August 2, 2007 at 6:27 pm · Filed under Bass Sightings · by Brandon
This post comes to you via Musician’s Friend’s latest forest-leveling promotional catalog, which arrived in the mail today. Apparently Daisy Rock’s Chinese manufacturer has stepped up the work hours or dipped its toes into slave labor, as this bass is rediculously cheap.
See for yourself: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Daisy-Rock-RetroH-SemiHollow-Bass?sku=514263
I’m not sure if this is a closeout or a permanent price drop. Daisy Rock doesn’t have this model listed on their site, nor is it in their 2007 catalog.
Specs:
- Construction: Bolt-On
- Body: Basswood, Semi-Hollow
- Neck: Rock Maple
- Fingerboard: Rosewood
- Fret: 22 Medium
- Scale: 30″
- Inlay: Dots
- Bridge: Combination
- Tuners: Grover
- Hardware: Chrome
- Pickups: Duncan Designed Vintage Mini-Humbuckers with Active EQ
- Electronics: Master Volume, 12 dB Bass Cut/Boost, 12 dB Treble Cut/Boost, Pickup Pan Pot
- Strings: D’addario Custom Exl 220 Short Scale
- Finish: Stormy Blue
I have to admit, I was tempted to order one just for the heck of it. Kinda reminds me of the days when Musician’s Friend was closing out Danelectro Hodad basses for $99. Guess who didn’t order one? >_<
August 2, 2007 at 7:24 am · Filed under Bass Sightings · by Brandon
Mike Watt (of Minutemen fame) is generally seen playing a Gibson EB-3, but he has decent collection of other instruments (including a Gibson Les Paul Signature Bass) that can be seen here. One of those instruments is now in the hands of TalkBass member SLAPMAN, who has posted it for sale.
According to Watt it’s a “beautiful bass but the neck scale is too long for watt to play live much. great for recording though.” The instrument was built per Mike’s specs by luthier Tim Thelen. The MM-style bridge pickup was removed by Watt and put into one of his EB-3’s. This bass can be yours for mere $3300.
I counted eight layers of binding on the headstock. It sure is one ornate thinline tele bass!
August 1, 2007 at 9:47 pm · Filed under Bass Sightings · by Brandon
A Yahoo Japan auction for a modified Gibson EB-650 ended today with a single bid at 70,000 yen. That converts to $589 US (based on today’s exchange rate). Even in its modified condition, $589 was still a great deal.
If only I hadn’t just bought a Fender Performer bass last month, I might have bid on this bass with the intention of restoring it. Oh well. Maybe one day I’ll have a ‘650.
I found the listing via a thread at the Dudepit, where one of the members in Japan offered to help get the bass to anyone interested. I wonder if this ‘650 is headed back home……
Anyways, the bass was originally cherry red (based on the neck color). The body had been refinished natural, and the frets had been pulled and filled to make it a lined fretless.
On to the pics:
July 10, 2007 at 9:16 pm · Filed under Brand Spotlight · by Brandon
A while back I stumbled upon OnlyBass.com, the French equivalent of TalkBass. Someone had linked to a thread where the members displayed pictures of their collections. The collections were not unlike those of most Americans - full of Fenders, MusicMen (Mans?) with sprinkles of Hofner, G&L, Yamaha, Ibanez, etc.
But one bass in particular caught my attention:
Luckily the owner noted that it was a “Perlgold” from the 60’s. Perlgold was a new one to me, so off to Google I went.
Turns out Perlgold instruments were manufactured in Germany, starting in the 50’s. For a little bit of history, check Jazzgitarren’s post of images from a 1954 Perlgold catalog. Unfortunately, the trail ran cold for historical info on the company.
But I did stumble upon another site with a number of Perlgold models pictured, three of which are hollowbody basses:
This is the same model found on OnlyBass, with a darker sunburst and tortoiseshell pickguard & control plate.
This one has a definite Hofner/Framus vibe going on.
But the crown jewel - the one you’ve been waiting your whole life to see - is up next.
Wait for it…………….
Wait for it…………..
