Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com:
Although it wasn't the first acoustic bass guitar, and not even the first production model acoustic bass guitar (it was pre-dated by the Ernie Ball Earthwood and, I believe, by a Guild acoustic bass), the Italian-made Eko B4 was for many the first affordable and readily available acoustic bass guitar. These basses started cropping up everywhere in the early 1980s. The example pictured here is a Eko B4 N lined fretless acoustic bass, and even appears to be fitted with either the original plastic-coated tone-robbing strings or else a very similar modern replacement set. Anyone wishing to get a half decent fretless sound out of these basses pretty quickly ditched the horrible plastic strings and replaced them with a decent set of roundwounds.
In many ways Eko led the way with these distinctive looking basses (the oval sound hole was a nice design touch, whereas the trapeze behind the bridge was pure common sense given the tension created by a set of bass strings). The "Unplugged" craze following MTV's series of the same name was just around the corner (the first MTV Unplugged act was Jethro Tull in November 1987), and very soon many of the major guitar manufacturers were offering acoustic basses.
These Eko acoustic basses were purely acoustic, although I believe they did later offer versions equipped with piezo pickups. Unlike many modern acoustic basses which rely on on-board electronics to even be audible, the body was large enough to allow proper acoustic playing without need to amplify to be heard above your mates playing acoustic guitars.
Currently listed on eBay UK with a starting bid of £150. Includes a supposedly prototype never-went-into-production hard case.
G L Wilson
© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.
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Guitar
Eko B4 N fretless acoustic bass from 1982
guitarz.blogspot.com:
In many ways Eko led the way with these distinctive looking basses (the oval sound hole was a nice design touch, whereas the trapeze behind the bridge was pure common sense given the tension created by a set of bass strings). The "Unplugged" craze following MTV's series of the same name was just around the corner (the first MTV Unplugged act was Jethro Tull in November 1987), and very soon many of the major guitar manufacturers were offering acoustic basses.
These Eko acoustic basses were purely acoustic, although I believe they did later offer versions equipped with piezo pickups. Unlike many modern acoustic basses which rely on on-board electronics to even be audible, the body was large enough to allow proper acoustic playing without need to amplify to be heard above your mates playing acoustic guitars.
Currently listed on eBay UK with a starting bid of £150. Includes a supposedly prototype never-went-into-production hard case.
G L Wilson
© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.
- G&l Interceptor Fretless Bass From 1984
guitarz.blogspot.com: These days I feel more at home playing bass than guitar, and thus find myself more drawn to basses when perusing the racks in guitar shops, browsing the web, etc. I'm especially drawn to fretless basses; my first ever bass was...
- Stradi Symphony Five-string Fretless Bass
guitarz.blogspot.com: The design of this Stradi Symphony Five-string Fretless Bass incorporates visual elements from both the electric bass and stand-up acoustic double bass, but at the same time it is quite a minimalistic design with no visible pickups,...
- Ukrainian Kobza Bass - Teardrop-shaped Acoustic Bass
guitarz.blogspot.com: I know nothing about this instrument other than what the seller tells us in broken English. Apparently it's a Ukrainian Kobza Bass from the Harmony musical worskhop (hhhmmmm...where've I've heard that name before?) and...
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guitarz.blogspot.com: I'm always on the lookout for interesting guitars and basses for our left-handed friends, and reckon that this 1987 Kramer Ferrington acoustic bass isn't something that you see every day, let alone find as a left-handed model....
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guitarz.blogspot.com: Ah, you don't see these too often. It's a relation of the Fender FMT Bass we looked at in January although, obviously, fretless, with a natural finish and a classic Fender P-Bass style headstock. (In fact, this is the bass,...