At some point in our musical tenure we all have owned a budget bass. My first bass in the mid 60's was a Tele-Star T2B (Kawai made) Semi-acoustic teardrop bass that my mom bought new for me. I played it for a couple of years and moved on to a Hofner 500/1 which I played for a few more years. When I bought my Hofner the store I bought it from in Toronto had just started receiving inventory of Kent 700 & 800 Series guitars and basses. I gotta say that I was really attracted to them, but having just owned a Japanese made Tele-Star (Kawai) I wanted something different so I bought the Hofner. Well those Kent's were always in the back of my mind, because they looked so cool with their triple layer binding and cool body shapes, plus they sounded better than any Japanese bass that I had ever heard before.
Over the past 20 years I've always kept my eye open for either a Kent 700 Series (solid body) or the 800 Series (semi-acoustic) and I've come across a few of them but they're usually pretty beat up and missing most of their original parts or have been heavily modified. A couple of weeks ago I happened upon a 1967 Kent Model 743 (30" short scale) in a tiny music store in a small town that's about an hours drive from my house. When I saw the bass I couldn't get over its condition and the fact that it wasn't missing any of its original parts I knew I had to grab it quick. Other than the strings it was 100% original including the soft shell case that came with it.
Turns out that a gentleman bought the bass new in 1967 and played it a few times then put it in its case and placed the case in the closet where it remained for the next 48 years. It was found by the gentlemen's daughter when she was cleaning out the closet. Her father had passed away and left her his estate. She ended up bringing it to the small store I mentioned and sold it to the store owner. He sat on it for a year before letting anyone know that he had it. Then recently he advertised it for sale and I saw the listing and immediately contacted him to ask him all the usual questions, then I went to see it. It was worth the drive because although it's an inexpensive 60's made Japanese made bass it's killer as you can see in the photos below that I took of it. Pickup rocker switches, foam mute pad under the bridge cover, 3-tone sunburst and tortoise shell pickguard, upper and lower Mahogany tug bars and those 2 Kent single coil pu's with their huge tone just add to the coolness of the bass. The fact that the neck is as straight, intonation is perfect and the frets are in the condition that they are is amazing for a 49 year old instrument.
I'll never gig this bass but I wouldn't hesitate to use it in the studio. I can honestly say that I'm really glad that I own it even though back in the day it was considered a beginners instrument and really didn't command any respect from musicians of that time period.
Anyone else owned an inexpensive Japanese 60's bass at some point in your life?
TD
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