Check THAT out. You might not have noticed it, but the soundhole is located under the strings, between the two pickups. Next to the Yamaha SA-17, this would be a crowning piece in any hollowbody kitsch collection.
The search begins………
Here’s the page where I found the previous three images.
Here’s another page with a guitar similar to the first bass above.
June 25, 2007 at 9:13 pm · Filed under eBay Oddities · by Brandon
This week’s freak is the bastard child of an EB-2 and an “F” style mandolin. Morgan Monroe, a company fronted by SHS Audio, produces this bass. Top is solid spruce; back and sides are maple. Includes a piezo pickup w/ volume and tone controls.
I wish they’d made the body a little larger, so the neck didn’t look quite so huge. Imagine if the body was the same size as say, a Gretsch G6073. I’d slap some Dark Stars in that puppy and rock heck out of it.
Maybe I should start and all-bass three-piece bluegrass band……one guy would play a Morgan Monroe F Basses, one on a Deering Banjo Bass, and the last guy on a Martin 00C-16GTAE…….
Anyways, you can check out the auction here, and the Morgan Monroe product page here.
June 10, 2007 at 12:09 pm · Filed under eBay Oddities · by Brandon
At first glance, this bass appears to be a your standard, run-of-the mill, uber expensive and collectible Rickenbacker 4005 hollowbody bass.
But the bass sleuths among us will quickly pick up on the Gibson mudbucker and mini humbucker pickup combination that were installed on this bass. I wonder how the bass sounds when compared against a stock 4005.
If any Rickenbacker enthusiasts are looking at these images, they’ve probably just thrown up on their keyboards, right before the massive brain hemoraging ensued.
This auction is no longer listed in eBay’s completed items because it’s over a month old, so no link. But it did sell for a hefty $2,500.
May 27, 2007 at 6:16 pm · Filed under Guitars · by Brandon
I play guitar as well as bass, so I keep an eye out for certain models. Recently I’ve been contemplating getting one of the mid-90’s Gibson ES-135’s with humbuckers and no f-holes, when I spotted this one on eBay:
Now, Gibson isn’t exactly known for their quality control. And, the finishers do sunburst finishes ‘free-hand’ style without any type of guide for the paint, so you sometimes see a little variance in the symmetry. But this is just sad.
I thought it might have been the angle of the pic, but this one makes it look even worse:
Just thought I’d share. 
May 27, 2007 at 6:05 pm · Filed under eBay Oddities · by Brandon
This week’s freak could almost qualify for a ‘Bass that should have been.’ For your viewing pleasure is the love child of a nineties Danelectro and a Fender Jazz Bass. If only it had a rosewood fretboard…….
The builder really went all out for this one. Headstock has matching sparkle silver paint, chrome-covered Jazz Bass pickups and white vinyl covering on the sides. (Coincidentally, the vinyl on this custom bass is more true to the original Danelectro’s than the tape used on the reissues.)
The auction ended with no bids (had a starting bid of $399). Check it out here.
May 20, 2007 at 4:17 pm · Filed under Site Announcements · by Brandon
I know I have a few regular readers, some of which may be wondering why the posts have been so sparse over the last few weeks.
In early April, my son Caiden was stillborn with only two weeks left until his due date of April 23rd. Since then, I’ve done some posts when I was feeling up to it, but within the last few weeks depression and feelings of guilt for enjoying the things I like to do (one of which is keeping up this site) have kept me away from hollowbodybass.com.
I could go on about my loss, but that’s not the subject of this site. I just wanted to let everyone know that the Hollowbody Bass Archive will remain open, even if the posts are a little further apart for a while. If you’re the praying type, I’d appreciate your prayers as I continue to deal with my son’s death.
Thanks,
Brandon Howell
May 20, 2007 at 4:06 pm · Filed under Bass Sightings · by Brandon
When’s the last time you saw one of these?
Tim Marks has posted his green 1967 Guild Starfire II bass for sale on the Talkbass Forums. It has some wear as can be expected, but comes with the original case. These are pretty hard to come by, and this one is for sale for $2,100 which is a fair price for such a rare color.
Click to view the TalkBass thread where you can contact Tim about the bass.
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