1979 Odyssey 4 string

[andrew]

I'm cleaning out the closet a bit to raise funds for another bass. This is a very rare bass made by Odyssey, a defunct company from Vancouver BC (not to be confused with the Italian company using the name these days). I've never seen another lefty Odyssey of this type.

Passive bass (controls are vol/vol/tone/tone/pickup selector), neck thru, (I believe) mahogany and maple construction, ebony fingerboard, brass bridge, Bartolini pickups (I think they're called Hi A pickups?).

The good:
This bass sounds huge, with a very clear, piano like tone. Resonant and loud unplugged sound.
This is the closest you'll get to a passive Gibson bass sound in a lefty package.
The bass is a tank. You could chop a man in half with it and it'll still play fine. But don't.

The bad:
The bass is well played and has lots of finish wear, scratches, dings and checking. The pics don't do a good enough job showing the wear, I'll take more picky pictures of the wear asap.
The bass was (of course) played by a righty, so it has the obligatory bottom horn hole for another strap button, and the nut (which is brass) had the G string groove widened to accommodate the E string. i put a bit of paper under the string and it plays without buzzing for me, but obviously it was a quick (lazy) fix on my part and you should get a new nut if you want it 100%, but it plays fine as is.
I don't know the exact weight of the bass, but it is heavy. I'd guess around 10 lbs.
It has a fat neck profile that you'll be fine with if you play P basses, but for guys who regularly play a 1.5" nut width neck (like me) it feels big.
I guess this seems weird to me because I expect tiny sleek necks on boutique-y basses, having a P feeling neck seemed odd to me.
It was not made with side dots, so it has had them dotted on with white paint, on both sides of the neck.

Ultimately this is a very nice bass that has been well played. Not a pristine collector's piece by any means.

I'm asking $950 plus shipping for this bass. The only other two examples of the same model I could find were righty ones, one fretted for $1500 and one fretless for $1400.

[andrew]

More pics:

[Jeroen]

Interesting instrument, it has a slight Rickenbacker vibe going on, aesthetically, but the tone you're describing is completely different . Cool bass!

[andrew]

Bump. I forgot about this beast, but it's been sleeping comfortably in my closet this whole time...perhaps it needs to come and live at your house?

[frankenjazz]

wish i had the cash, that thing looks like a rickey and an alembic had a baby

[fat fret]

I really think it's a beautiful bass. Too bad the shipping to Scandinavia is so insane

[andrew]

I really think it's a beautiful bass. Too bad the shipping to Scandinavia is so insane

If you still want the bass PM me and I'll see if we can work to get it into your hands.

[fat fret]

Uh, I definitely haven't written it off. That said I'm not sure if I can raise the funds for the bass, but who knows?

About the pickups: I read that Bartolini discontinued the Hi-A labels in 1978. So I wonder if they really are Hi-As? I have no idea what else it could be. My knowledge when it comes to pups is less than zero..

[cangaroo]

Hey looks like someone on leftybass.com is looking for this very bass. Maybe the original owner ?

[EDIT] No i was wrong : the one searched by the guy had a six band eq ...

[andrew]

Hey looks like someone on leftybass.com is looking for this very bass. Maybe the original owner ?

[EDIT] No i was wrong : the one searched by the guy had a six band eq ...

I think the guy looking for that bass is Mark who is on here too and he's after his old bass specifically, not just any Odyssey.

I'm very good at forgetting about this bass.

[iozz]

Nice one. Would you be interested in a trade, or only a sale?

[andrew]

Prefer a sale but feel free to pm me trade offers. I'm not looking for much at the moment, but you never know.

[markcv]

That's right gents, I AM looking for a very specific Odyssey. Long shot for sure. But hey, I got my Warwick back so I'm a firm believer in "anything can happen".

However, if you still have this around in a while Andrew I'll probably make a move on it.