Japanese-made Lew Chase / Azumi Bass with hidden pickup system

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I freely admit that I know nothing about this Lew Chase / Azumi Bass other than the French eBay seller tells us that it is Japanese-made and dates from 1975. The design is reminiscent of the Gibson Grabber and Ripper basses from the same period, but most obviously it does not appear to have any pickups. Maybe it has magnetic pickups beneath the over-sized pickguard, or maybe this is an early example of a solidbody bass fitted with a piezo system and pre-amp - the unusual slider controls would lend credence to that possibility. If anyone knows anything about this bass or the Lew Chase and Azumi brands, please let us know via the comments below.

Currently listed on eBay France with bidding currently at £201 at the time of writing and five and half days to go before the end of the auction.

G L Wilson

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1970s Lew Chase with piezo pickups

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I found only two entries about Lew Chase guitars on Google and they are divergent - one states that Lew Chase was a luthier who worked for Peavey and Azumi in the 1970s, the other that it's a UK importer that rebranded Azumi guitars before designing its own models.

Both could be true, but this guitar is far too special for a mere rebranding so there must be a failed visionary behind it. This late 1970s Lew Chase has  piezoelectric pickups - one for each strings, and each having its own sliding volume behind the bridge, in addition to the general volume knob.

Its design is similar to the Azumi Nanyo we saw a few months ago - Azumi is slightly less obscure that Lew Chase - and the guitar is made in Japan. Anybody with extra information is welcome of course!

EDIT: check the comments for extra information!

Bertram

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Azumi Nanyo subtly pointy guitar

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Azumi is a very obscure Japanese guitar company, once I've written that they were (most likely) made in the Chushin Gakki factory, I've exhausted all I know about it... But looking at the sober design of this Azumi Nanyo, the neck-through-body construction and the active dual blades humbuckers, I would say it's one of these pre-metal no-nonsense guitars from the 1980s and probably a good guitar. 

I love its pointy symmetrical double cutaway, better than both the Gibson and Yamaha SGs, and its transparent black finish. When everybody is all about either super classic vintage guitars or bizarre ones, I have a soft spot for these MIJ almost vintage models - and this is one of the best I've ever seen...

Bertram
 
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