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Identify this bass?


BrunoBass
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I recently found some negatives my dad took of my first band in 1985. I played drums back then and our bass player Alex Hermann had an unbranded short scale bass. It was pretty basic if I recall, but he got a fairly passable Mick Karn-esque tone from it (he’d pulled the frets out himself). 

The only unobscured photo I could find is this one. Is anyone able to recognise or identify what it is? 

 

07DF21DE-67C2-442A-A7DE-F79090BE3186.jpeg

Edited by BrunoBass
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You're all right, but, paradoxically, wrong at the same time.

But can we find a way throught this apparent cognitive dissonance? Oh god, if we must, you say.

The bass in the pic is a Teisco Del Rey EB110 Tulip, related to, but not identical to the Kay EB100. If you look at the body shape of the Kay, it's not the same & not a "Tulip". This is what the guy in the pic's playing:

https://reverb.com/uk/item/196751-teisco-del-rey-eb-110-tulip-31-inch-scale-bass-original-case-1960-s-sunburst

The original Teiscos are quite collectable these days (hipsters, I expect) and a lot less common than the Kays, which were sold in every Woolies and your Ma's Kay (obvs) catalogue, somewhere in the pages beyond the ladies underwear section. They are, despite being Taiwanese & not Japanese, sort-of Teiscos, having been made in a factory established by and initially owned by Kawai/Teisco, which made a lot of identical & similar models.

There - today you learned something you genuinely never gave a sh!t about. :)

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Just now, BigRedX said:

Woolies Special. Cost about £20 back in the 70s and was overpriced at that. 

My dad bought the guitar equivalent and still has it. It is utterly beyond horrible to play now and was apparently horrible to play then. However the chance to finally get the matching bass is tempting...

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1 hour ago, thodrik said:

My dad bought the guitar equivalent and still has it. It is utterly beyond horrible to play now and was apparently horrible to play then. However the chance to finally get the matching bass is tempting...

Don't do it, especially for £135. Dreadful things, and that's coming from someone who loves a Danelectro….😆

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28 minutes ago, casapete said:

Don't do it, especially for £135. Dreadful things, and that's coming from someone who loves a Danelectro….😆

But if the guitar is that bad, I am almost intrigued as to just how bad the bass will be!

I mean, I would love to pimp one out with a retrofitted Sadowsky pre-amp, new Hipshot and tuners tuners. Maybe even get some PLEK treatment. It would still be an unplayable turd, but it would be a really pimped out, heavily upgraded, unplayable turd.

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4 hours ago, thodrik said:

But if the guitar is that bad, I am almost intrigued as to just how bad the bass will be!

I mean, I would love to pimp one out with a retrofitted Sadowsky pre-amp, new Hipshot and tuners tuners. Maybe even get some PLEK treatment. It would still be an unplayable turd, but it would be a really pimped out, heavily upgraded, unplayable turd.

Not quite getting your drift now - spending a load of dosh on a pile of cr*p and it's still useless?

Would maybe understand if it wasn't so fugly….😧

3 hours ago, Bassassin said:

Lurk around your local car boot for long enough and one will turn up, it'll be £20 and you'll still feel ripped off.

This^^^^, in a nutshell.

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13 minutes ago, casapete said:

Not quite getting your drift now - spending a load of dosh on a pile of cr*p and it's still useless?

Would maybe understand if it wasn't so fugly….😧

This^^^^, in a nutshell.

Just for the utter pointlessness of the whole endeavour. Basically as a take one of those Anderson’s  ‘sound like’ videos:

’Polishing a turd BY BUSTING THE BANK!’

I was also not being entirely serious.

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