Eko 995 violin bass

[amptech]

A bass magazine article in the late 90s mentioned Les Claypool playing one, IIRC he said he liked the rubbery sound he got from it.

That would be the October '96 issue. Interview about his then current solo album, he used the Eko on some tracks.
Just went through a stack of old magazines the other day - mostly nerd stuff like BP, needed to clear some space..

[westen44]

Rob Grill of the Grass Roots played his 995 on TV mimed appearances early in their career and possibly in live performance but studio musicians played on the recordings.

A bass magazine article in the late 90s mentioned Les Claypool playing one, IIRC he said he liked the rubbery sound he got from it.

My first bass was a 1968 Vox V283 Spyder exactly like this one. It was made in the same factory as the Eko. Despite what that VG article said, neither were cheap back then. I paid $355 new for mine and the Eko was about the same.
That was expensive back then! Both sounded better to me than a Höfner 500/1.

For the late 1960s $355 was definitely not cheap.  But I suspect the Eko (for whatever reasons) has been underrated through the years.  I certainly wouldn't mind playing one  I also wouldn't mind having Amber Digby on stage with me.  I'm not a country player, but someone like her might be able to convince me to try to become one.

[the mojo hobo]

My first bass was a Norma copy of the Eko 995 even the bump on the headstock, and my first amp was an Eko two piece with the preamp controls in the head and the amp and 15' speaker in the bottom.

[Rob]

$338 was about $100 more than a P in the late 60's.

[Dave W]

I found a Höfner catalog from 1967 on Jules' site. 500/1 was $345 then, about the same as the Vox and Eko.

[ilan]

$600 Relisted for $569. Looks original and in good condition. Excellent price IMHO

https://www.ebay.com/itm/332852719364

[Dave W]

$600. Looks original and in good condition. Excellent price IMHO

https://www.ebay.com/itm/332852719364

That's in real good shape. Missing the little bridge cover, that's all. Those are mid-60s pickups, here's one on Reverb with later pickups. There always seem to be a few available. All of them and all the Italian Vox variants have deep-looking finish cracks, they really laid the poly (or whatever it was) on thick.

[ilan]

https://www.ebay.com/itm//264407475135

[Dave W]

https://www.ebay.com/itm//264407475135

Pass. I don't like that seam separation near the heel. There are always a few of these available complete and in very good shape at reasonable prices.