Airline (1960s) Pocket Bass (Sunburst)
Here’s a rare bird: the famous Pocket Bass made by Valco for Supro’s & (in this particular case) for Montgomery Ward’s guitar line, Airline. In addition to the guitar-like-short 25” scale, this unusual model has a piezo pickup built into the bridge, an unheard-of feature in the swingin’-yet-primitive sixties! Teamed with the punchy magnetic pickup, this little bass sounds great, & it is as versatile as it is rare. If I owned this instrument, I would put a preamp on the piezo, I’ll bet it’d be incredible!
Also, this bass has a drilled-out “Swiss cheese” body, decades before Gibson “introduced” this feature in it’s Les Paul line. In addition to decreasing weight, the design contributes to the bass’ warm resonant tone.
The neck pickup is a typical Valco monster. VERY full and fat and round with tremendous depth and warmth. The piezo pickup (and the blend knob) result in a much lower volume, but have an incredibly woody tone that resembles a standup jazz bass.
