Wandre Rock Basso Solid Body Electric Bass Guitar (1961)
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Item #13986
Wandre Rock Basso Model Solid Body Electric Bass Guitar (1961), made in Cavriago, Italy, natural finish, Padouk body, aluminum neck with rosewood fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case.
"What are those guitars -- man, we don't have those in the STATES!" So spoke Bob Dylan in 1965, captured on film looking into the window of an English music store at several Wandre guitars. These amazingly futuristic and completely original instruments were sold under different brand names in Europe through the early-mid 1960s but never caught on here and American market examples are extremely rare. They have fascinated adventurous electric guitar fans since, but most players have never seen or handled one. This unmistakable Rock Basso was one of Wandre's most unusual early electric bass creations, a true solid body quite unlike his mostly hollow or semi-hollow designs. Its wildly modernistic sculptural look makes it easily one of the most iconic offerings from Mr. Wandre Pioli's large and varied oeuvre.
Marco Ballestri, author of the essential text "WANDRE-The Artist Of The Electric Guitar" traces the origin of the matching "Rock" bass and guitar models to mid-1961. The most obvious characteristic is the minimal and overtly sculptural body, carved out of natural-finished solid Padouk wood with a noticeable use of what art schools describe as "negative space", including a large cutout behind the bridge and an angled oval hole on the upper treble bout. This piece looks like it might have been poached right out of an art gallery and fitted with a neck and pickups! Some have noted its passing similarity to a wooden toilet seat, perhaps a wink from Wandre Pioli to Marcel Duchamp!
Besides the unique aesthetics, another trailblazing feature Wandre guitars is a bolt-on aluminum neck/body centerpiece. Over a decade before Travis Bean or Veleno, Pioli's instruments feature a thin, rounded aluminum neck with an extension set into body running all the way down to the tailpiece and an integral aluminum headstock. The rosewood fingerboard has multi-color plastic inlay illustrating (from top to bottom) the Wandre logo, the crest of Cavriago where they were made, a banner with "Rock Basso" engraved and an "Export" logo, indicating it was destined for sale outside Italy. The back of the neck is bare aluminum with an overhanging fretboard bound with very thick white plastic. The aluminum headstock is a flat minimalist design with the strings passing through slots in the face to engage backwards-facing Italian-made plastic barrel button tuners, mounted from the rear to flange pieces and concealed from the front, a pretty unique way of doing it!
Like all early Wandre bass guitars this instrument has a 25" guitar-scale neck. Up into the mid '60s guitars and electric basses from the round Cavriago factory share the same fantastical looking layout, design and materials; they are simply 4-string guitars with heavier strings. Perhaps Wandre did not want to invest in the tooling required to make a longer scale neck or maybe he just liked the concept, but not until the mid-60s did Wandre offer long scale basses. This idea was also used by some US companies, especially Valco (with the National Style 85 and the Supro Pocket Bass), Carvin, Kay with their Value Leaders and a few others, but most players generally expected at least a 29 1/2 to 30" scale as the minimum on a true bass guitar.
This bass features a single Davoli pickup mounted in the neck position wired to a volume knob all the way down at the tail, where the jack is also situated. The sculpted body has some interesting ergonomic features unique to the bass version; the smaller angled hole cut through the body serves as a finger rest for thumb style playing, while there is a shallow trough in the top edge of the upper body that can be used as a thumb rest for finger style playing.
The bridge is a Hofner-style slotted piece cut from aluminum, adjustable for height with 4 fretwire saddles. The strings run a long way down under an aluminum holding bar to a hollow aluminum tailpiece attached to the center insert above the knob and jack. Several features including the integral aluminum headstock mark this as an early example as dating to 1961; these were apparently sold for several years in Europe up through around 1964. A VERY few were imported by Don Noble to the US, called the "Rockette Bass" in his catalog.
Even among Wandre Pioli's many eccentric electric children, the solidbody "Rock" models are true originals. Boldly unconventional and overtly artistic, they look and feels like nothing else. These hand-carved and assembled instruments can be quite variable; this one is very similar to the Rock Basso famously posed with the Doisneau sisters in an iconic 1960s image, except theirs had a Meazzi-made pickup. This is a very rare, wonderful and iconic instrument from the most inspired oddball Italian '60s guitar designer, Wandre Pioli, a true artist of the electric guitar.
Overall length is 44 1/4 in. (112.4 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This is a nice example of this rare and rather showstopping bass in original and generally well-preserved shape. The thin finish on the sculpted Padouk body is original and unaltered with scattered dings and scratches, mostly to the face below the string line and the back. The guitar remains all original with its hardware intact, it bears a 1/4" phone jack in place of the 5mm Geloso jack Wandre generally used for domestic product at the time but as this was an original "Export" model that may well be original.
This neck never had the plastic sheath covering, but there is no black tape up the center; if that was ever fitted it is long gone. The Wandre logo sticker on the upper body has begun to peel slightly but remains intact. All the hardware including the famous Davoli pickup, plastic barrel tuners, aluminum bridge and minimalist tailpiece with the knob and jack mounted to it are good order with some general wear. The metal has some scratching and wear in spots, particularly on the tail extension, strap buttons and dinks to the top of the headstock.
