H.S. Anderson Bass

[Chris P.]

A friend of mine posted a pic of his '76 HS Anderson Bass and I was intrigued. I have it at home now to use and maybe he will sell it. I have it now to try out and to write an article about. At this moment the switch doesn't work so it's stuck in bridge position. It still sounds warm and nice playing above the front pickup and nice trebly (but not too thin) when played above the bridge pickup.

The bass is kinda heavy, but the body is light. It's the neck that makes it heavy. Neck is quite fat but easy to play. It's set. The pickups are quite rare. It are DeArmonds, 'borrowed' from the Fender Coronado.

I only knew HS Anderson for its 'Prince' Telecaster. Some pics underneath this post.

Does anyone have more info, stories, experiences?

[Denis]

Did someone drag that poor thing down a gravel road?

[dadagoboi]

Did someone drag that poor thing down a gravel road?

It's definitely been whipped with the ugly stick.

[Chris P.]

So no HS Anderson love here 

You can feel the grain of the wood and the higher parts are damaged.

[Pilgrim]

The logo font and the stained look just scream 70's. 

Perhaps this was played by the bass player on "Laugh-In?"

[Psycho Bass Guy]

It's the bastard child of a Guild and an Alembic, which means it's also the product of incest.

[nofi]

chris, being a  fan boy you seem to like most  everything. and that's ok. this thing however, is beyond even fanboy love.

[Granny Gremlin]

Come on, it's not that bad, just beat the hell up (I will concede that the pickguard is just horrid - not even functional and just tacky).

I think it's kinda more of a Mosrite and Alembic mashup myself as regards shape. A refin and a custom SGish pickguard and 7/10 would bang.

[Dave W]

All I know about them is that they were relatively cheap Japanese guitars, mostly Fender and Gibson copies and a few relatively original designs like this one. IIRC, eventually the name was bought by Hohner.

If it sounds good and it's priced right, why not?

[gearHed289]

I like it. Obviously super 70s, as someone mentioned. I don't think I'd like the light body/heavy neck though.

[Chris P.]

It's a quite well made bass with a not that good but very original bridge, own type controls and let's not forget the DeArmond Coronado pick ups. Yes, it's ugly and I like ugky ducklings.

I played a lot of seventies budget basses, but this is not like that.

[dadagoboi]

Body does appear to be swamp ash, that would account for the light weight.

[Pilgrim]

If the price is right, a solid color refin on the body would make it look pretty decent.  I agree, looks like a Mosrite and an Alembic had a one-night-stand.

[hieronymous]

I like it! Does the binding on the neck match the pickguard?

[gweimer]

It does look a bit like Goodwill furniture.