Hey Guys- I stumbled upon a bass guitar for 60 bucks in a antique store today and i got it because it lookd really old skool and vintage. It works fine, but i just did a search and found nothing... Just wondering if yall knew anything about it. The only markins it has are a CAMEO logo on the headstock and made in Japan on the plate that connects the body to the neck. All else i see is a number someone has etched into the body on the bottom side. Thanks in advance...

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--Hillbilly
Proud member of the 2 or 3 club

Does the headstock have a curl on top.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Yeah It Has a head almost exactly like a p bass.

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--Hillbilly
Proud member of the 2 or 3 club

I got the link to work.

You got an INCREDIBLE bargain.

With Japanese instruments of the 60's and early 70's the lineage gets really murky because of all the layers involved. Japanese guitar/bass history is a web of wheeling and dealing that is different from how most US guitar companies operated although several US companies were involved as a distributor.

The Japanese structure of getting things done was something akin to how building contractors operate in the USA! You hire a contractor and leave the rest up to him.

The distributor (Cameo) would secure a contractor who then sub-contracted one or more manufacturers to get the product made. Sometimes the manufacturer sub-sub-contracted out certain components, like hardware or pickups, that they weren't capable of fabricating.

At least some Cameos, if not all, are said to have been contracted to Arai (now known as Aria) who frequently sub-contracted the now infamous Matsumoku manufacturing Complex in Matsumoto City to produce the Cameo line. I've seen four or maybe five Cameo basses in my life and all were actually not bad at all to look at. I’ve seen, Hagstrom Futurama and Fender Jazz Bass inspired models. The Hagstrom copy in an art deco way was unique. I would say all the Cameos I've seen were Matsumoku. The Hagstrom inspired one featured the string retainer bar just above the nut which I've seen on lots of Matsumoku instruments like the early 60's Guyatones. They seemed to repeat that one single feature on lots of basses and guitars due the headstock angle.

Matsumoku built lots of the famous Japanese guitar brands or at least some parts for them. Brands like Guyatone, Westone, Vox, Univox, Washburn, Epiphone and MANY more. They even did some sub-sub contract work for Nippon-Gakki which was the manufacturer for Yamaha.

Ultimately this all led up to Matsumoku delivering the incredibly successful and highly esteemed ARIA II bass and guitar series. The list of brands they cranked out or made parts for is just too long to list them all.

The weakest link with any of the early Japanese basses is often the electronics. The better 60's Japanese guitars/basses looked great, often they played just fine while the weight could vary a lot model to model, but the pickup tone was not up to any of the USA made instruments because Japanese electric pickup manufacturing was in its infancy.

There was also the budget models marketed at kids...and parents of those wanna-be players. Some of these rock bottom guitars were atrocious. But for 39 US Dollars, what can you expect?

The pickups on the neat Cameos I've seen looked a lot like Hagstrom or Fender pickups depending on what bass they were “honoring.” They had pickup on/off switches and a master tone and master volume control on the Hag copy. The pickguard treatment, switch and control placement was different from a Hagstrom but they just sort of remind me of one. Japanese designers were big on switches anyway, but the Hag had them too. Fretboards were some sort of rosewood on the Hag copy and maple with black blocks on the Jazz copy with some really funky looking tuners that had huge squarish ears and sealed gears. If one of these sounds like your bass, it might sell on eBay for about 4 times what you paid for it. You might could get even more through some of the Japanese collector clubs.

Many of the Japanese manufacturers evolved into guitar production from other woodworking disciplines. Matsumoku for example was owned by Singer Sewing Machine Company and made sewing machine cabinets for Singer Japan. They ventured into acoustic guitar manufacturing on a limited scale. Their acoustic guitar output had been just a trickle but they were very well received and highly regarded for the craftsmanship and tone. When the electric guitar craze swept the planet in the early 60's demand soared and Matsumoku had the unique advantage of taking what they knew about making acoustics and adapting it to the high demand electrics quickly.

While the pickups on some Japanese guitars were actually not too bad, all the Japanese manufacturers had less success with bass pickups early on for some reason.

Some people seriously collect Japanese guitars & basses of the 1960 to early 70's vintage. There are even Vintage Japanese Guitar clubs. Some models are highly regarded such as the Univox High-Flyer and Teisco Del Ray.

Vintage Japanese instruments are a very neat thing to get into because there were so many brands and variations that just when you think you've seen 'em all you find one you never knew existed or a new factory color you’ve never seen before. Sure lots of them were blatant knock-offs, but they paved the way for the really sweet ones to come Like the Aria II and of course, the current Fender CIJ stuff.

This Bass works fine but is kinda beat up.... Do you still think it would still be worth trying to sell?

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--Hillbilly
Proud member of the 2 or 3 club

Oh and btw dave, I think mine sounds like the Hag copy more. Dude you hit the nail roght on the head....

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--Hillbilly
Proud member of the 2 or 3 club

Well, photos would help a lot toward making that judgment. I know that the longer you hold it the more it will be worth even if it is a total piece of stinky.

The strangest thing is this. People in Japan are way interested in collecting 60's USA basses. Meanwhile a bunch of people in the USA are way interested in collecting 60's Japanese guitars & basses. Wild huh?.

Even stranger is that many of the USA folks collecting the 60's Japanese stuff have pocket protectors with 111 different colored pens and a TI Scientific calculator loaded in a quick-draw belt holster and a PHD in astrophysics or software programming in their resume. They think they know something everyone else doesn't, just like in 1994. I don't agree, but they are running up prices on these Japanese basses and even more so with the guitars.

I have to admit this....it is a lot of fun to watch them scramble when a really cool vintage Japanese instrument appears from out of nowhere. That may actually be what crashed Twitter earlier this week. Seriously, they are quite well organized and they do know what is what. Some of them know by first & last name who was doing the soldering on the High-Flyer...on night-shift...on WEEKENDS...in February and know what week that he, Indho Pao was on vacation that week. They know Indho went to Disneyland on his vacation and that Mr. Toad's Wild Ride made him puke.

Yes, you can sell it on eBay and probably realize an immediate profit of four times what you paid for it.

Describe every nick and ding as that seems to only excite some of the 60's Japanese collectors more. Give them close up photos of any wear or beat up spots. They LOVE it!

Frankly, any beat up 60's Japanese bass is probably one that got used a lot ONLY BECAUSE it sounds good, feels good or actually WAS good overall from square 1. Emphasize that this obviously got PLAYED, USED, and USED SOME MORE! Because someone really loved it!

Sucky 60's Japanese instruments to avoid are usually in pristine condition because they were not worth playing or using in the first place.

Just my opinion based on recent market observations! Your mileage may vary.

However if you fail to realize a 300% profit in an eBay auction with a 100 dollar opening bid with no reserve auction I will be totally amazed. I think a 600% return is entirely possible with the right marketing.

You got a great buy there. My congrats. Even if you don't sell it. They are very collectible and worth keeping in the long run. As is often said of Pre-CBS Fenders, they are not making any more of them! Or, no-sankyu-motto to my TI Scientific wielding counterparts.