VINTAGE - Odyssey - B200 Ash Bass w/ Original HD Case (Tobacco Shade -1977) - USED

This is a consignment sale item.

Vintage and very rare 1977 Odyssey B200 Ash 4 string neck thru bass guitar that is in excellent condition for its almost 50 year vintage. A fantastic example of some very high quality Canadian craftmanship. Very well cared for and complete with its original rectangular hard shell case, and original Odyssey factory warranty card. 

The Odyssey B-200 Ash Bass is a rare, custom shop quality vintage boutique instrument handcrafted in Vancouver, Canada, during the late 1970s and early 1980s by luthier Attila Balogh and partners. Positioned below the top-tier Series 100, the B200 features a distinct carved solid ash body and neck-through construction without body binding. Satin "Tobacco Shaded" finish and factory loaded with a black set of vintage Bartolini HI-A pickups. HI-A were Bartolini's first line of pickups in the early to mid 70s when they started. The company eventually simply renamed them to Bartolinis. These original series Bartolini pickups sound very rich and warm, more low end than stock Fenders from the 70s and a bit less high end than Fenders modern bass pickups offer up.

"Hi-A" was the original brand name used by Bill Bartolini when he started making magnetic pickups in 1973. Designed to mimic the organic, complex response of acoustic instruments through asymmetric magnetic fields, these vintage pickups were eventually rebranded simply as "Bartolini Pickups & Electronics". The pickups in this B200 ash were manufactured just before this company rebranding took place in 1978, making these PRE- Bartolini's a pretty rare set of pickups on their own.

Laminated 5-ply Mahogany-Maple neck. 24-jumbo frets with a rosewood fretboard and abalone dot inlays.(No side dot markers) Brass nut and inlayed Brass Odyssey headstock logo, and factory original set high quality Grover Titan series 2+2 high mass gold tuners. High mass custom machined Brass 4 string bridge and independent tailpiece. Complete with its original rectangular hard shell case and Odyssey factory warranty card.

These handcrafted 100% Canadian made instruments were produced in very limited numbers making them quite a sought after collector item for vintage Canadian built gear enthusiasts the world over. Included in this add is a picture of an original Odyssey price list dated may 1st of 1978,.. Just to put into perspective the actual cost of this bad boy in the late 70's.

- Made in Vancover, British Colombia, Canada. 1977

- Serial Number 77-080

- Total Weight Of This B200 Ash Bass (No case) = 4.62 kgs (or 10.18 lbs)