So! Excitement!
I just got my meat hooks on my second Supro Pocket bass. LOVE these little basses. (I've got early-onset arthritis, so I can only really play shorties. Hah. What luck... a musician with arthritis at age 27.)
Though not a "first generation" Pocket, its still got some charm. My 1st gen is the one with the lucite thumb rests, the "passive piezo" bridge pickup, and the swiss cheese body.
The new little fella has got a solid body with a surface-mounted pickguard, a claw-style bridge beneath a bridge cover, and an archtop-style rosewood bridge.
Now... I've had my 1st gen pocket for YEARS now... and it wasn't until this day that I realized a difference in the headstock... on the first gen, the headstock comes to a point on the bass-side... while the new guy has the more recognizable Gumby hump above the treble-side...
First Generation Pocket (not mine... from another site)
New guy!!
There's another "new guy" on ebay right now... exact same model as mine (albeit a little cleaner) with a stickered-on serial number of "1-18496".
So... I suppose what I'm asking is two-fold...
First... whats the deal? Did I just completely miss the Valco changed their headstock configurations? Did Supro and Airline have two completely different headstock shapes??? Am I going insane???
Second... anyone got a model ID and/or possible year on this little fella? On a similar note, as you can see I'm missing the headstock emblem. Banana Guitars has repros, and I'd definitely like to pop one on there... soooo... help me out with a name brand ID, fellas... any suggestions? I've seen Pockets branded as Airline, Supro, and National... the holes are spread WAY too far apart for it to be a Supro (unless there are bigger logos than I've seen, or unless the logo was bigger than that of my first gen)... Maybe National? (Mike Robinson's got a First Gen Pocket on myrareguitars.com with a National emblem... Maybe??)
I can tell you this much... the "new guy" is clearly a much cheaper model... or, at least, its made more cheaply. I'd venture a guess that it was made as Valco was trying to cut some corners and save a few bucks... the German Carve is not nearly as pronounced as on the first generation Pocket, and much of the hardware is clearly cheaper... (Save for the tuners, of course... mmm mmm mmm, they may be obsolete, but there's just something sexy about the art deco design of Klusons!)
Okay fellas... better pictures coming soon... but in the meantime... help me out!!