Newport - what's up with this thing?

[gearHed289]

http://cgi.ebay.com/1968-Epiphone-Newport-Bass_W0QQitemZ320321423815QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item320321423815&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A2|294%3A50

Some kind of neck plate on the back, and cheesy Tiesco style tuners. 

[eb2]

Broken neck (common) repaired with neck plate from something.  Original Japanese tuners, as used on Kalamazoo basses, plus many 66-68 EB-0s and extremely rare EB-3s.  Fender finger rest.  Brutally overpriced.

[Dave W]

I've never seen a broken neck repaired with what looks like a plate from a bolt-on neck guitar. No headstock logo. Never saw those tuners on a Newport.

Real Newport? Maybe. Japanese copy with real mudbucker? Maybe. Overpriced even if it's totally legit? You betcha.

[eb2]

It has the logo - crummy pic but it is there.  I have no doubts it is a real Kalamazoo Epi, just a beat cracked one.  I have seen that kind of neck "repair" before, on Gibsons and Gretsches.  And sheet rock screws too.

[EvilLordJuju]

I've never seen a broken neck repaired with what looks like a plate from a bolt-on neck guitar.

Well rather than broken, just the glue has came unstuck, giving a bit of play. Needs a re-set.
I've had two EBs (one EB3, one EBOF) with slightly wobbly necks that got bolted in the same way.

It is a bad repair; I guess once the cost of re-setting the neck was close to the value of the bass.

[rockinrayduke]

Worth about half that much?

[gweimer]

Well, it ended today with no bids.  I'd say definitely not worth the price.  That repair is something I've also seen done.  My feeling is that it was done by someone not too comfortable with trying to repair a set neck.  Even my old Embassy was slightly off on the angle, and my luthier determined it had always been that way, and wasn't worth trying to repair.

[eb2]

In a forthcoming post I will back up that observation as well, but the short version is that I had two Gibson basses from roughly the same period.  My skilled and patient luthier was amused and confused that he was noticing that older Gibson basses had their necks set with no set angle or much attention to detail.  Which maybe plays in with the suggestion that they use the basses to get the new guys up to speed. But better than that poor Epi.