gapiro Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Bit of an odd one. A friend whom I regularly jam with is selling a P-Bass that he claims to be from the CBS takeover of fender, made out of parts from the spares, and thus does not exist as far as fender is concerned. Im a bit out of my history on P Basses, I played it, it weighs a ton, has a neck with a "SUNN " decal on it. Bit lacking on info, but just wondering if this plausible? (I'm a bit behind on fender history!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezzaboy Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Is SUNN not one of those Jap o crapo , or mabye not so crapo, 70`s brand. I think someone has a Sunn Mustang bass on here The parts cbs take over sounds a bit far fetched to me. Jez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynepunkdude Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 (edited) A picture would be helpful. However, when CBS took over Fender they got the factory and all the parts and just carried on making the instruments from the parts so the story you have been told sounds an odd one. If it says Sunn on it then it is a far East manufactured cheapy. Fender bought Sunn in the mid 1980s I think. Edited September 25, 2011 by EssentialTension Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapiro Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 Yeah i thoguht it was a bit iffy when he said it. I trust the guy normally but just seems a bit odd. It was a sunn Mustang neck indeed jezzaboy. He was after £400 for it at mates rates so dunno. For that I wonder if I can pick up a real deal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doddy Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Fender bought Sunn in 1985,which was after CBS had sold Fender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 [quote name='gapiro' timestamp='1316966784' post='1384943'] Yeah i thoguht it was a bit iffy when he said it. I trust the guy normally but just seems a bit odd. It was a sunn Mustang neck indeed jezzaboy. He was after £400 for it at mates rates so dunno. For that I wonder if I can pick up a real deal [/quote] Here's one on ebay: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sunn-Mustang-Bass-Guitar-/260858235006?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cbc5cc87e"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sunn-Mustang-Bass-Guitar-/260858235006?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cbc5cc87e[/url] - £40 with 21 hours to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 And here's another that sold last week for £85: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-OLD-1980S-FENDER-SUNN-MUSTANG-BASS-EMG-/110739572252?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item19c897c61c"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-OLD-1980S-FENDER-SUNN-MUSTANG-BASS-EMG-/110739572252?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item19c897c61c[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 The Sunn guitars and basses were in all the home shopping catalogues in the 80's when I was a kid, so they're probably the equivalent of a squire affinity or similar in terms of their value at the time. At £400, I'd run a mile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 [quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1316967305' post='1384952'] Here's one on ebay: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sunn-Mustang-Bass-Guitar-/260858235006?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cbc5cc87e"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item3cbc5cc87e[/url] - £40 with 21 hours to go. [/quote] Got to love that bit of made up sales BS.... [quote] ....but any knowleageble bass player will know they are fenders from INDIA .... [/quote] Haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 What a sales pitch "Sunn Bass Guitar Needs some TLC .. proper strings etc. but any knowleageble bass player will know they are fenders from INDIA ..late 80's / early 90's they are loved and re-setup / re - sprayed and laqaured. Well heres one to have a go at.. works and twangs like a proper spank me plank.. bass should" Had me in stiches You gotta love them Indian Fenders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapiro Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 I emailed him asking for clarification earlier and here is what he said : It's from the management buyout of 1985. Fender sold it to them but took all the machies away, so they couldn't make new stuff. they had all the parts, which were sent over to Japan and put together there. All the parts are from the USA, but at that time they couldn't use the word Fender, but there is FMIC on the headstock making a real Fender. This only happened for about 2 months, I think, all other Sunn guitars or basses were made in other parts of the far east and many of them are not so well put together and use lower cost parts. The bass comes from parts made in 1984/85. sounds vaguely plausible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapiro Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 [quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1316967305' post='1384952'] Here's one on ebay: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sunn-Mustang-Bass-Guitar-/260858235006?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cbc5cc87e"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item3cbc5cc87e[/url] - £40 with 21 hours to go. [/quote] I meant a real fender Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 [quote name='gapiro' timestamp='1316972298' post='1385045'] I meant a real fender [/quote] I realise that, I was showing you what a Sunn Mustang was worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain black Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Gapiro, Sunn o)) were Indian made Fender licensed copies circa late 80's early 90's. As B.O.B. says they were in all the Kay's and Argos catalogues but the early ones are suprisingly good. Nothing to do with Fullerton fender bits though so don't pay more than you would for a decent Squire. The later far eastern ones were Pap I think. I've just got an Indian one as a spare and its nice enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Vader Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I play an Indian Sunn Mustang all the time, it's bloody brilliant. They're supposed to be a secret though. Ssssshhhh..... Worth approximately f-all though. And it all comes a good 20 years after the CBS thing, more from the point where FMIC took over (hence the FMIC decal on the headstocks) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I remember these... I went to a guy's house to look at a "Fender Mustang" to find he had a POS Sunn Mustang with "Fender" letrasetted over the scratched out Sunn logo. Looking back I should have keyed his car for wasting my time. Yeah they were the ultra-cheap little brother of the Squier range. They had an interesting take on metallic colours if I remember correctly, with a tinsel effect rather than the usual car-type metallic paint. Ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_B Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Weird - I didn't know that Sunn were Indian! That means that my very first bass (back in 1988) was possibly a Sunn, as all I can remember about it was that it was a sunburst Pbass with ashtrays and that somewhere on it it had 'Made in India'... But maybe it wasn't, maybe it was. Anyway, it got overhauled and repianted and then sold, all in the space of 2 weeks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spongebob Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 (edited) My first bass was a Sunn Mustang! It was incredibly heavy, probably the heaviest bass I've ever owned. But it was cheap, and a good starter bass. I bought it for about £120 new, and traded it a few years later in part ex for about £200. The shop that took it told me it was one of the best 'budget' P basses you could buy, and that they were quite sought after. He didn't convince me to keep it one bit! Edited February 28, 2012 by spongebob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mckendrick Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 [quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1316966362' post='1384937'] Fender bought Sunn in the mid 1980s I think. [/quote] Correctomundo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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