Hi there, I read that one of you asked and get some information over SD Curlee gitars. I got one at home and I don’t know anything about it, can anyone please send me some information to. I got a curlee with a bad ass bass 2 bridge, grover tuners, 24 frets neck, and one split pick up not the one with the two splitted pick ups. I really think it;s a great bassgitaar, but the one I got I find on an attic and has laying there for over 1 to 1,5 years without string on it, so you maybe can imagine why I don’t play on that one very much. I almost alway use my other bass a Fender Musicmaster short scale bassgitaar. I hope you al can read my english it’s not that good but ya, I’m from Holland I hope anyone of you can send me some information or pictures than i can send you pictures of mine Sd curlee. Greetz Saffie

: : could any body tell me about sd curlee bass guitars. : : i have one that was bought here in australia sometime : : in the 1970’s. : Strangely enough SD CUrlee basses were for a short while in the late seventies and early eighties THE most popular basses here in Belgium. This was due to the sub standard output of Fender in those days . Other alternatives like the alu neck Kramers, the JAP made Ibanez artist series and Yamaha basses had their devotees….but it was SD Curlee (or the poor man’s alembic) who ate the sale figures over here . : Although american made and stuffed with elusive hardware (Grover gold tuning heads, Bad ass 2 gold bridges and high output Di MArzio pick ups) these guitars were not too expensive; usd 500 for one of the de luxe models : I think these prices were so low because it was a small family enterprise and they didn’t endorse players like Ibanez or Yamaha did,Very little of their earnings went into advertising campaigns) : the curlee bass models were vastly more popular than the guitars.The design featured a unique blend of neck through body design and bolt on neck. (Kinda best of both worlds). The neck was anchored in the body with a heavy brass plate. : Coupled with the fast medium scale neck the sustain and rapid action was secured . : These were the models (all models shared the same basic , almost symetrical shape)and were availble in fretless version : -standard 1 (1 P-bass dimarzio, mahogany body, maple neck) : -standard 2 (identical to the above but 2 pick ups) : -Butcher (body made of butcher block maple) : -curbeck line (body made of walnut, mape stripes) : -summit (body and neck made of laminated walnut) : The Yankee line with active electronics and a slightly more modern shape) was to come out in early 1980’s : You don’t have to look very hard here to find used curlees…prices are in the neighborhood of usd 200-400 : I had two models a standard 1 bass and a standard 2 fretless. Both had truss rod problems (a slight rattle when hit)which is seemingly a common problem. You won’t notice it while playing amplified …but excercising ‘unplugged’ wasn’t funny. : This aside, I really liked Curlee’s, they were very practical, sounded great and IMHO looked much more expensive than other instruments in this category. : Remember Fender bases came equiped with KLuson heads, no dimarzio’s and a rather basic bridge. : One thing I would like to ad; these were the days Jap and Korean factory’s were heavily copying american instruments and sell them under their banner. Although a very small company, Curlee built it’s own cheap clones under the Hondo banner (albeit without the expensive hardware). : Clever indeed. : Anyway: buy "guitar stories" this great book focusses on the less obvious guitars of those days. I worked for Randy for 3 years , they were great basses any questions please let me know.,I would also like to contact Randy, let me know.

I have owned a SD Curlee bass for about 15 years. It is a great bass with a nice feel and great tone. After 15 years of heavy gigging I have neaver expierenced any problems with, apart from losing a volume control knob. I paid £200 for it secondhand in the UK.