{"id":7295,"date":"2015-05-19T10:40:57","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T15:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/?p=7295"},"modified":"2015-05-19T10:51:28","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T15:51:28","slug":"the-moni-bassus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/article\/the-moni-bassus.html","title":{"rendered":"The Moni Bassus"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the more rare electric bass guitars from the 1960s is the Moni Bassus, made in Hungary. Reported only to have been constructed in the 1960s and having a low production number, coming across one isn’t exactly easy. <\/p>\n

Made as good as a Fender or Gibson of that era? No. Designed well? That’s debatable. But it does have some interesting look to it, along with a working Jaguar\/Jazzmaster style vibrato system, a.k.a. “whammy bar.”<\/p>\n

The video below shows the Bassus being played, and while at a low volume, you can tell that the pickups are most likely very microphonic (typical on several electric guitar and bass instruments of the 1960s.) And yes, it does have above-the-board tuning keys, although it’s difficult to see them because they’re a bit on the small side. <\/p>\n

Worth owning as a vintage bass collector?<\/h3>\n

That is ultimately up to you, but if you want a vintage bass with readily available parts that will fit into it, the Bassus would not be a good choice.<\/p>\n

For example, we have complete kits for a ’62 Jazz bass<\/a>, so if you wanted to, you could have a ’62 (or a newer Fender bass) with 1962-correct made-new electronics. With the Bassus, not really. The Bassus is one of those “meant for collection and not for regular play” instruments. <\/p>\n

In other words, the Bassus is nice eye candy for collectors, but playing it too much would destroy it.<\/p>\n

What is the Bassus worth? It’s not worth thousands of dollars, but it is worth something to vintage electric bass collectors what know what it is.<\/p>\n