Wandre Tigre Semi-Hollow Body Electric Bass Guitar (1965), black tolex hard shell case.

Wandre Tigre Model Semi-Hollow Body Electric Bass Guitar (1965), made in Cavriago, Italy, red/black sunburst finish, wood and plastic body, plastic sheathed aluminum neck with rosewood fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case.

"What are those guitars -- man, we don't have those in the STATES!" So spoke Bob Dylan in 1965, captured on film looking into the window of an English music store full of Wandre guitars. These amazingly futuristic and completely original instruments were sold under several different brand names in Europe through the 1960s. They have fascinated adventurous electric guitar fans since then, but most players have never seen or handled one. A few models were briefly marketed in the US just prior to the guitar boom period but they are extremely rare in this country.

All Wandre instruments are eccentric, sometimes to the extreme. This solid-body "Basso Tigre" is one of the tamer beasts from Wandre Pioli's zoo, a creation that came in the latter half of the company's production span in an attempt to reach a wider market than their more whimsical creations of previous years. The design is noticeably more Fender-like than previous instruments from Wandre Pioli's endlessly creative imagination, something of a compromise with the often predictable tastes of most mid-60's players.

The Wandre story is a book-length tale of the battle between creativity and commerce, and there is an (unfortunately rare) 2014 book "WANDRE-The Artist Of The Electric Guitar" by Marco Ballestri available for the curious! After some years of unstable company financials and underwhelming export sales, Pioli was being strongly advised to create an instrument aimed at a broader appeal to young players that might be disinclined to tackle the flashy, fancifully exotic oddities that constituted most of Wandre's designs. This resulted in the "Doris" model (originally for the French market) which was vaguely Strat-like but rather curvier with a deliberately feminine profile.

The subsequent "Tigre" guitar and bass were launched in later 1965, Wandre's most "normal" instruments yet. The "Basso Tigre" was his first long-scale bass, actually 33 1/2" but close enough! The offset body looks like a cross between Fender's Jazz Bass and Bass VI, with a long curving upper horn and a comparatively stunted lower cutaway. The body appears to be a solid but there is actually a chamber routed out under the pickguard.

Wandre's proprietary aluminum neck is sheathed in black plastic, topped with a somewhat Fenderized slotted headstock carrying the small plastic-button tuners on an aluminum strip screwed to the bass edge. The fingerboard is rosewood, lightly bound and inlaid with large plastic dots. The pickguard is back-painted clear plastic, with pinstriping, Wandre and Davoli logos and a cool "Tigre" emblem pictured leaping towards the switch.

The twin pickups are the familiar trapezoidal Davoli units seen on most Wandres, and sound great for bass as well as guitar. The controls are conventional with a three-way switch on the cutaway bout and a master volume and tone in the usual place below the bridge. The bridge is milled aluminum with adjustable saddles; The unit is housed under a plastic cover with a Fender-like metal handrest mounted in the center body position.

While of somewhat conventional design compared to many of Wandre Pioli's more eccentric electric children, the Basso Tigre maintains all the best sonic and engineering features of the line combined with a more solid construction than most. Earlier Wandre basses are more fantastical looking, but with guitar-scale necks not really playing instruments to most actual bassists. The Tigre plays and sounds fantastic, with the powerful Davoli pickups giving it a powerful and aggressive sound that mellows nicely at lower volume. This is yet another wonderful and unique instrument from the most inspired oddball Italian '60s guitar designer, a true artist of the electric guitar.

Overall length is 47 1/4 in. (120 cm.), 13 1/4 in. (33.7 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 33 1/2 in. (851 mm.). Width of nut is 1 9/16 in. (40 mm.).

This "Basso Tigre" is now at least 60 years old remaining in remarkably good condition with very little wear overall. The sunburst lacquer on the body is shiny, smooth and covered with only a smattering of light scratches and dents mostly to the back. The neck and headstock are extremely clean as well.

The bass remains all original including the often lost or cracked sheath covering the aluminum neck, the plastic bridge cover and metal handrest, all fully intact and undamaged. The fragile small plastic tuner buttons are undamaged as well. The back-painted clear plastic pickguard housing the dual Davoli pickups is not cracked or broken as many are showing just a few small dings and chips. Both pickups sound strong and clear, all electronics are original as are the knobs and control panel.

The original frets have been crowned just a bit; they are in fine playing shape in the rosewood fingerboard shows minimal wear. The bass is an excellent player, set up with flatwound strings offering a unique sound and feel not quite like any other bass on Earth! It comes in a period hardshell case, simply one of the nicest of Wandre Pioli's instruments we have had and a real gem of an off-the-wall long scale bass. Overall Excellent Condition.