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Bass questions [message #16766]

Wed, 07 March 2012 17:11

kustombassist
Messages: 9
Registered: November 2008
Location: California

Junior Member

I play and collect the Kustom basses. Over the past 12 years or so, I have found examples in almost every color offered in the Kustom catalog (and a few that weren't). However, I am curious to know whether anyone here has ever seen a Kustom bass done with the zebrawood or ash body. ...I am hoping to purchase one Smile

but I am beginning to wonder if they actually even made the basses in this wood. I love the maple, but I think a lighter weight ash/zebrawood body could be pretty interesting.

Also I am curious if anyone here has any insight into why "K200" was used as a model name for both the amplifiers and the instruments.

So, I suspect I might be alone in this, but my Kustom collection contains no tuck and no roll, just basses. I love them! Anyone else care to discuss these cool instruments?

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Re: Bass questions [message #16767 is a reply to message #16766]

Wed, 07 March 2012 20:11

Kustom_Bart
Messages: 601
Registered: October 2010
Location: Greenville, MichiGUN

Senior Member

Please say it with pictures Smile

Welcome to the forum!

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Re: Bass questions [message #16768 is a reply to message #16766]

Thu, 08 March 2012 06:25

stevem
Messages: 4736
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

I was dying to get a Zebrawood bass from the first time I saw one in the catalog!
I have never seen one in person nor any of the guitars back in the day and even today!
I look back on this as strange due to the fact that I had purchased all of my new Kustom gear from Sam Ash music here in the metro NY area, and they where the #1 seller of Kustom gear on the east coast back then, but did not carry the Kustom guitar line sadly for me.
My thinking on the K200 name for the guitar line would be that since Buds company took off big time in all of a three year time span with the K200 amp line that he though he would continue his good luck with the same name for the guitar line.
I guess someone could ask this question of him in the get togetheir this year.

[Updated on: Thu, 08 March 2012 06:25]

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Re: Bass questions [message #16774 is a reply to message #16768]

Thu, 08 March 2012 18:30

kustombassist
Messages: 9
Registered: November 2008
Location: California

Junior Member

Thank you for the welcome Bart. Although I have been a regular reader and occasionally post comments here, I have probably never introduced myself properly to the forum at large. So to everyone here, thanks for providing a great resource of information on the web and for helping build such a supportive community of Kustom enthusiasts! As for bass photos - that will probably take a little bit as I don't currently have a good photo to share of the group.

To Steve - Thank you for your insight into the availability of Zebrawood instruments at Sam Ash in the late 60's. I am still hopeful however, that someone here might have seen a bass like this so that I can keep my hopes up! Some good news I can share with you is that the Zebrawood guitar seems to be fairly common (at least as a K200-B) and there are currently 3 available on gbase.com. So, here's your chance Steve!

I would guess that your theory on the re-use of the k-200 prefix is probably spot-on. Still, its always struck me as an odd marketing decision... A search for k200b for instance will turn up both amplifiers and guitars. But of course, no one was thinking about web-searches back in 1968! Feel free to ask Bud when you see him at the convention. I am still curious where they were having the bridges and tailpieces made for these instruments too. (please refer to an older post I made here on this forum about the connection between the Kustom bass and the Ovation Typhoon).

So, I have another question which is probably best answered by a senior member of the forum or anyone here who might have worked at the factory back in the day. One of my basses was sold to me by an instrument dealer with a photo of the previous owner. The story that was told to me at the time of purchase was that the man in the photo - white haired, standing on the front lawn of his home, holding the bass in one hand and a wine-burst guitar in the other, was a high level employee at Kustom. Supposedly, these were handpicked instruments and the bass was possibly a prototype - and it does seem probable - There are some unusual things about the bass and it does not have a serial number tag inside the sound hole. Not knowing the man in the photo however, and being respectful of his privacy, I do not wish to post his photo here on the public forum. That said, if anyone here feels like they may be able to help identify the fellow or confirm that he worked at Kustom, I'd be delighted to share the photo via email. One of the fun things about instruments is the story that they have to tell and I would love to confirm if this story is true.

Thank you again, and please let me know if anyone out there has actually seen or owned a bass in Zebrawood or Ash.

[Updated on: Thu, 08 March 2012 18:34]

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Re: Bass questions [message #16775 is a reply to message #16774]

Thu, 08 March 2012 19:41

pleat
Messages: 1452
Registered: June 2004
Location: Belding, Mi

Senior Member

Welcome, and as to doing a search, the Kustom Bass guitar is a K200D model number. If you look at the literature section on this site, the big catalog is the 1969 and the bass is pictured along with the guitars. There were a lot of little oddities in all the guitars during production. One of the core group of kustom collectors, mother was Buds secretary. I'd be happy to forward the photo to Bud, to see who was in the photo if you like. You can email me at djt@chartermi.net Bryan who owns
http://www.kustomcollector.com/index.html has photos if a collector who has 4 of the K200D bass guitars.
pleat

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Re: Bass questions [message #16776 is a reply to message #16775]

Thu, 08 March 2012 22:43

kustombassist
Messages: 9
Registered: November 2008
Location: California

Junior Member

Hi Pleat - Thank you for your offer. I will send you an email with the photo tomorrow if I can. I realize that the Bass has the "D" designation - I do own a few. In fact, I would bet that photo Bryan showed you might be of my basses in the back yard. He was kind enough to send me his very last headstock decal to restore a refinished bass I have. He said his dog ate the rest of them! Laughing

It was especially kind of him and I am honored he included it in the top right hand corner of his guitar photo gallery : http://www.kustomcollector.com/id31.html Its the white one. (Thanks again Bryan - it looks great!)

Keep your eyes open for some photos in your emailbox.

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