Please help us identify Eric's (probably Japanese) short-scale bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Eric writes:

I need some help identifying a bass guitar. Specs: standard sunburst JB/P-body, finger rest (no thumb rest), black block inlays, pickup and bridge covers (missing), machineheads of a type I also found on a Framus (and others), but what triggered me is the pickup. Looks identical to the ones on my Vox Symphonic bass (that has the traditional Vox headstock, by the way - not the F-shape I've seen in catalogues). Vox used similar ones on the Clubman bass, too, but those had 'Vox' engraved, the ones on the Symphonic and this mystery bass are clean.

So... do you know if Vox, or a company that worked with Vox (Eko, or the Japanese firms that made the VG-6 etc), had a bass that might look like this?? Or is this just another nameless Japanese? (No, it doesn't have 'steel-enforced neck' on the neck plate). It sounds fine, by the way, if you - like me - appreciate 'authentic' over 'hi-fi'.

Although I cannot find an exact match, it looks Japanese to me, I'd guess it originated from the FujiGen Gakki factory in Japan because of the hardware used matching that on other of their guitars - I used to have a "no-name" Japanese Tele (similar to this Lero-branded example) which had two pickups that looked exactly like the single unit on the mystery bass. Ultra-short scale, I'd say looking at that photo. Probably more like a guitar scale length, about 25" or so.

But do any of our readers have any more definite information? Please let us know via the comments below. More photos follow.

G L Wilson

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