Sekova Short-Scale Archtop Bass

Apparently made early 60s in Japan. I got it secondhand from a music shop in 1967. 21 frets (small ones by today's standards), 4 strings. Huge 4-in-line headstock, looks like a P-Bass headstock. Plastic nut, genuine Brazilian rosewood fretboard. Double cutaway symmetrical archtop body, 2 f-holes, and no through-body block. One huge chrome rectangular pickup with individual slotted screw pole pieces, suspended through the tortoise shell "panty-style" pickguard, just an inch or so from the end of the fretboard. Original bridge looks kinda like an Epiphone viola bass style, but without the compensated saddle positions. Single fretwire embedded in slot of rosewood upper bridge half. This piece rides on height adjustment thumbwheels which thread onto bolts fastened up through the base part of the bridge. Entire bridge assembly floats to allow for what passed for intonation adjustments in the 60s. Strings anchor in 4 individual retainers in a hinged trapeze tailpiece, which fastens on the rib by the bottom strap button. Small chrome control plate has 500k volume pot and 500k tone pot, and jack in its own little bracket, a'la Strat. Passive, of course, and pickup DC resistance is 9.7 kilohms.
Tuners are enclosed flat clover leaf, with no safety hole bored for the end of the string, and the kinda flimsy chrome cover for the gears also provides tension for the tuning handle's worm gear.
Neck construction is unknown, as it's still got its original gleaming white nitrocellulose lacquer finish on it (as do the headstock & the body). Only identifying mark on the device is the gold-on-black "Sekova" script logo (plastic) nailed onto the headstock. Single truss rod under blank white plastic cover on headstock. Fretboard and body are bound in black, and pretty fine-lined black & white "purfling" on edge of the top. The fretboard has muted MOP dots on its face, but had no side markers (a lack I compensated for by scoring & removing small chunks of the finish directly under the binding in my younger, sillier days). Scale length is about 30.5", depending upon where the bridge ends up sitting. Body is some kind of plywood and has a soundpost, but no other internal blocks to make it more rigid (or damp out the sound). The whole bass gives the impression of someone who liked the looks of a Guild Starfire, Gibson EB-2, Gretsch bass, etc., and who liked a short P-Bass neck. The "Whoa, dude, what're you playing there?!?" factor is pretty high with this ax.

Since I play mostly classic rock (OK, "old guy" rock -- Floyd, Cream, Jimi, King Crimson, Tull) and old soul/funk, it's ideal. I use GHS 3020 light short-scale flats on it. Light, so it doesn't make the neck pocket pull forward too much when tuned to pitch (remember, no bracing block inside). Short-scale, cuz it's, well, short. Flats so I can take advantage of the hollow body sound (think Paul's Hofner)and spare what's left of the ancient frets. And to sound sufficiently different from my Ibanez RD828 Roadbass (real metal-head beast). Electronics are absolutely humfree as long as there aren't any neon bar lights closeby (the body, like most hollowbody rigs, in unshielded). Although the heavy metal control plate, shielded audio lead from the pickup, and huge pickup cover probably help somewhat with keeping noise out. The overall sound is kinda dark, and notes decay pretty quickly. This is not by any means a slapper's bass. Think "Jamerson" instead of "Wooten". Played with a pick, it's great for lines like the opening of the Animals' "We Gotta Get Outa This Place" or Pink Floyd's "Money", with a bit of palm muting near the bridge.
I wish the tuners were nicer. Even with the nut cut correctly, there's a fair amount of backlash in a couple of the strings, so that you have to sneak up on the note or send it way flat again for another try. I also wish there were some reinforcement inside the neck end of the body; when this thing is tuned up, the whole neck moves "forward", or towards the crowd, if you will. The more it moves, the more the other strings go flat, so you have to kinda chase the tuning. Then, just like a harp, it stays in tune for either 20 minutes or until someone opens a door.
Actually, as long as it gets to sit in the performance venue for about an hour, it's pretty stable.
The huge round booms from this bass are gorgeous.

Set-up? Action? Remember, this was around 1964 or so when built.
I've had is 35 years now, and aside from replacing the jack once and hitting the pots with De-Oxit D-5 every couple of years, it hasn't really had any problems. I bought some aftermarket tuners that look a lot like cast P-Bass machines, but the string post was enough larger that they wouldn't fit into the headstock. I'm not about to modify the structure at all, so I'll just live with tweaking the tuning every few songs. And with the huge neck and hollowbody, you don't want to let go of the neck when you're wearing it or the headstock will cut your legs off at the shins. A 4"-wide suede strap helps, but
As far as manufacturing flaws, it seems that aside from the poor engineering of the body near the neck pocket, this is still what it was made to be originally: an inexpensive playable bass. My understanding is that Sekova/Zim-Gar was back then the Japanese equivalent of what Samick in Korea is now.

I gig with this bass 4-8 times per month, plus rehearsals. The chrome plating on all the hardware is very heavy, and there's no rust at all except on two of the pickguard screws. The lacquer that covers every square millimeter of wood (except the fretboard) is still mostly intact except for where I've done careless things in storing or moving it. Typical belt buckle scratches on the back (which is also arched). Strap buttons are held on by pretty small roundhead screws, but I haven't had to toothpick the holes yet. Now that I've got the "right" strings for it, I haven't had to dink with the truss rod or neck shims in the past two years. I *always* have a backup bass on gigs -- never know what might happen. And since my band plays a variety of music, I switch back & forth a couple of times a night anyway. I've been a show/pit bassist too many years to play any gig without a backup.

No idea at all; except for rare hits for Zim-Gar or Sekova on the web, there doesn't seem to be any real evidence that the factory ever existed. I've always done my own repairs, which have been slight, although I will have to refret it before too long.
Warranty? <snicker, snicker, guffaw, chortle>

I'm 49, have been playing since I was 13 (upright) and bass guitar since I was 16. Also currently own a Schroetter carved German double bass and an Ibanez RD828-LE "Roadbass" (active P-J).
I wish I'd asked the store if they'da taken $100 instead of the $149 for the Fender Bass VI they had on the wall. It this bass were lost or stolen, I'd be heartbroken -- lotta nostalgia. But I could always pretty much duplicate the sounds with an Aria or DelRay if I needed it. I originally bought this one because I could afford it (along with a Vox Foundation Bass piggyback amp.) And it looked really cool (still does.) I wish I had a case for it. The OSSC fell apart in a rainstorm in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1975, and the dimensions are just odd enough that none of the stock HSCs I've been able to find will fit it. Gig bags are either too short or the body isn't deep enough. Mooradian will custom build one, but for more than I paid for the bass.
Neat bass all around: nice to look at, massive old-school tone, really easy to play with flats on it.