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Egypt Basses


karnophile
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Is anyone playing, or indeed interested in the wacky yet wonderful bass guitars made by the Egypt factory between 1985 and 1987?
Egypts were the brainchild of famous Glaswegian luthier James Cannell better known as Jimmy Egypt "the Pharaoh of Luthiering"! He and his business partner, Maurice Bellando, built guitars and basses in Glasgow's West End. These were very high spec and most unusual and original designs featuring not just exotic woods and construction but some pretty exotic (for the time) electrics too.
Jimmy Egypt is still very much in business and if you checkout CC Music's website you'll see one of Jimmy's top of the line guitars, but sadly not one of the basses. Jimmy has been promising a dedicated Egypt page on his website and as he says "watch this space". Now someone else has recently posted up on a website called "guitar-list" one of the Egypt Guitars original flyers and there you can see three of the basses.
I seem to recall seeing plenty of the basses in Glasgow's CC Music, Inverness' EMS, and Aberdeen's R&B at the time but the guitars were not so common. In England Dixies Music were the official distributor and also Route 66.

I have an Egypt fretless bass and I love it. If anyone has got one too (Bass or even guitar) please send me a picture and the serial number and I'll see what information I can relate about it for you.
Best Wishes
Karnophile

Edited by karnophile
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  • 8 months later...

I had one of there basses in the 80's it was a see through red color with Armstrong pickups on it i think ? Great bass i part=ex it for a Status series 2 at the time ! Wish i still had it, the shape was killer ! The sound was really thick and woody as i remember.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Very Interesting medpb. If it was a see-thru red then it was very likely Rosetta Red. which was a cherry red transluscent and in my opinion one of Egypts very best colours. It could well have had a pair of Armstrong "Egypt Cleartones" pick-up. They usually have no mounting rings and are adjusted for height at the back via a pair of allan screws for each pick-up. Chorr from the Glaswegian band "Battle for Second Place" plays one although his has conventional pickups.
Do you remember where you got it or part-ex'ed it? I dont suppose you have a photo of the bass or remember its serial number because I could probably tell you much more about model designation etc. Without seeing it it sounds like a "Karnak Nefertiti 2" in Rosetta Red if so then it was likely an 1986 model. These were made of Mahogany with a four-piece quater sawn neck, it was a serious piece of kit indeed and as you say a killer shape! Where else are you going to see one! The sound is pretty individual too, my fretless has a strong acoustic responce even before you plug it in. A much woodier natural tone than, by comparison, my Warwick although the Warwick plugged in is the more versatile.
Tis a pity you still dont have your Egypt as they are so rare nowadays, I hardly ever see one. Real collectors oddball, and I have to say I like the oddballs!
Best Wishes
Karnophile

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  • 7 months later...

Hi Karnophile its taken me 8 months to reply lol what a guy i am lol. Yeah i think it was the Nefertiti model really cool bass ! I got it from Sound Control Glasgow but it was when it wasnt on Jamaica Street . Was it Salt markets could that be right ? Anyhow at the time they had about 4 or 5 colours to choose of the same bass & i took a sparkaly blue one. I lived in Cumbria then & when i got back with the bass i found it to have really bad dead spots all over the neck so after a few days i trailed back up to Sound Contol & changed it for the Red one which was fantastic ! I often think about that bass, the neck was great with cuunky frets on a light brown fretboard. Arrr well i part exchanged it for a Status II & that was done in a shop called Monkey Business which was at the time some where in Kent ? Im sure there are some photos of it somewhere ? Funny the guitarist i play for a few years ago a fan managed to locate his old guitar which was lost from when he was a kid & presented him with it : ) If anyone was to do that for me id like it be be that Egypt bass but im sure that will never happen : (

They should bring them back !

Best wishes also

Paul.

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  • 3 months later...

Apologies for slow response! Haven't looked for ages! Now I do have a useful update for anyone interested in Egypt basses. Jimmy Egypt has a dedicated Egypt Guitars Facebook page and there you will see a gallery of some of Egypt Guitars production. Furthermore he says he is going to be making the basses again! Worth a look to see what Egypt were about in the mid 1980s!
Regards
Karnophile

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I also frequented Sound Control (when you used to actually get a decent trade in value on your axe) in Glasgow throughout the 80's and remember Jimmy's Egypt basses very well. I remember them being a bit "out there" in terms of styling...but they played and sounded great!

Does Jimmy not play in a Beatles tribute band these days???

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  • 2 weeks later...

Remember seeing a few Jimmy Egypt basses way back then. One of my mates had an Egypt guitar..had the thinnest neck ever seen, great to play but it was a bugger to keep in tune if i remember correctly. Would be interesting to see what he comes up with now.

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In the late 80's I was a student in Stoke on Trent, still very new to bass and enjoying learning. Route 66 had 2 or 3 Egypt basses in stock, I looked at them a lot! Couldn't afford anything even half the price at the time.

Aah.

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