Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I accidentally found a box full of old instrument parts from my home. I think I got those about 20 years ago from a classmate. They came with a P-bass style body which was ruined. It looked like somebody stripped the paint with an angle grinder. Neck was missing. Body was made of plywood. Nameplate said "Made in Japan", nothing else. PU looks interesting. That bass was dead and gone already when I got it, but now when I found the PU and other parts I got curious. What bass it exactly was? When it was made and by who? Definitely not a Matsumoku product, everything looks cheap...have you ever seen a PU like that?

Looks a bit like a Hofner "staple" pickup.

Thats one of those Japanese Mini HBs that came on lots of basses by Electra, Emperador, Aria and Ibanez etc. They are usually found on Jazz bass copys (Under the big plate covers) and probably date back to Hofner and Eb-3 copies. I beleive that they sounded ok...

Eden.

weemac wrote:Thats one of those Jap Mini HBs that came on lots of basses by Electra, Emperador, Aria and Ibanez etc. They are usually found on Jazz bass copys (Under the big plate covers) and probably date back to Hofner and Eb-3 copies. I beleive that they sounded ok...

Eden.

Hmmm...I definitely need to get some cheap bass now, where I can put this pickup. Just to test it.
My co-worker is from Russia and he said he can get me a genuine "Made in USSR" bass for cheap. He said it should be very bad quality and it even uses a non-standard size plug. Just perfect for scientific experiments.

i had one of those in my marlin (japanese gibson EB copy) bass from 1973 for the treble pickup. looks like that type and style has been in production for a long time.