Japanese bass

[murrayscot]

I came across this EB3 copy bass which someone had added Gibson decal to. After removing the decal, I was left with what is seen in the pics. Can anyone help identify this guitar? On the metal backplate is has Made in Japan in small letters. I hope this link works ok. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.c ... ID=1301238

[cheepaxes]

Clicking on the link just takes me to the myspace home page.

-Scott

[murrayscot]

You're correct Scott, it must have worked when I tried it out as I was logged in to Myspace. I'll need to try and find some other way of letting people access the pics.

[murrayscot]

If anyone can be bothered, go to Myspace then look for Murray Carr. The pics are on page 2 of my photos. In the meantime I'll try and post them somewhere easier to get to.

[cheepaxes]

The staple-like pole pieces on the bridge pup remind me of Matsumoku guitars. It would be helpful to see the neck plate. And/or let us know if it looks like this:

www.scottmcknight.com/MATSUMOK.JPG

-Scott

[murrayscot]

Scott, the pic on your link is exactly what is on my old Eros bass, and I was advised this was made by Matsumoku. I've added a pic of the plate on this unknown guitar to Myspace. As you'll see, it is quite different to the Matsumoku one.

[Bassassin]

Here's Murray's bass:






And it's a Sumbro. Sumbro was the early 70s house brand of Summerfield Brothers in Gateshead. The company later became Charles Summerfield Ltd and the brand was changed to CSL. CSL were built by Fujigen Gakki (Summerfield was UK importer for Ibanez at the time so probably sourced their own guitars through Hoshino Gakki) but Sumbro don't seem to be from the same source,and I can't say which factory built this bass.

I'm fairly sure it's not Fujigen or Matsumoku though - there were a lot of generic importer-brand guitars in the UK in the 70s (Grant, Columbus, Avon, Arbiter, Shaftesbury, Eros etc) who didn't use a specific factory & many of the makers remain unidentified.

Jon.

[murrayscot]

Thanks Jon. That seems to have pretty well nailed it. I really appreciate your help. Thanks again.