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  • Bass Guitar
  • here's a bass you don't see every day ... a new aquisition

last friday , my partner and i popped into our local music store ......... we kinda both love old vintage gear so this store always has some weird and wonderful, vintage gear in stock.......... and i know it's not everyones cup of tea or pint of beer, but we both addicted to old music gear..........

and lo and behold we saw this hanging on the wall.......... and carol my partner who is a budding bassist just fell in love with it ......... so we bought it ... ? after some negotiation we got it cheap under the understanding that it is sold "as is" so , we very aware it will take some new pots and a new 3 way switch ect so a 'fixer upper' BUT even as it stands it was in working condition and structurally sound ...as in good action and everything worked even if the 3 way switch needed tweaking once in a while ............ but it was bargain basement price


i'm intruiged by this bass.......... it's only markings are President "deluxe" on the headstock .not another label or "made in ....." stamp anywhere ......... now i have no idea of the heritage of this........but i do know that hofner made a line called president at one point ...and oddly enough due to me buying my hofner jazz guitar a while back i learnt they have a range called "very thin" which is a hollow body thats thinner than a normall 330 or 335 .now this bass has the exact same shape "very thin" body and even the two pointy horns........ so maybe it's some hofner spin off maybe not ......

anyway it sounds delightfully fat and round (very P bass) but has 2 huge single coil pups and a thin slender neck shich is decorated by the wierdest zebra type binding ....never in all my years have i seen something like that on the binding

also it's a bass with a trapese tailpiece and a wierd bridge cover .....

so anyone who can shed more light on this let me know .......... as i tried some internet googling but to little avail........

anyway some pics enjoy this wierd and wonderful low end machine
















    The P-bass originally had a cover over the bridge. What gives with that? Does it deliberately prevent you muting with the palm, or is it to protect delicate bass-player hands?
      I like the look of that. How does it sound? My first guess would be late '60s Japanese...
        singemonkey wrote: I like the look of that. How does it sound? My first guess would be late '60s Japanese...
        it sounds great .....and easy action .......... BUT with those rubbery strings (the bass is still as carol bought it not even new strings yet ) it's too 'dof" sounding to snap and pop on ........... but as a jazz/blues bass it's a dream .......a fat warm tone very usable ........ but hopefully new strings will make it more percussive and give it some snap ...........i like the pups they very fat sounding ..
          Girlfriends dad has a president 335 type guitar that I asked about a while ago.

            nick wrote: Girlfriends dad has a president 335 type guitar that I asked about a while ago.

            @ nick ..............yeah i see they have identical headstock logo's ..did you ever find out anything about it???
              That is a really good looking instrument! I like it a lot!!!
                That is going to be a lot fun... defret for added enjoyment!!
                  Very cool bass! Don't see those often.
                  Love the retro cream...
                  Wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of these...let me know if she ever wants to sell it ?
                    i had a president guitar from the 60's, was very bad, but it looked awesome.
                      wow, incredibly good looking classic,
                      that binding is totally cool ?
                        10 days later
                        Wow, last I saw these Presidents were way back in the early 70's but usually in sunburst. Love those black nylon tape strings! They were super cheap then and were usually sold in shops more known for trading in the radio business rather than musical instruments. Certainly won't break your back either. This must be more of a collector's item now and if it works it will be a bonus.
                          Midinut wrote: This must be more of a collector's item now and if it works it will be a bonus.
                          yeah it was cheap ....... and has an awesome vibe about it ............AND it plays pretty well ........ as i mentioned fabulous tone for for jazz or blues it's that classic round fat sound .......... not a "slappers delight" but when carol restrings we'll do the normal steel strings so will let you know
                            15 days later
                            Wow! Beautiful guitar ?

                            It is so strange; . . . you know when you have'nt heard about a make or manufacturer for decades, then suddenly, you see/hear them everywhere!
                            I am currently on a refurb of an old President short-scale P-bass copy, and now you pop one out of the woodwork ! ??? Different model, but . . . .

                            It's like the ARIA rebuild I did; . . .I hadn't seen an Aria for 20 years, then when I was working on one, they were everywhere all of a sudden ?
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