Encore 335-Style Acoustic/Electric Bass

What year? No clue.I'd estimate that it was made in the late 60's to early 70's. It appears to be from Japan.

20 frets over here as well. Passive electronics, one pickup.

Nice tuners, body style is semi hollowbody. Looks a lot like a 335, and mine is green as well. Wooden bridge.

Feels like the whole thing may have been made out of plywood or a similar laminate.

My style is dub...and for this the bass can't be beat. It has a deep, full, thumping sound.

You can dial a little more twang in for country if you need to, but this really plays deep and low basslines excellently. I'm about to slap some flatwounds on it.

Kind of a nice alternative to solidbodies, and has a good resonant tone. Being a hollowbody, it will feed back. A lot, if you're not careful. But this can be good....very good.

Action is , like, eight miles high. I'm a little unsure if any adjustment can be made. It is playable however. Slightly higher action almost insures that you'll have to put some energy into your playing.

Pickup does its job.

The bass has tons of strange flaws/quirks. There's a wooden thumbrest attached to the pickguard...but it's in the wrong place. My bass is a lefty model that has been strung righty...and the thumbrest is still all wrong! WTF?!? Plastic nut....strange saddles, cheapo knobs...

Despite all this, it's one of the most fun basses I've ever played in my life.

This bass will withstand live playing if you observe the following rules: Do not stage dive with it attached to your person. Do not let it fall over. Do not attempt to swat flies with it. Don't play exceptionally hard, and do not look at it funny. It's sort of fragile.

The finish is sort of cracking in some places. The stap buttons will hold, because the bass is so light.

I would use it on a gig without a backup. If it broke, I'd feel sad for a minute, then get a beer and go on with my life.

Okay, maybe two minutes.

Trying to get customer support for this thing would require a seance.

Warranty? What?

How long have you been playing?
I've been playing for a while.

Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this bass?
For a date with the lady that sold it to me. Lost her number, too...damn.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
Probably would keep an eye out for one in thrift shops...yeah I'd get it again at the same price.

What do you love about it?
It's hard to explain.....this bass is so wrong, it's somehow right. Hands down, one of my favorite pieces of gear.

Anything you wish it had?
The phone number of the girl that sold it to me tucked under the thumbrest....damn!

Anything else you'd like to share?
Nah...

I have no idea when this bass was made. Even though the Neck says Encore, the metal plate on the back of the body for the four bolt neck says a serial number of 002243 and there is a big letter "U" that make me think that the Encore company is some how connected to the Univox company.But Here's the Mystery, it says "Japan" so maybe this bass is made in Japan for some parent company.It looks just like a Gibson eb-1 Bass complete with f holes and only one pickup.The neck has only 20 frets and the workmanship is very beautiful with rose wood and mother of pearl fret markers that are off center. I'm not sure of the body but it probably is made of Plywood of some kind of laminate. The finish is a dark hunter Green, with the Encore Trade mark on the neck in a gold finish.It is very basic with a tone control and a volume control. Both knob have fallen off but Gibson knobs fit better and stay on. The instrument polishs to a deep luster and is nice to look at. The electronics are what you'd expect for this style of bass, Passive. The bridge is made out of rosewood, and this bass has a tailpiece. It looks just like a 335 style guitar.When i got this bass from a friend , It was missing a tuning machine,so i had to replace them all , so they would match. Now it's great.

I'm a big fan of Jazz and the early 60's sound of rock. (venture's, Beach Boys, early Beatles, ect...) so this bass is right at home.
It has that fat, deep punch, and dark sound with little treble and warm rich tone.The bass doesn't have much tonal variety but i don't care, because the tone it has is perfect. The only thing that bug's me is a nosy hum, maybe the pick- up is on it's way out? I don't know.
The original pick-up sure looks funny, it is shaped like a trapazoid totally out of some outer space movie. It is Black and white colored.

When i recieved this instrument is was in a million pieces. A friend just gave it to me and said "Here you can have this". I was totally freaked out, at how such a beautiful instrument could end up all trashed and un-loved.I started a totally detailed restoration. and it came out great.The only flaw that i have found, is that the fret wire is sharp on the edge and The nut is all messed up from some jerk who went crazy with a file and made the slots way to wide. The action now is pretty low with a medium gauge round strings . I think this Bass was probably designed for FLAT WOUNDS.

This Bass has already survived 32 or so years, so whats another gig? I tried to find a neck truss rod in the neck, but it seems to be gone or maybe in hiding. What the hells a back-up, if you can't play a gig on one instrument, what does that say about your abilty to take care of an instrument. I do have another Bass , a vintage Klira from West Germany(1963)that is also a great surfing Bass.Plus ,some day i would love to get a real old Jazz Bass that is the real thing ,not one of these new knock-offs. Like a 60, or 61 Fender in good condition.

I've never heard of the company until now.
They specialized in the manufacture of entry level instruments for the mass's. With some model's (like this one),Slightly better than most of their product line.Warranty??? what's that? Ha Ha!
LONG LIVE ENCORE!!!!

I've been playing about 28 years and I love the fact that there is not another one of these Bass's in the entire world(To my limited Knowledge), and it is a real conversation piece.
Please contact me with any and all information any of you have in regards to the Encore Guitar Company.
My e-mail address is glnkoeller@earthlink.net
Thanks for your time.