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Columbus conundrum


AndyTravis
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My drummer has been banging on (pun intended) about a bass he has in the loft.

He's just sold his house and brought it for me to look at/fix...

It's a Columbus 'Series 3' serial number 881393 and looks a bit like a yamaha had a baby with a bass collection...

https://instagram.com/p/BKTT9_BAvYP/

Stinks of being mid/late 80's Korean bass...

23 frets P/J set up.

Before I start working my backside off on it, are these worth much or worth at least the effort?

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[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1473781946' post='3133074']
Stinks of being mid/late 80's Korean bass...

[/quote]

...Because that's exactly what it is.

Nothing wrong with these, it'll be a perfectly good "entry level" bass. Columbus was always a low/mid range brand, positioned between Kimbara & Satellite in FCN Music's own-brand range hierarchy, and unfortunately the Korean Series 2 & 3 even lack the MIJ appeal of the copy-era stuff. I've never had an MIK Columbus bass but I did have a Series 3 Gibson 335 copy, which was actually a very nice and well-finished guitar.

Hard to say what it's worth, not much, I'd guess if I was flogging a bass like this I'd consider myself lucky to get £80 or so.

Just had a quick look on Fleabay:

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Columbus-vintage-series-3-bass-guitar-GC-/231992665775"]http://www.ebay.co.u...C-/231992665775[/url]

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[quote name='fleabag' timestamp='1474487302' post='3138392']
Columbus jazz copies were pretty awful, build wise, but they played well enough . I owned one and made the mistake of stripping the finish to reveal wood. I say the word wood quite loosely

It kind of resembled balsa mixed with papier mache
[/quote]

Also the pickups were only just about barely magnetic, and had the approximate output strength of a gnat's fart
I put an old Gibson mudbucker on mine, and it made it into a half-decent bass

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I played on a few Columbus JBs back in the 70s don't remember seeing a split pick up there before!

I don't think I ever owned a Columbus, but had the use of one or two from time to time. As a result, I bought a Framus Jazz, classy natural finish. Another bass that has vanished into the mists of time. Served me well for a few years, though.

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That Columbus bass is a generic one. You can find loads of them, all identical but with different names on them. My one is a Westfield one. I have seen others labelled as Rogue and others that I can't remember off the top of my head.

They went for £200 when new. Mine has Chromes flats on it, which probably doubles what it's worth now.

They are a very good entry bass, though.

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[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1474560411' post='3138841']
I remember lusting after an HH rig
[/quote]

Funnily enough, I bought one of those HH rigs in the late 80's. It definitely had glowing greenishness, but an absolute monster to get into a hatchback and not actually [i]that [/i]loud.

Sold it to a guy named Ricky who later informed me that his girlfriend of the time had flown into a rage and pushed it out of an upstairs window along with all his instruments.

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[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1474560142' post='3138839']
....an HH Combo the size of a washing machine...
[/quote]
That'll be an HH VS Bassamp 1x15 combo, or I'll be very surprised. My first "serious" amp in the early 80s, certainly looked awesome and the light-up green control panel more than made up for any limitations it might have had.

What's interesting is that I now have a washing machine that resembles an HH VS Bassamp. It even has a light-up green front panel. Well, sort of.

  • Haha 1
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[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1474559882' post='3138836']
I played on a few Columbus JBs back in the 70s don't remember seeing a split pick up there before!
[/quote]

The P pickups (Dimarzio iirc) were a mod done by the guy I bought it from. We were in a band at school together, I just sang. When we finally all went off to different higher ed places I bought the bass for £30 and it sat around for 3 years before I really picked it up. Much later I swapped everything out apart from the body and returned it to a proper jazz config and with a mighty mite neck and proper fender PU's it was a very playable instrument, just a bit heavy!

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