blackjack viola bass

[kipper]

does anyone here know anything about a Japanese blackjack viola bass hollow body. a mate has just got one thinks its appox 1967 and is looking for information about it, its sunburst
and has no access panel in the back, it looks all original and it works, just says on the back steel reinforced neck made in japan. any help would be great. I will try to get some pictures.thanks peter.

[kipper]

wow this must be rarer than i thought no one heard of it is that good or bad, or just not shadows. peter

[JimN]

What makes you think it's from 1967?

That seems to be the hardest fact so far.

[Patrice]

Hi Kipper

Take a look here :
https://reverb.com/item/518326-blackjac ... hollowbody

The guitar is sold ! but may be you'll find some infos you are looking for ?

Best regards from Paris
Patrice

[kipper]

hi jimn its a guess based on the clip Patrice posted, that's the closest I have come to matching it at all. he says on the clip blackjack didn't put any serial numbers on any guitars. I am open to any information at all whatever age. its not a newish made one that's certain, I can find no other information at all on the web. thanks for the intrest. peter

[kipper]

Hi Kipper

Take a look here :
https://reverb.com/item/518326-blackjac ... hollowbody

The guitar is sold ! but may be you'll find some infos you are looking for ?

Best regards from Paris
Patrice

thanks for that Patrice that's all I have found so far. peter

[cockroach]

In the reverb ad, there's a similar 'Audition' bass for sale...

It would have been made by Teisco probably in the late '60's...such Japanese guitars were often sold under many different brand names back then- often chosen by the distributing company in other countries where they were sold. Like Hank's Antoria was also sold elsewhere and branded as a Guyatone etc..

I once found a website where nearly every early Japanese made brand was listed according to which factory or company in Japan made them..

[kipper]

In the reverb ad, there's a similar 'Audition' bass for sale...

It would have been made by Teisco probably in the late '60's...such Japanese guitars were often sold under many different brand names back then- often chosen by the distributing company in other countries where they were sold. Like Hank's Antoria was also sold elsewhere and branded as a Guyatone etc..

I once found a website where nearly every early Japanese made brand was listed according to which factory or company in Japan made them..

thanks for that cockroach that does explain a lot for me. peter

[cockroach]

You're welcome Peter!

I've been living in Australia for over 50 years- there were many lower price Japanese electric guitars imported here since the early/mid '60's...

Quite a few different branded models from different Japanese makers included violin shaped basses, which were of course loosely based on Paul McCartney's Hofner bass..

There were Japanese copies of many famous guitar brands, Fender and Gibson etc of course, but also they copied other non USA models, like Burns, Vox etc.
Some even copied other Japanese brands- I've seen cheaply made Japanese copies of contemporary up-market YAMAHA guitars!

However, the era of more accurate copies didn't really start until the early '70's- and by the mid/late '70's the Japanese copies were so good and close to real Fenders and Gibsons that it was only the name on the headstock which betrayed their origin!

However, the earlier copies like your mate's bass were nowhere near as accurate, for whatever reason- the blokes designing those guitars must have been a bit shortsighted as some copies were hardly exact!

A lot of people nowadays like and collect these old early guitars, and they fetch quite reasonable prices considering they were originally only low budget guitars..

[kipper]

hi again john its a very interesting subject and there is a lot more to it than you would think. peter