The Last Bass Outpost

I remember JH saying that the reason he discontinued the Black Trim option in the mid 90's was because they were so unpopular. Especially on instruments finished in Red, Blue, White and Mapleglo.

Like Dave said, many dealers had them in stock for years cause they were butt ugly.

TD

Scott,
According to the seller, the pickups do not work. It's sold as is with no return.
Yeah, that pickguard is pretty cool with the logo on it.
TD

The last new RIC that I bought was a Jetglo 4003S/5 in 2000. It was the worst bass that I ever owned. It quickly developed a number of issues (that I won't get into) that were so bad, it was returned to the factory and they determined it was not repairable so they offered to replace it with another new one in a different colour. I told them no thanks and the store returned all of my money in full. It also took them almost a year to determine that it was unrepairable before they made the offer to replace it.

TD

Rick Springfield was in ZOOT during the early 70's. Here's their cover version of Eleanor Rigby.




TD

This is my Klira Twen Star 162-1 from 1966. It's definately got the most Mojo of all of my Klira's. It's not only a great playing and sounding bass, it's definately very unique in its shape as well.



TD

Thornton,

See the post of Bert. He has the same Klira as the one on the right. Normally you see the doublecut (your one on the left) or the violin bodyshape, but the right one (and Bert's one) seem to be combinations of both. What about that?

Chris the two Klira's above are very unique. The one on the left is a Twen Star 162-I and the one on the right is a Twen Star 162-II. The next version Klira made was called a Twen Star 356. It had a Violin body, identical to Hofner's 500/1. The Twen Star 162-II was a pre Twen Star 356 "quasi" combination which incorporated half of the standard violin style body on the upper body along with the cutaway of the 162-I on the lower body. In addition to their unique body shapes, the bound "cat's eyes" sound holes add to the design of all Twen Star models.

But even though the two designs are very similar, Klira made the Twen Star 162-II a 1/2" thinner than the 162-I.

FWIW, the fronts and backs are made from a single piece of German Spruce on the basses pictured. Klira's sound great and they're very well made.





TD

My group of four, German made Klira Twen Star basses.





TD

This is my 1973 Burgundyglo 4001, just before it was stolen. It's Serial # is MD 1582

It has all the vintage goodies including a RIC re-issue horseshoe p/u incorporated into the original pickup surround.

If you see it or know of its where abouts, please contact me at thorntondavis at hotmail dot com.

A reward will be provided.

Thx,

TD