H.S. Anderson Bass

[dadagoboi]

It does look a bit like Goodwill furniture.

And not in a good way.

[Highlander]

Body does appear to be swamp ash ...

I was thinking the same... grain looks very like the AD's body...

Short scale ...?

[clankenstein]

it looks like the strings hit the back of the bridge on the way to the tailpeice?

[Hörnisse]

I love it!  The body looks like the very early Series basses from Alembic.  The H.S. Anderson guitars (like the one Prince uses) are very sought after.  A good site regarding these tele guitars.

http://www.madcat.ch/

[hieronymous]

I love it!  The body looks like the very early Series basses from Alembic.  The H.S. Anderson guitars (like the one Prince uses) are very sought after.  A good site regarding these tele guitars.

http://www.madcat.ch/

Cool - looks like they were made by Morris in Japan - I had a Morris 12 string acoustic that actually had a nice deep sound.

[Chris P.]

I think it's swamp ash too.

The scale lenght is 32"

I'll make a closer pic of the bridge. Strings come out of holes, pass a bar and then the saddles.

Yes, (headstock) bindings are this tortoise-ish material too.

[Dave W]

Was swamp ash being used in Japanese instruments in the 70s? I wasn't aware of that. Could be some kind of native ash or even a pine.

[dadagoboi]

Japanese ash is called "Sen", it has a very tight grain.  That doesn't look like any I've seen.  I guess it could be pine.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I don't pine would have that much of an open grain either and having suffered that much abuse would surely exhibit far more damage. It looks like ash to me.

[Dave W]

I've seen certain pines with grain that open, ash with much tighter grain, and vice versa. No idea what it might be. Never heard of Japanese makers using swamp ash that long ago, especially anything like American swamp ash, that's why I wondered.

[Pilgrim]

It sure looks more like pine with a stain than any other wood I have ever seen...but my experience with different instrument body woods is limited.

[dadagoboi]

To me the pine it most resembles is Southern Yellow.  That stuff is heavy.

[scars]

how does it sound?

[shikeda]

Hello,

I owned this bass. I bought it new 1976 in Breda (netherlands) at the musicshop SOL. Price was about fl 900,-. Fender basses had the same price at that time but I wanted to try something new.
I have playing the bass till this year. I sold it may 2013.
I was not the type that was very careful. During tours and concerts I put the bass on fire and throw it in the swimming pool. Never used a flight-case or bag  That explains the damage on the body. The bass was always operating as a bass should do.
I never changed the strings. Only when they broke. I think 2 or 3 times in the lifetime of the bass.
The pickup selector does not work since about 3 years. I did not need to fix it because the sound was ok.

The pickups are the same as a Fender Coronado. That explain the sound. It growls and sound fat.
I sold the bass because I needed a 5 string. (big band melodies mostly in Eb)

Ok, I hope I gave you the information you were looking for
Bram

[shikeda]

Hello,

Production:
H.S. Anderson was made by Morris guitar factory under conduction of Mr. H. Shiino.
Generally, H.S. Anderson used high quality woods.
This bass was made by good pattern ash wood.
Later the licence for production was take over by Hohner