S D Curlee Bass

Had you there for a sec.

No not me didn't buy it 'cause it never had a case.

Didn't even see it Was it an American or Korean??

jap, matt. does have a case btw

Is it still on show? the add.

As I said, he will deny it!!

"Didn't even see it, didn't buy it cause it didn't have a case " my a***!!



Hoax

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/sd-curlee-bass-guitar/96030745#gallery-item-full-4

if anyone here DID buy it, I'll give him an extra £40 for it!

Apparently the Jap ones had the word "international " on the headstock.

Hoax

Apparently the Jap ones had the word "international " on the headstock.

yes, it has SD CURLEE int1 on the headstock which denotes the matts factory I'm led to believe

That's not Jap. that'll be Korean.

'king good price though. Not this little magpie. Wish I had.

That's not Jap. that'll be Korean.

to quote the site http://www.sdcurleeusa.com/yesterday.htm

"The USA made instruments say USA under the burned-in SD Curlee logo. The ones that have "Int'l" are "International" models made at the Matsumoku factory in Japan. Hondo handled this deal as well as offered their own Hondo versions which were also Japanese. The "Aspen" were lower quality (you can tell by the covered tuners) Japan. The Global and SD Curlee Design series were Korean. Very early Korean. These were inexpensive guitars. "



as close to the horses mouth as I can find

Just goes to show you can learn something everyday..

OK Damian - You have toyed with us for a full twenty minutes.

Post the pics !!!

Hoax

To confuse the issue a little more.
Here's a link to a SD curlee guitar I picked up.
This is a designer series, supposedly Korean and as cheap as...but it has a Mats early Thunder/Paduak bridge and Dimazio pups with quality machine heads, brass nut.
http://forum.westoneguitars.net/t2930-s-d-curlee-hondo

yeah I was reading that with interest, never had a chance to play a Curlee 6 string, just the basses, how long before you get her back to playable condition? what does it sound like?, it certainly is a beauty

I might be wrong but I think that the Dimarzios are more indicative of Korea then Japan for Hondos. The Matts Hondos I own/have owned have/had MMK's.

The Korean Hondo I have has DiMarzios.

Hoax

It's all a bit hazy(don't know what i've been smoking) Westbury's had Dimarzio's as well. I've also A Hondo II with '45.

All the pots/caps on the Curlee are Mats items. I'm 99.99% certain this is Mats. Maybe the Hondo one's were made there?

It sounds ok, the neck pickups knackered so it's hard to get a full range of tones. Just your typical hot Dimarzio bridge sound. Think it reads around the 12 ohm mark. Plays nice though. Quite a wideish neck, good action. The body's solid mahogany.

Damian

Matts Westbury and Vox guitars indeed had DiMarzios. I have about 6 of them all with standard DiMarzios. I cannot confirm that Hondo badged guitars with Dimarzios came from Japan. I can confirm that Matts Hondos had MMk's

It is interesting that you have found Matts pots on a guitar which appears Korean.

It all gets a bit muddy even without your choice of special "tobacco"

Hoax

I;ve just noticed on the above picture that the neck is also 3 piece laminate, typical Mats trait. It's all to confusing my brains hurting.... :idea: They made stuff all over the place. Could have done 20 here, 600 over there?? Hondo for one swapped about from one manufacturer to another.

I have got an Arbiter set neck SG copy with exactly the same machine heads with the little impressed flowers, which is Japanese, pre-law suit. I suspect it to be Kasuga Gakki, mid to late seventies, but cannot be sure.

I ain't been smoking but I am as confused as you Damian!

Hoax

I also had and sold another set neck Kasuga SG copy(badged as Shaftesbury) which had the typical Matsumoku triple laminate neck. The one I currently own has a one piece neck.

I do think that there was a lot of sub contract work going on in the seventies and early eighties.

The plot thickens!!

Hoax

Disregards my comment on the Hondo's pot/caps. they are definately not Mats, I just checked. I've been working on loads of guitars of late and getting a little mixed up. They're the mini ones on the SD curlee Hondo.
I've no 'king idea..

This is interesting.
http://torchharrison.hubpages.com/hub/Japanese-Manufacturers-of-Made-In-Japan-Badged-Guitars-from-1950-to-1980

Westbone wrote:This is interesting.
http://torchharrison.hubpages.com/hub/Japanese-Manufacturers-of-Made-In-Japan-Badged-Guitars-from-1950-to-1980

WOW....excellent work there westbone, That link has finally found a possible manufacturer for my old 70's/80's jap strat copy under the Artist badge, according to this it could be a Tokai! Ive been searching fruitlessley high and low for a reference to this axe with little or no joy! Thank you so much, I'm a huge step nearer to closure than I have been for 20 years!.

I must take some pics of this guitar, it came to me 20 years ago as an all black beat up over gigged wreck, unknown pups/tuners etc with a 1 piece maple neck, no fretboard, I had it for about 2 years before i decided to strip it.....to reveal a plywood body!...cheap I know, but the gradients in the body, front and back, look superb, has genuine mojo in my eyes.....Its had a few upgrades since, all black, tuners, bridge and a Dimarzio HB in a single coil size at the bridge which a friend took away and added a phase switch and a "hum on/off" switch.......a possible coil tap? im not sure.....I've recently ordered a new scratchplate so will get into some electronic jiggery pokery soon enough....with a little help from you guys if possible??.....pics to follow


I cant express how happy I am to finally get some background on this guitar......I think I just had a little sex-wee!


thank you!

Those machine heads could be Lotus, made by Morris (Moridaira) in Japan, Later Samick in Korea. I do however, have a Lotus Les Paul which has plain, Gotoh style tuners.

If truth be told, I do not have a Scooby, but speculation (particularly when convincing) is the second cousin, twice removed, of knowledge.

Well, between the Sarge, Damian and myself, we have kicked the sh** out of this one.

All we need is for Professor Grogg to come along and say that, technically we have only been gently compressing the sh**, cause Faraday proved conclusively that you need 2000 newtons per metre squared to actually score a try with a turd!



Hoax - I'm going to bed!!

hoax wrote:

All we need is for Professor Grogg to come along and say that, technically we have only been gently compressing the sh**, cause Faraday proved conclusively that you need 2000 newtons per metre squared to actually score a try with a turd!



Hoax - I'm going to bed!!

Compressed turd technically becomes a scented brick, hope that helps Hoax. Apologies for my distractions from the main.

Barry wrote:

Ooooooooooo-kaaaaaaaaay...