TubeNet

http://www.talkbass.com/ would be able to help out with this.

Sounds like specialty market, if you get a buyer. Not a household name, or anything close.

There are lots of old hollow body basses from the 60's. They sound great but usually and unfortunately aren't worth a lot. They only ones that seem to be worth anything are the Hofners and that's only because of who played one. I haven't heard of the one you have but that doesn't mean it's not a great bass. If you're looking to fix it up to sell it might not be worth what you put into it. A friend of mine is really into these kinds of instruments. He owns Guitar Garage in Jamaica Plane mass. He'd be the guy to ask. He could fix it as well. He does good work and is reputable. He'd be honest about what it's worth. His name is Krishna Jain.

http://www.gollihurmusic.com/" target="_blank

go-to bass guy in Philly area. He would have a good idea of value and what it needs.

Joemac wrote:There are lots of old hollow body basses from the 60's. They sound great but usually and unfortunately aren't worth a lot.

The Matsumoku factory in Japan kind of ruined it by churning out a good number of moderately priced hollow bodies under various names that were plenty good, if you don't mind a short scale. There isn't really much to it - decent neck, tuners that will hold tight (and they didn't always deliver on the latter, but whatever.) It isn't like making a violin.

I see this thing (or its litter mate on the auction anyway) has a zero fret. See those on "Beatle basses."

Just a couple points

Bass players who prefer hollow bodies are already rare

Most bass players who do use hollow bodies are completely happy playing on a cheap hollow body for a couple hundred dollars. In my experience, the purpose of playing the hollow bodies is that they have a sort of muddy damp tone. So a more expensive hollow body doesnt necessary equate to a more useful tone

It will be a very niche market, but if you find the right buyer, anything is possible

Tsk, I don't think my Gretsch hollow body has a muddy, damp tone. Though I was indeed happy to settle for a made-in-Korea model that was fairly economical. The way I see it, all you need is good strings and no one is going to hear any difference between a cheap bass and an expensive one, as long as it has decent pickups and a solid neck.

My favorite electric bass player of all time by a considerable margin, Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, usually played hollow bodies. Usually with more knobs than strings. Like a lot of them, including this Standel, his basses attached the strings to the bridge; on mine the strings are attached to a tailpiece and rest on the bridge, which drives the top in a different way ... not that it really matters. They're for looks, and the balance is different.

As for the economics, hollow bodies are usually factory jobs. Boutique luthiers seem to prefer slab basses, of course all they need to do is laminate up some fancy wood and route pockets for stuff in the slab, as opposed to a hollow body which is kind of a lot of trouble for a small shop. So not many expensive boutique basses are hollow bodies. I guess the present case appears to be an exception to some extent, this Koontz guy evidently ran a small production shop.

This is the only maker I know of that makes expensive hollow body basses.http://www.roballenguitars.com" target="_blank I used to own one. It sounded more like an upright bass than my upright bass did when it was plugged in. If that makes any sense. Very expensive.... Sorry for getting off subject. I think someone already said it earlier. It's very possible there's a collector out there looking for one. It's gonna be worth some money to that person for sure.

Joemac wrote:This is the only maker I know of that makes expensive hollow body basses.http://www.roballenguitars.com" target="_blank
.

From reading through the Rob Allen web site, it seems that his basses all have a center block, which would make them semi-hollowbodies. There are several boutique companies that make semis, and I don't know if any of them make true hollow bodies. There's probably someone somewhere who does. With the degree of tension bass strings have, it seems as if a true hollowbody would have structural issues.

For another company that has a high-end (expensive) semi, there's always http://www.warwickbass.com/en/Warwick-- ... tring.html. They have quite a factory. There are a few YouTube videos dealing with the construction of their Star basses.

bloke wrote:whoops...sorry...

I thought you were asking for Bass EXCERPTS...

Nice...

GC wrote: From reading through the Rob Allen web site, it seems that his basses all have a center block, which would make them semi-hollowbodies. There are several boutique companies that make semis, and I don't know if any of them make true hollow bodies. There's probably someone somewhere who does. With the degree of tension bass strings have, it seems as if a true hollowbody would have structural issues.

There's a risk of that anyway, for little benefit. The top on my Gretsch is full hollow, and pretty resonant - not like one of those acoustic bass guitars, but maybe halfway there - but it has a broad reinforcing rib up the center. The Matsumoku bass is just plywood, but significantly thicker, and where the Gretsch has what could reasonably be called a soundpost, the Matsumoku has such block of wood that it arguably would negate any acoustic effect. Both of them are tailpiece strung, though, so the main structural issue is compression and easily accounted for with a soundpost. I think the strength is there so you can smack them around while playing drunk, as bass players are wont to do. The Matsumoku had a bunch of little holes punched in the finish, which had been "filled in" with probably a red felt tip pen to "match" the red undercoat. I imagine it had been used as a shield during an ice pick attack, probably from a girlfriend who had run out of patience.

Donn wrote:Tsk, I don't think my Gretsch hollow body has a muddy, damp tone. Though I was indeed happy to settle for a made-in-Korea model that was fairly economical. The way I see it, all you need is good strings and no one is going to hear any difference between a cheap bass and an expensive one, as long as it has decent pickups and a solid neck.

