Anyone got any history on Encores?

[sunday_luthier]

Hello everyone,

I really enjoyed reading this post, as I too have a 90's Indian Encore P-Bass I bought for peanuts at a yard sale about 20 years ago.

I'm a guitar player, and this bass had been collecting dust until a few years ago, when I started taking bass classes.  It's a lot of fun and I now play bass in a covers band.

Anyway, it was a Pearl White finish, just like the picture below, but the body had quite a few scratches and dings.  Nothing serious, but thought it was a bit boring to look at.

I sanded it to find a pretty ugly piece of solid wood, which I finished in Tru Oil.  I find that ugly wood is still prettier than a white plastic finish.  I replaced the pickguard with a grey pearloid, which I quickly grew tired of and briefly put the original white one back on.

I found a Jazz Bass pickup laying around in my parts drawer and decided to install it in the Encore.  New black pickguard, extra knob and voilà :

I love its new mojo !

Oh, and after reading this post, I checked the polarity of the magnets and discovered that they were indeed the same polarity, so I unglued one, flipped it and glued it back on. 

Still has some setup to do and can't wait to play it.

These basses aren't bad.  They're not world class or anything but decent for the money and a perfect base (haha) for modding.

Cheers,

 

Edited November 6, 2019 by sunday_luthier

[hooky_lowdown]

Glad you like your Encore E83. I have two, one red and one black, one strung with flatwounds and the other nickel roundwounds. Both play and sound awesome, even with stock pickups.

The E83's have solid sen ash bodies. There are rumours that the early Encores (1989-90) were made from parts (neck and bodies) rejected by quality control at Fender, so are essentially Fender parts! The factory where the Encores were made also made Squier II and Sunn Mustang guitars and basses - both brands owned by Fender.

[Col the Plunker]

Still have my first bass, yup... you got it,  P bass in pearl white/cream with Fender headstock shape. Got it second hand around yr2000 for £20 from a mate. Sprayed it twice since then, and it's now back to off-white/cream. Sounds and plays silky smooth with flatwounds on. I would really like to know it's age.

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Col the Plunker
Improve

[hooky_lowdown]

36 minutes ago, Col the Plunker said:

Still have my first bass, yup... you got it,  P bass in pearl white/cream with Fender headstock shape. Got it second hand around yr2000 for £20 from a mate. Sprayed it twice since then, and it's now back to off-white/cream. Sounds and plays silky smooth with flatwounds on. I would really like to know it's age.

 

It's an Encore E83, was produced between 1989-93.

[ambient]

I guess they’ve always happened when someone has done a performance worthy enough to be called back out.

[Col the Plunker]

Thanks Hooky for your reply, so she's just coming into her prime eh?!

I didn't flat down as far as bare wood when respraying, so it's identity remains secret.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Col the Plunker

[stewblack]

Love this thread. It will not rest in peace. 

[Col the Plunker]

On 06/11/2019 at 12:19, sunday_luthier said:

Hello everyone,

I really enjoyed reading this post, as I too have a 90's Indian Encore P-Bass I bought for peanuts at a yard sale about 20 years ago.

I'm a guitar player, and this bass had been collecting dust until a few years ago, when I started taking bass classes.  It's a lot of fun and I now play bass in a covers band.

Anyway, it was a Pearl White finish, just like the picture below, but the body had quite a few scratches and dings.  Nothing serious, but thought it was a bit boring to look at.

I sanded it to find a pretty ugly piece of solid wood, which I finished in Tru Oil.  I find that ugly wood is still prettier than a white plastic finish.  I replaced the pickguard with a grey pearloid, which I quickly grew tired of and briefly put the original white one back on.

I found a Jazz Bass pickup laying around in my parts drawer and decided to install it in the Encore.  New black pickguard, extra knob and voilà :

I love its new mojo !

Oh, and after reading this post, I checked the polarity of the magnets and discovered that they were indeed the same polarity, so I unglued one, flipped it and glued it back on. 

Still has some setup to do and can't wait to play it.

These basses aren't bad.  They're not world class or anything but decent for the money and a perfect base (haha) for modding.

Cheers,

 

Your bare wood finish screams ash. It's not the prettiest wood granted, but incredibly hard and resilient. Ideal for bass as it won't soak up any resonance. (My late Pops was a carpenter, so I learned a few things about different timbers from him).

[hooky_lowdown]

1 hour ago, Col the Plunker said:

Thanks Hooky for your reply, so she's just coming into her prime eh?!

I didn't flat down as far as bare wood when respraying, so it's identity remains secret.

