rkingly Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 Hello Epiphone Fans, 1rst post, new member. Hoping to ID & Date my Epiphone Bass.( See Avatar ) Serial # 1145409/ hard to tell if there was another # at the end? Neck-thru tone Monster. Replacement Bridge & Tuners ( in possession of original's ) New Frets. Everything else is original. Thanks, rkingly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattj1stc Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Wow, I have that exact bass, and I've been trying to figure out what model it is, when it was made, etc. I believe that it was made in Japan, probably back in 1977 or 1978. Mine has been through a lot, but still sounds great. I defretted it a little while ago and it sounds especially great through the neck pickup. I'm interested to see if someone can provide some more information. At this point, I'd settle for knowing what model it is. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattj1stc Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Well, seeing this post made me a little more motivated to try to figure out what the model was. After a little digging, it appears to be a Newport (please see link). That's something at least. Thanks! http://www.robwesley.com/guitars/sold/Epiphone%20Newport%20Bass.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larens Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 Hello Epiphone Fans' date='1rst post, new member. Hoping to ID & Date my Epiphone Bass.( See Avatar ) Serial # 1145409/ hard to tell if there was another # at the end? Neck-thru tone Monster. Replacement Bridge & Tuners ( in possession of original's ) New Frets. Everything else is original. Thanks, rkingly[/quote'] What you have there is an Epiphone ET-285 N (for "Natural" finish). The ET-285 basses were made by Matsumoku (a/k/a Aria, Westone et al) in Japan starting about 1972 with the maple necked/all maple ET-285N arriving about 1975/1976. They were sub-named "Newport" models but they vaguely if at all similar to an original Kalamazoo-made Newport bass. Here's a whole bunch of photos of the ET-285N : http://www.robwesley.com/guitars/listings/Epiphone%20Newport%20bass/ The Matsumoku-made basses, both the Newport ("ET-285") and its cousin the Embassy bass bore little beyond a vague like-ness to the Kalamazoo-made Embassy Deluxe (Model:"EBDL") and Newport bass (Model: "EBS") models. The Matsumoku Newport and Embassy basses were around from about 1972 until 1979/1980 with the natural finished model arriving in around 1975.. Larens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkingly Posted October 19, 2009 Author Share Posted October 19, 2009 Thanks for the info on this monster, awesome thump & sustain for days. I thought it was a 1970 something & the link is a twin to mine w/ exception of new frets, bridge & tuners. Thanks all & keep on Thumpin rkingly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattj1stc Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Wow, thanks so much for all the information! It really is a great instrument - I never knew that there were so many of them still out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfabat9 Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 I have this exact same bass! So awesome. Completely agree – tone monster. Mine's in really good shape, probably a 9/10, possibly higher. Very clean, no cracks or even scratches, just a small ding in the finish on the thickness of the bottom horn. Any idea what these basses are worth? I'm thinking of eventually selling mine (and my 2 other short scales) to finance a dream bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Flick Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Hello Epiphone Fans' date='1rst post, new member. Hoping to ID & Date my Epiphone Bass.( See Avatar ) Serial # 1145409/ hard to tell if there was another # at the end? Neck-thru tone Monster. Replacement Bridge & Tuners ( in possession of original's ) New Frets. Everything else is original. Thanks, rkingly[/quote'] I had one a couple of years ago: Welcome to the camp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 That would go with my et 275! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfabat9 Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Are we absolutely certain these are the Newport basses and not the Embassy? I have the exact one and mine's a full scale 34" from saddle to nut (I just measured). From what I've read online, the Embassy is the Newport's full scale cousin, meaning that the Newport is the shorter scale bass at 30.5". Here's mine, like I said identical to the ones in this thread: Can anyone clarify? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scut4life Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 can someone help me id my bass. i know its made in china but iw ould like to know more about it. #is: 0905180484. its a thunderbird pro 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deflepfan Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 can someone help me id my bass. i know its made in china but iw ould like to know more about it. #is: 0905180484. its a thunderbird pro 5 09 05 18 0484 YY MM FF PPPP Year: 2009 Month: May Factory ID: 18 - Factory code - don't know which one. The China factories are still be identified. Production: The 484th guitar made that month at that factory. Hope it helped! Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyg Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 09 05 18 0484YY MM FF PPPP Year: 2009 Month: May Factory ID: 18 - Factory code - don't know which one. The China factories are still be identified. Production: The 484th guitar made that month at that factory. Hope it helped! Sheila No it's much older than that. As previous posts said it's definitely a mid-late 70's MIJ model. The guitar dater project doesn't work on the 70's early 80's MIJ guitars. My '83 Riviera comes up as a '93 model from the S/N but I know for sure it's an '83 as I bought it new in August '83. Sorry Sheila I missed the post about the Thunderbird bass that you were obviously replying to. Why didn't they just start a new thread (but still my mistake). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hungrycat Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 its a thunderbird pro 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Flick Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Are we absolutely certain these are the Newport basses and not the Embassy? I have the exact one and mine's a full scale 34" from saddle to nut (I just measured). From what I've read online' date=' the Embassy is the Newport's full scale cousin, meaning that the Newport is the shorter scale bass at 30.5". Here's mine, like I said identical to the ones in this thread: [img']http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy348/alfaBAT9/IMGP7452.jpg[/img] Can anyone clarify? What you say is correct if you're referring to the original '60s basses. AFAIK, the correct ID of your bass is ET-285N, but people called them Newports because of the general shape of the body. (see Larens post in this thread). Here's a page from a 1970s Epi catalog: Notice there's no mention of Newport or Embassy, just ET-285 (the natural finish N was only available for a couple of years). And even when they did use names, they often bore no resemblance to the classic models, like the EA-250 of the same era. Sometimes they're called Rivieras even though they're hollow body and have a bolt on neck, not at all like a real Riviera other than the basic shape of the body. And if you look at the ET-280 in the catalog, that was often referred to as the Embassy even though it had a 30 1/2" scale!!! They just used the name to imply some connection to the original USA models, but in actuality they're nothing like them. Use the model number, forget the name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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