Basement Guitar II: Apollo Bass

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:54 am

So yet another instrument that has been drug out of my girlfriend's grandparent's basement. This bass belonged to her uncle which he purchased when he was 16. Turns out the case that the first Basement guitar came out with belongs to this bass as its a perfect fit. Lady Haze's brother had said he wanted to learn how to play it so I offered to take it home tonight and give it a once over. New strings, a good cleaning, some glamor shots and i bought him a cable and letting him have at my 15w Frontman. Good enough for learning on for sure!

The pickups are LOUD! The neck feels pretty good, nice weight balance, BLOCKS AND BINDING HERE FOLKS! The bridge design is pretty cool too, it used to have a cover of some sort at one point. I opened everything up and the pickguard clearly hasn't been taken off before. Its in great shape considered its age.

As is the case with the first guitar, i have no idea what this is aside from the Apollo decal. Any ideas folks?

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hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:57 am

holy homemade bridge, hazeman. needs an jazz bridge stat!

that thing is awesome. i love the control plate for some reason.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:59 am

this is somewhat close but not quite...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/ ... cn2936.jpg

i love the crazy separate pickguard/control plate too, great curves. The small blocks look killer too. I was going to treat the fretboard to some lemon oil but i can't find mine

The neck is ply but it feels sturdy, i'm guessing that the top is a veneer but im lovin the 60s burst

kim · Post by **kim** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:05 am

maybe you've seen this topic (same picture)

http://www.vintaxe.com/boards//viewtopi ... 695447376c

you could sell it to the guy of myrareguitars or something lol i don't think it's on there yet

damienblair17 · Post by **damienblair17** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:59 pm

I used to have a bass like that. It was pretty cool, but I sold it 'cause I wasn't playing it. My dad and I thought it was a tiesco of some kind. It's very similar to yours.

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stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 10:33 pm

that bridge looks G-E-T-O.

kypdurron · Post by **kypdurron** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 9:36 am

reminds me of my bass:

I modded it since the pic was taken, one pickup was rewound and there were strings added to it

I assume it's a korean mid 70s model, while yours should be from Japan and a little older? There is generally not much use in trying to find out about the brands of these. 3,4 companies were making these for warehouse sale, and there are about 20 or so brands on the guitars. Everybody knows Teisco being one of the brands, but I prefer the german term "Hertiecaster" named after the Hertie warehouses that sold them (among others).

These are made cheap and should be bought cheap if they should be bought at all. But with the right setup, they are playable. They don't sound like a Fender or Rickenbacker or so, but you can make music on those. I use the Arirang Bass for Demo recording.

Rox · Post by **Rox** » Sat May 01, 2010 1:55 pm

Love the penny mod..