My favorite electric bass player of all time by a considerable margin, Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, usually played hollow bodies. Usually with more knobs than strings. Like a lot of them, including this Standel, his basses attached the strings to the bridge; on mine the strings are attached to a tailpiece and rest on the bridge, which drives the top in a different way ... not that it really matters. They're for looks, and the balance is different.

As for the economics, hollow bodies are usually factory jobs. Boutique luthiers seem to prefer slab basses, of course all they need to do is laminate up some fancy wood and route pockets for stuff in the slab, as opposed to a hollow body which is kind of a lot of trouble for a small shop. So not many expensive boutique basses are hollow bodies. I guess the present case appears to be an exception to some extent, this Koontz guy evidently ran a small production shop.

I'm sure your Gretsch does sound awesome! Damp and muddy are not necessarily bad terms, just the only ones I can think of. When you need a hollow body, there is no other way to achieve the sound. And they sound *great* on vinyl recordings. I just said damp and muddy, because, well, compared to a normal bass which is very bright and has long sustain, the hollow bodies have more of a thumpy tone.

tubanonymous wrote:I just said damp and muddy, because, well, compared to a normal bass which is very bright and has long sustain, the hollow bodies have more of a thumpy tone.

Note that players who go that way, also like to use heavy, flat wound strings. That's going to have a real effect on tone. Vs. cosmetic hollowbody construction, especially of the strung to the bridge type which has to be effectively solid mount.

The tone on my old Matsumoku isn't exactly crystal clear, but I put that down to short scale (also common on hollow bodies), dead flatwounds, and the pickups, which to be fair put out an awesome amount of low end. Take an Epiphone "Jack Casady" (bridge strung, long scale), and put round wounds on it, and I bet no listener would ever guess it's "hollow."

Donn wrote:

tubanonymous wrote:I just said damp and muddy, because, well, compared to a normal bass which is very bright and has long sustain, the hollow bodies have more of a thumpy tone.

Note that players who go that way, also like to use heavy, flat wound strings. That's going to have a real effect on tone. Vs. cosmetic hollowbody construction, especially of the strung to the bridge type which has to be effectively solid mount.

The tone on my old Matsumoku isn't exactly crystal clear, but I put that down to short scale (also common on hollow bodies), dead flatwounds, and the pickups, which to be fair put out an awesome amount of low end. Take an Epiphone "Jack Casady" (bridge strung, long scale), and put round wounds on it, and I bet no listener would ever guess it's "hollow."

I have to say I disagree that the difference is cosmetic. A hollow body with flats, a hollow body with rounds, a solid body with flats, and a solid body with rounds will have completely different tones. Also, on the topic of bridge stringing hollow bodies...I have to say, I've never heard of a hollow body being thru strung? I'd love to see it if you have a link. I'm curious how it works, seeing as the body is hollow

tubanonymous wrote:I have to say, I've never heard of a hollow body being thru strung? I'd love to see it if you have a link. I'm curious how it works, seeing as the body is hollow

I don't know what "thru strung" means, but image search on "gretsch bass" will show lots of both designs I'm talking about: strings attached to the end of the body via tailpiece, vs. strings attached right to the bridge.

In terms of acoustic guitar designs, arch top guitars have the tailpiece, flat tops are bridge strung, and the acoustic principles are real different. An archtop bridge (also violin family, banjos etc.) transfers string energy parallel to the top, compression force; the flat top acoustics are more complicated, more tension force.

Anyway, if you had a cheap junker bridge string hollowbody, I'm pretty sure there's a hefty solid rib up the center to the neck, and you could pry and saw the sides and back off until there's nothing but that bar, and the bass would be functionally unimpaired. At some point as you make the internals stronger to support the tension force from the strings, the hollow body becomes a decorative shell around a narrow solid body, a place to mount the controls. The Epiphone Jack Casady is like that - play one unplugged, there's virtually no resonance. Which is mostly a good thing - you worry less about feedback!

bloke wrote:
...but there are certainly many-many things about which I am ignorant.

For Donn...

For what it's worth, string-through is a real thing. it refers to strings that are attached to the guitar by the body of the guitar itself -- there are holes drilled through the body and ferrules to catch the ball end of the string. Like a telecaster. Pretty rare feature on a hollow body guitar, but it's been done (with blocks in the body cavity, of course), and next to completely unheard of for a hollowbody bass. Certainly not on any Standel I've looked at.

Oh yeah, don't recall ever seeing a bass like that in person, but now that you mention it ... duh. Ouch, 90° bend in the string. The point escapes me, but ... there are many things about which I am ignorant.

Donn wrote:Oh yeah, don't recall ever seeing a bass like that in person, but now that you mention it ... duh. Ouch, 90° bend in the string. The point escapes me, but ... there are many things about which I am ignorant.

The point, I think, back in 1952, was that since it's a solid chunk of cheap pine, you don't need to buy a stop tail when you can just hit it with a drill.

But by now the theories (which I buy) are:

-- That sharp bend increases pressure on the bridge increasing sustain and volume
-- Zen-like oneness of body and string resonance vibrations stuff that hasn't really been proven but...

Basically, if you go string through, you get better sustain, extra volume, and a brighter sound. Fortunately, guitars exist that allow you to choose, so it's a pretty easily verifiable difference.

OK, not 90°, but more than necessary or desirable. I don't know what's going on with the stripped winding on the E string (but there are many things ...) Maybe I'm more protective with my strings because flatwounds are expensive and don't really sound right the first year or so.