Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

[ksdaddy]

I bought this off ebay recently. I queried the seller and he admitted he got it from Goodwill in LA. I'm trying to find out who made it. It is definitely NOT factory made. Inside the pickup cavity and control cavity it is stamped June 13 1981. Because of the arrowhead cutout in the headstock it was suggested that Bernie Rico Jr may have made it. I've not been able to get any response from him though facebook or his site. In addition, I need to find a pickup to fit it. It's slightly smaller than a standard humbucker. There is no evidence of the rout having been altered so I will go with the assumption it had a pickup that was readily available in 1981. In my search, it appears a Duncan SRB-1n MAY fit. So my first question is, does anyone have a clue as to who may have made this, and second, was the SRB-1 available during that time frame?

 

[jtougas]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

There's an EMG that's a bass pup in a guitar humbucker shell... Would that be too small?

 

[ksdaddy]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

Last night I placed a guitar humbucker mounting ring over the hole and the humbucker is very slightly larger than the existing rout. If I'm not able to find a direct replacement I will likely rout is just a little to fit a standard humbucker size.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

Maybe the mini humbucker size from a Gibson Ebo?


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[ksdaddy]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

It appears the Duncan pickup for a Rickenbacker (SRB-1n) would be a near perfect match size-wise. I'd just have to make a mounting ring out of maple or walnut, or a laminate of both.... that's wide open, actually.

 

[ginormous]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

I've been googling like a fiend, and the only references I can find to your bass are the inquiries you've made in other forums!
This is really an odd piece... maybe it's a one-off made by a hobbyist.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

The Rico influence is strong... body shape is a lot like an Eagle, with Alembic Omega influences...

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

I have to say it looks eerily familiar, but can't place the maker. 1981 I highly doubt it was B.C. Rich (Sr or Jr). I don't know if Conklin was doing anything at that time, but it's possible.

There were also several "big name" smaller brands like Roscoe, Robin, etc who may have been getting their start with stuff like this.

The back half of the body reminds me of Alembic, though I can't imagine them doing something so hideous with the rest of the body.


I'm assuming it's neckthrough? If not, it could be some psychotic Warmoth mutt, but I don't think they were offering multi-laminate bodies that early.

Only other guess is Japanese-made, either avant garde or an after-the-fact butchering.

No "bridge" pickup, so whoever made/modded it was going for a more traditional tone in keeping with the body shape (half-assed violin/viola/cello). It's also located in the thinnest part of the body, for some reason.

Is the stamp a rubberstamp type of stamp or does it look more like handwriting?

Got a pic of the back? Control cover may tell the tale (I shudder to think this may be a Charvel).

 

[ksdaddy]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

It's neck-through. The date is rubber stamped. Once I got it in my hand I "made the call" that it's not Japanese. The routing is just rough enough to 'not' be factory. Ditto for the abalone inlays. The inlays are narrow strips of abalone laid into grooves, forming a rectangle as opposed to an entire rectangle being routed out. it also has a truss rod adjustable with a 1/4" socket as opposed to a hex key like you'd see on an import. Admittedly I'm generalizing, but there's not much more a person can do. The control cavity is pretty straightforward but it has no recess routed for a cover; the cover must have laid on top and was held in place with 2 screws. There are a couple extra screw holes in that area and tape residue so they may have covered it with duct tape at some point.

In person the finish has more of a pinkish color than it may show in the pics. In addition, it has a subtle sunburst with a more solid pink/purple around the edges. I strung it up with D'Addario 45-100 and it plays fine. I mean to say it has the potential to play fine. I gave the truss rod a 1/8 turn and took too much relief out of it. I'm not going to worry about that until I get a pickup for it and do the final setup. I just wanted to get some string tension on it so that it knows it's supposed to be a bass and not a tree. It has had a rough life; there are dozens of dings and chips everywhere. I have no intention of cleaning it up other than to re-glue where the lower bout broke off and make a new cavity cover. I refuse to believe this was a 'living room' bass. It had to have been gigged with and someone will recognize it eventually. I'm still befuddled by the Bernie Junior-esque arrowhead cutout. Seems like an awful coincidence.

If it were done by a hobbyist, they sure did a good job. I've built a few guitars and mandolins so I know how painstaking it would be to cut and shape this body. It's also radically beveled on the back and is surprisingly comfortable. My only other bass is an '83 Precision so I'm a traditional type guy. Something drew me to this bass and I don't regret it. I've received a handful of caustic remarks about it, and that's fine. I dig ugly ducklings. I went through the same thing when I bought my Hopf Saturn 63 in 1986 for fifty bucks. Now they're collector's items! Here's the original ebay auction:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301084945400?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

[ksdaddy]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

I replied but for some reason it has to be approved by a mod. Maybe because I had the link to the original ebay auction....

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

If that was the only line in the reply, it may be considered spam automatically.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

Those block outlines could not have been easy to cut. Are they abalone or MOP? Look like abalone to me.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

Is that the original bridge?

 

[ksdaddy]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

I can't say for sure about the bridge. The best I can do is remove it and look for extra holes. It's a Badass II. The inlays are actually thin strips of abalone. They didn't rout out the whole box, just the outline. The inlay work is a little crude up close. Not bad mind you, but we're so used to stuff cut out with a CNC nowadays....

 

[ksdaddy]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

Here's some pics from the auction.

 

[ksdaddy]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

With the way the treble side waist is shaped (disregarding the "c" cutout) and also the bevelling on the back of the bass side, it's surprisingly comfortable to play sitting down.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

I've got a Jackson SLS Custom with outline sharkfins, so I do know those were done by hand (reportedly by Grover himself), and they do look hand-cut/filled. It's also expensive, which adds to the confusion about this bass. The head definitely looks homemade/handshaped by an inexperienced woodworker. The curves are rough and the truss rod channel looks like guesswork.

The control cavity also looks like guesswork.

I'm thinking someone got a Carvin neckthrough paddlehead and some body blanks and gave it their best shot. Hell, Les Paul stuck hollowbody wings on a railroad tie, and look what that led to. This could be a Ken Smith original for all we know :lol:

Then again, it came from SoCal...(raises one brow and casts suspicious eyes at our gracious host) :lol:

 

[ksdaddy]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

I re-measured the rout and compared it to the SD SRB-1n and (again) it looks like a near perfect fit so I snagged one on ebay for $79 shipped. I will have to make my own mounting ring so I ordered some 1/4" thick walnut. I have no idea what might have been on there for a ring so I'll make one out of walnut like the old aluminum necked Kramers.

The nut is bone but it's not original based on the footprint and it's rough and too low besides. I have a couple brass nut blanks left over from the late 70s and I think that would be appropriate. I never gave two hoots about brass nuts but I just feel it would match here.

Pretty sure I have some very thin (.100" or so) Indian Rosewood for a truss rod cover.

I have the standard fare here, an old LP, a couple Strats, the Tele I've owned for 36 years, a couple J200s, all stuff you'd expect to find. But I have a soft spot for pariah guitars. In '86 I bought a Hopf Saturn 63 for $50 and everyone laughed at me. Now they're collectors items and Eastman makes copies of them. My '77 Gretsch Country Club gets no respect either.

And there is a room downstairs with 45 aluminum necked 70s Applause acoustics on the walls. Yes, I'm a little twisted.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

If that doesn't work, sonically speaking, Bartolini still makes a Ric pup that should do the trick.


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[Papa John]

Re: Mystery bass, trying to identify and find a pickup for it...

Has a little bit of a Mouradian look to it. You might want to check on eBay. I've seen this type of body style on a bunch of European basses from the '80's.