the cadilac

[Flashman]

HI
I have an old eldegas bass its a natural wood grain finish. Its a neck through disign with the neck being made of what appears to be white oak with a darker strip of wood running through the middle of it. The body aapears to be cherry or dark oak. Its one heavy chunk of lumber! It has pearl in-lay in the fretboard and the head stock. its got Dmarzio pick ups (very hot) with small toggle booster switchs for each one so you can set them in and out of phase. and a bad ass style brass bridge with a brass nut. I bought it at a pawn shop back in 1985 or 86 and its been with me on and off the stage ever since and has never let me down. She weighs a ton but its worth the extra effort to have it strapped on cuz she plays like a cadilac. In fact thats what my previus band mates nicknamed her (the cadilac). There is no model # or serial # on it anywhere that I can see. So I dont know if its an original design (if ElDegas even made any originals) or if its a copy? And if it is a copy then a copy of what? Ive never saw anything else like it. I saw a Warwick that looked pretty close to it once but not exactly.

if anyone can help me with any info they can share with me on this baby that would be great . like the model or what its a copy of? drop me a line and I will gladly post pics of it
rlachance11@sympatico.ca
Thanks

[the52blues]

Definitely post pics. We all wanna see! El Degas (just a name used by B&J Music) did not make any "original" guitars. They only made nice copies of existing guitars so post some pics and I'm sure one of us will be able to help you.

[Flashman]

ok I have never joined one of these forum thingys before so how do I post pics on here

[charles]

There is info on posting pics in a "sticky thread" on all forums on this website - set yourself up a free Photobucket account and follow the instructions and you should be good to go - if you have trouble I will try to help further.

Does your bass looks like this? This is one I have that sounds like what you describe - I am not entirely sure what it is a copy of, it's sort of like an Alembic or an Ibanez Artist...

[Flashman]

http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy18 ... 1437-1.jpg[/IMG]
Ok I think I got it figured out as you can see from the pics she has a bit of road rash but that does not effect the sound i get from this monster. I can get anywhere from a stieny sound to a big boomy stand up sound with this bad boy. Dont know much about this axe all I know is she is a tough old girl that plays like a dream

[Flashman]

ya my pics didnt come out right but thats the one

[charles]

Yup, just as I thought... aren't these basses great? Lots of tonal opportunities to be had for sure, with all the coil tapping and whatnot from the mini-toggles.

Funny about the nickname - the previous owner of mine gave a nickname to the one I have as well - he had the case labeled "El Degas SUPER bass" and he was right on the mark with that moniker.

As I said, I've never really been able to pinpoint (though, honestly I haven't ever looked THAT hard to find out ) what model is being emulated by this design - there is also a corresponding guitar model:

[charles]

Upon closer inspection - yours is a bit higher up the totem pole than mine in terms of quality.

Yours is a true neck-through while mine is actually a set neck made to look like a neck-through (why they didn't just do it as a neck-through rather than bother with carving and fitting it as a set neck is beyond me).

[Flashman]

ya I met up with guitar players on two ocaisians that had the 6 string mate to this bass. And they seemed to be rather happy with the guitars although they also had USA strats that they prefered to play on stage and kept the ElDegas waiting in the wings incase the broke a string or something. They also foung them a little heavy as well. Although I have never met up with anybody that had a bass like mine. My buddy told me a few yaers back that he saw one on Ebay once and the last bid was at $3800.00 However it was probbly in better shape than mine as is the one in the pic u posted

[Flashman]

thats why I took a pic of the back so you could see that its a true neck through design. someone told me they retailed for about $1000 back in the day

[charles]

he saw one on Ebay once and the last bid was at $3800.00

I don't mean to be a 'negative nelly', but I don't think the bass your friend saw was an El Degas. Might have been an Alembic.
If an El Degas ever sold for that much I'd probably not play them, as they'd be well out of the range I'd accept to pay for one Mine was about 6 or 7 times less than that, and even then I was waffling on the price.

[Flashman]

Well I would never sell it anyway The cadilac and I have been through alot together I met her before I met my wife and she'll still be there for me after my wife leaves me. (if she lets me keep it)I was actually playing that bass when I sang the song that swept my wife off her feet when I first met her
and 20 years later were still together (my wife and I) and the cadilac as well. I still use when I jam with the boys I have an old PeaVee TNT 130 that use with it and it kicks ass

[Flashman]

From one ElDegas lover to another
THANKS FOR SHARING THE INFO

[charles]

That's a great story - a great instrument is truly a lifelong companion!
I feel the same way about many of my guitars & basses, but I did meet my wife before them.

I guess I should really start doing some delving through the interweb to see what the heck these are a copy of. There has been talk about this style being a pretty telltale Matsumoku (Japanese manufacturer) look, but I am not going to confirm or deny that right now since I really have no idea.

[the52blues]

Now that I see the pics I do remember having both the 6 string and the matching bass back in the 70's. I wish I could have afforded keeping all the guitars I bought over the years....sigh...