KINGSTON 1960s Hofner Style Violin Bass - Cool!

Cool 1960s Kingston Violin Bass in very good condition. Likely made by Teisco of Japan in middle 1960s. Beautiful and oozing vintage vibes. Has a few surface cracks in the finish, as shown in the photos. Volume control is smooth and quiet, but the tone control seems to have no effect. Possibly an open cap on the tone pot. Both single coil pickups measure 2.96 K ohms. I disassembled the tuners and cleaned all the 60-year-old grease out of the mechanism and re-lubed them with white lithium grease. Neck is straight and the truss rod is functional in both directions. Has a great growly tone. You may need to set it up to your preferences and playing style. The original bridge was lost somewhere so I replaced it with a Hofner type. The original was a floating type as on a real violin, relying on the downward string tension to hold the bridge in place. Very unstable on a bass of this type, so I adjusted it for best intonation on the E and G strings and screwed it into place. Then I cut some grooves in the bridge saddles to match the pole spacing on the pickups. Be aware this was originally manufactured as a cheap Japanese violin bass, as many makers did to cash in on the Beatles/Hofner mania at the time. It was not made or intended to be a "serious, high quality" instrument. I have repaired and set it up to be a very playable unit, but as a 60 plus years old bass, it is sold as is. Comes with a chipboard case that fits but is not the original case. U.S. lower 48 states buyers only. Free shipping.