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Vintage Klira 356 Twen Star Violin Bass. Made in Germany circa 1967-1968.

This is a beautiful ~29-7/8" scale bass with great tone and clarity; it is also very light at about 5 lbs. The tobacco burst finish has some checking in it but nothing going through the wood. This bass has a very solid feel. Some other features include: adjustable rosewood bridge and short trapeze tailpiece with "Klira" engraved on string anchor. Missing pickguard and no case.

BODY
Violin shaped body with spruce top and flamed maple back and sides and bound "cat-eyes" soundholes. Adjustable rosewood bridge. The body does have some typical finish cracks that most vintage instruments will show. All binding is in good condition and bass body is structurally sound.

NECK
Bolt on maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, pearl dot inlays, 19 frets plus zero fret and 1-5/8" nut width. Neck has a truss rod and is straight and plays well all the way up. Neck has open back tuners with metal buttons, black headstock overlay with white binding and 3 pearloid stars. There was a neck crack that was repaired some time ago before I owned this. It doesn't look too pretty, but has held up just fine and is sturdy. The neck is missing 2 of the dot fret markers. Headstock overlay has a finish crack in it as shown in the last few pictures. The crack can be felt but seems to be cosmetic only. Truss rod area is clean and does not appear to have any damage at all from the repair (see pics).

ELECTRONICS
Twin "toaster" pickups, 3-way selector switch with volume and tone controls (tone control and switch are factory wired to work backwards to modern specs). Both pickups work and have a wonderful full presence. The tone is very wooly and has that vintage booming quality. The electronics are not 100% as the volume knob and the tone knob do not appear to effect either. The 3 way selector switch does work. I did peek inside the control area to see if there was a loose connection and I found the electronics quite unusual. The pickup leads terminate in an 1/8" plug that looks like a mini guitar cable to output jack type on the volume pot. Some of the lead wires are "string thin" (see pics).

This is quite a rare bass and I'm sure the parts alone could fetch the asking price. Bass is playable as is. Please see the video for demonstration.

Selling as is. I have described this bass to the best of my knowledge and have provided many pics and a video for you to see the bass in action.

FREE continental USA shipping.
$25 extra for Hawaii, Alaska and other US destinations.

$100 worldwide shipping.

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Listed9 years ago
ConditionFair (Used)
Fair condition gear should function but will show noticeable cosmetic damage or other issues.Learn more
Brand
Model
  • 356 Twen Star Violin Bass
Finish
  • Tobacco Burst
Categories
Year
  • 1960's
Made In
  • Germany

Firstone

Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Sales:1,521
Joined Reverb:2013

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