Bruno Royal Artist 1960s Red Burst

Up for sale, a Bruno Royal Artist Bass in good working order. This rare vintage Japanese bass was produced at the Matsumoku factory, home of other notable guitar brands such as Univox and Ventura. In many ways inspired by the Mosrite Celebrity model, the Royal Artist is fully hollow and sports a pair of chrome covered single coil pickups in very cool tortoise surrounds. Like many of the most eye-catching Lyle and Kent guitars of the 1960s, the tortoise used on this guitar really makes it pop visually and it's one of the more ornate vintage Japanese instruments we've had in the shop! The tone is punchy and full, with soft attack and a nice deep tone. As with most Japanese pickups of the era, these single coils have a pronounced top end character that translates into great growl with the roundwound strings. This bass has been professionally setup with comfortable action and 45-105 strings.

The neck has a medium C profile that borders on the chunky side, and while the original frets show moderate wear down near the nut, the bass still plays cleanly all the way up the neck with no excessive buzzing or dead spots. The headstock sports a four ply veneer over the wood with the top layer matching the pickup surrounds on the body with the same swirly, eye-catching tort. Three of the original tuning machines are intact, and the fourth (G tuner) is a vintage replacement from a Harmony bass of the same era.

All of the electronics work as they should, with individual volume controls for each pickup and a master tone knob. The polished aluminum gold knobs are NOS and of the same style that would have originally come on this bass although these knobs were installed at a later date. Both pickups have strong and even output with the bridge pickup being 100% stock and the neck pickup having undergone a recent rewind by Sonny's Custom Shop in Texas. The rewind was expertly done to perfectly match the output, wire and tonal qualities of the original.

Cosmetically, the bass shows some honest playwear from the past few decades with various small nicks and scuffs, but no structural wear or repairs of any kind. It appears that this bass was once setup as a left handed instrument as evidenced by a filled strap button hole on the treble side horn and also an extra small hole for a 1/4" input jack below the bass side F hole. The current strap button near the pickup selector switch has been moved a couple times, with a pair of extra small holes adjacent to the current location of the strap button. The red sunburst finish is vibrant and unfaded, with some buckle rash on the central portion of the back and some minor chips in the finish around the contours of the body.

Don't miss out on this classic Japanese made Bruno Royal Artist!