pretty similar to previous Mondial Bass, but without the res-o-glass inspired top.

IBANEZ AGB200-TBR IBANEZ AGB200-TBR, Semi-Acoustic-Bass, Maple Top, Back and Sides, 3-pcs set in Mahogany Neck, Rosewood Fretboard, 22 Frets, 30″ Scale, Pearl Dot Inlays, Gibralter IIIB Bridge with Quik-Change IIIB Tailpiece, Pickups: ACHB-2 Neck and ACHB-2B Bridge, Color: Transparent Brown, incl. Gigbag and StrapPrice: 425 EUR See product listing: http://www.thomann.de/ie/ibanez_agb200_tbr.htm

and:

IBANEZ AFB200-BS IBANEZ AFB200-BS, Acoustic-Bass, Maple Top, Back and Sides, 3-pcs set in Mahogany Neck, Rosewood Fretboard, 22 Frets, 30″ Scale, Pearl Dot Inlays, Gibralter IIIB Bridge with Quik-Change IIIB Tailpiece, Pickups: ACHB-2 Neck and ACHB-2B Bridge, Color: Brown Sunburst, incl. Gigbag and StrapPrice: 444 EUR See the product listing: http://www.thomann.de/ie/ibanez_afb200_bs.htm

I’m wondering if these basses were present at NAMM, or if they’re Europe-only models. Sean was unable to find any other information, nor was I. If anyone out there has seen these basses first-hand or has any further info, shoot me an email @ brandon [[a]] hollowbodybass.com. Thanks Sean!

01/22/07 Update: A fellow TalkBasser clued me in that these models have actually been listed on the US site for a week or so – but they’re not linked from the Basses page, you’ve got to go to the Hollowbody GUITARS section to find them (smooth move on Ibanez’s web designer’s part). So anyways, check it out: http://ibanez.com/hollow/featured/basses.aspx.

First up are a few basses from Jerry Drozd:

On the left is a Drozd Sequel, on the right a Barcelona.

And check out this 12-string Legend:

Below are some pics of Ken Lawrence and one of his single-cut chambered creations:

I’ll be on the lookout for any more hollowbody bass related NAMM news. In the meanwhile you can check out the rest of west*coast*bass’s NAMM pics here.

I like the new headstock design and the symmetry of the dual-pointy-cutaway body. Very Kessel-ish.

You may be asking why I’m covering guitar news here on the Hollowbody BASS Archive. Well, Reverend at one time did make basses. From what I hear, they were very nice basses. (Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to try one out.) So keep your fingers crossed – maybe Reverend will bring their bass line back, and debut a Manta Ray hollowbody or semi-hollow bass. One can dream, right?

Original press release here.