I think yours may be one of the very early ones (1989 or 1990!), You can usually tell by the position of the string tree, if it's before the E in the logo it's early, the later ones were after the E in the logo.

[Col the Plunker]

9 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

I think yours may be one of the very early ones (1989 or 1990!), You can usually tell by the position of the string tree, if it's before the E in the logo it's early, the later ones were after the E in the logo.

Whoah! Thank you my friend. It's great to get precise info on what maybe a vintage instrument. If it helps your judgement further, it sports a 3 ply scratchplate/pickguard which I believe to be original.

[Pea Turgh]

Encore Blaster - any good like the old Encores, or rubbish?

 

[Jimhew]

This is an advert from September 1993. It has the E83 bass on it plus the E76 + E77 electric guitars. They all quote solid ash bodies on the ad which I'm inclined to believe based on all the info on this thread and other info I've read. I own a black Encore E83 from the early 90s. It was given to me back in 2004 by someone that no longer wanted it. It's incredibly heavy but sounds great to play. 

 

 

From what I can gather, the E83 was made in a Fender owned factory in India that also made the Squier II and Sunn Mustang electric/bass guitars. They are all practically identical and all have gold lettering on the headstock for whichever brand they are being sold as. The only visible difference I can see is screw hole positioning on the pickguard varies between brands. Fender stopped production of these Indian guitars but I believe the E83 was still produced for a while, but sported a non Fender style headstock. 

Edited October 23, 2024 by Jimhew

[JJMotown]

To put the price into perspective, I think a new Fender MIM P were around £179.99 in the mid 90s.

[Allen]

It’s great to see the love for these basses throughout this thread. I was in the music shop today, in a glum mood, pouring rain outside, and spotted an 80s Encore P Bass on the wall - Pearl with White pickups. It was the cheapest bass in the shop, and I had only heard that these guitars were firewood. I really liked the vibe of it though so got them to take it down. Well, I was playing for the rest of the afternoon! Absolutely loved it. This one had great action, a nice feeling neck. Hard to really name the tones, as I was plugged into a Blackstar bass combo, which I absolutely despise, but the bass was a joy to play. It even slapped brilliantly for a P-Bass, and there was no way I was not gonna take it home. Now and then you play a guitar which you just know is for you, and this was one of those. I have a Vintera Precision which I like well enough,  but I just know Im gonna be picking this bass up all the time at home. It remains to be seen if it can do a gig, as Ive generally found that once a cheap bass is plugged into a cranked up amp, the weaknesses really show up. I don’t care about that though, cos I love it, and I never part with guitars I love - only the ones I bought cos others said they were great or the specs said they were great. A guitar you cant stop picking up IS great imo!

 

Edited yesterday at 21:56 by Allen

[Maude]

I bought an Encore Precision a couple of years ago in a charity shop and it is genuinely one of my favourite basses, among some much, much more expensive ones. 

It has some amazing grain on the body which is solid wood, the neck also has some nice grain and quilting, and a lovely piece of rosewood for the fretboard. 

A bit of love and a Tonerider pickup and it sounds and play fantastic. 

 

 

Link to the NBD thread below if interested. 

 

[neepheid]

Years before I got into playing bass, I do remember one of my friends at Uni owning a cream coloured Encore P bass.  I think I only had it in my hands once, unplugged so couldn't really tell you very much about it.  I do remember thinking it was a nice looking bass though.

[Allen]

47 minutes ago, Maude said:

I bought an Encore Precision a couple of years ago in a charity shop and it is genuinely one of my favourite basses, among some much, much more expensive ones. 

Thanks for the link, I really enjoyed reading the whole thread, and that bass is a beauty! I think it's a more modern one than mine because the headstock looks similar to a Vintage Reissued Precision I had a while back. It's great to hear you've still got the bass. It seems that most people who come by these basses have a love affair with them 🙂

Edited 5 hours ago by Allen
Typo

[Terry M.]

3 hours ago, Maude said:

I bought an Encore Precision a couple of years ago in a charity shop and it is genuinely one of my favourite basses, among some much, much more expensive ones. 

It has some amazing grain on the body which is solid wood, the neck also has some nice grain and quilting, and a lovely piece of rosewood for the fretboard. 

A bit of love and a Tonerider pickup and it sounds and play fantastic. 

 

 

Link to the NBD thread below if interested. 

 

This is identical to my first and last Encore and first ever bass that I owned and learned on. Bought off E-Bay as part of a bundle pack. Good memories 😊