My Dad's old bass

Fishboy7

This is my Dad's old bass. I think it was made in Japan sometime in the the early to mid sixties.  I've never heard of the brand Commodore though. 

It needs a new tuning  key and jack socket.  The pickup is pathetic too so I'd replace that.

I was hoping some of you might be able to impart so knowledge if you know anything about this brand?  I would be interested to know more about it.

I'm not thinking of selling, but wondering how much to invest in any improvement.  (Probably needs a refret too). 



https://imgur.com/gallery/gy2GAue

KKJale

Those are cool. 

You will find a tuner on eBay eventually, and if the pickup really sucks you might want to explore keeping the casing but having a clever rewind from one of the peeps on here, as it's so much of the look of the bass IMO.

blobb

Matsumoku for UK import, late 60's early 70's. Highly regarded.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1970s-Commodore-Semi-Acoustic-Bass-Made-Japan-/312313729965


Edit: Serial No starts with 21xxxx? This plus Steel Reinforced = pre-1970. Steel Adjustable after 1970.

ICBM

KKJale said:

Those are cool. 

You will find a tuner on eBay eventually, and if the pickup really sucks you might want to explore keeping the casing but having a clever rewind from one of the peeps on here, as it's so much of the look of the bass IMO.

+1

These are *very* cool and quite sought-after these days (at least by people who like this sort of thing!) and it's in beautiful condition by the look of it. It's actually late 60s or early 70s, but that still means it's survived intact for around 50 years.

Don't mod it irreversibly, or at least not in some way that shows - replacing the jack is obviously fine (use a USA Switchraft, pretty much anything else is junk), you should be able to repair the machinehead by just replacing the broken shaft, or at worst find a matching one, and if the pickup is truly awful, as KKJale said you could have it rewound to a better spec - or alternatively, have a new mounting ring made to take a modern pickup so you can keep the old one and the pickup intact. Or see if a Rickenbacker one will fit - the dimensions look similar, and they're not too far away visually.

I'll have a look in my spares box and see if I have a tuning key...

Roland

Fishboy7

Thanks for the comments.  I thought there was a connection to Aria guitars,  and good point on the pickup.

Of course there won't be any direct replacement so a rebuild might be the way to go.

..... and despite being in the loft with no case for 20 years it plays really well. Neck seems straight.