The aluminum bridge is situated slightly too far forward for perfect intonation; the twin mounting posts can be moved slightly back on the body if desired to correct this but it will leave marks in the top where they previously sat. We would only recommend this if the bass is to be seriously played. Despite its unusually configured contoured body the bass rests comfortably on the lap and balances well on a strap. Fitted with extra heavy strings to compensate for the super short scale this Rock 6 is a nice specimen of a really unique and somewhat iconic creation, a cool find for any Wandre aficionado. A modern hardshell case is included. Very Good + Condition.
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"What are those guitars -- man, we don't have those in the STATES!" So spoke Bob Dylan in 1965, captured on film looking into the window of an English music store at several Wandre guitars. These amazingly futuristic and completely original instruments were sold under different brand names in Europe through the early-mid 1960s but never caught on here and American market examples are extremely rare. They have fascinated adventurous electric guitar fans since, but most players have never seen or handled one. This unmistakable Rock Basso was one of Wandre's most unusual early electric bass creations, a true solid body quite unlike his mostly hollow or semi-hollow designs. Its wildly modernistic sculptural look makes it easily one of the most iconic offerings from Mr. Wandre Pioli's large and varied oeuvre.
Marco Ballestri, author of the essential text "WANDRE-The Artist Of The Electric Guitar" traces the origin of the matching "Rock" bass and guitar models to mid-1961. The most obvious characteristic is the minimal and overtly sculptural body, carved out of natural-finished solid Padouk wood with a noticeable use of what art schools describe as "negative space", including a large cutout behind the bridge and an angled oval hole on the upper treble bout. This piece looks like it might have been poached right out of an art gallery and fitted with a neck and pickups! Some have noted its passing similarity to a wooden toilet seat, perhaps a wink from Wandre Pioli to Marcel Duchamp!
Besides the unique aesthetics, another trailblazing feature Wandre guitars is a bolt-on aluminum neck/body centerpiece. Over a decade before Travis Bean or Veleno, Pioli's instruments feature a thin, rounded aluminum neck with an extension set into body running all the way down to the tailpiece and an integral aluminum headstock. The rosewood fingerboard has multi-color plastic inlay illustrating (from top to bottom) the Wandre logo, the crest of Cavriago where they were made, a banner with "Rock Basso" engraved and an "Export" logo, indicating it was destined for sale outside Italy. The back of the neck is bare aluminum with an overhanging fretboard bound with very thick white plastic. The aluminum headstock is a flat minimalist design with the strings passing through slots in the face to engage backwards-facing Italian-made plastic barrel button tuners, mounted from the rear to flange pieces and concealed from the front, a pretty unique way of doing it!
Like all early Wandre bass guitars this instrument has a 25" guitar-scale neck. Up into the mid '60s guitars and electric basses from the round Cavriago factory share the same fantastical looking layout, design and materials; they are simply 4-string guitars with heavier strings. Perhaps Wandre did not want to invest in the tooling required to make a longer scale neck or maybe he just liked the concept, but not until the mid-60s did Wandre offer long scale basses. This idea was also used by some US companies, especially Valco (with the National Style 85 and the Supro Pocket Bass), Carvin, Kay with their Value Leaders and a few others, but most players generally expected at least a 29 1/2 to 30" scale as the minimum on a true bass guitar.
This bass features a single Davoli pickup mounted in the neck position wired to a volume knob all the way down at the tail, where the jack is also situated. The sculpted body has some interesting ergonomic features unique to the bass version; the smaller angled hole cut through the body serves as a finger rest for thumb style playing, while there is a shallow trough in the top edge of the upper body that can be used as a thumb rest for finger style playing.
The bridge is a Hofner-style slotted piece cut from aluminum, adjustable for height with 4 fretwire saddles. The strings run a long way down under an aluminum holding bar to a hollow aluminum tailpiece attached to the center insert above the knob and jack. Several features including the integral aluminum headstock mark this as an early example as dating to 1961; these were apparently sold for several years in Europe up through around 1964. A VERY few were imported by Don Noble to the US, called the "Rockette Bass" in his catalog.
Even among Wandre Pioli's many eccentric electric children, the solidbody "Rock" models are true originals. Boldly unconventional and overtly artistic, they look and feels like nothing else. These hand-carved and assembled instruments can be quite variable; this one is very similar to the Rock Basso famously posed with the Doisneau sisters in an iconic 1960s image, except theirs had a Meazzi-made pickup. This is a very rare, wonderful and iconic instrument from the most inspired oddball Italian '60s guitar designer, Wandre Pioli, a true artist of the electric guitar.
Overall length is 44 1/4 in. (112.4 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This is a nice example of this rare and rather showstopping bass in original and generally well-preserved shape. The thin finish on the sculpted Padouk body is original and unaltered with scattered dings and scratches, mostly to the face below the string line and the back. The guitar remains all original with its hardware intact, it bears a 1/4" phone jack in place of the 5mm Geloso jack Wandre generally used for domestic product at the time but as this was an original "Export" model that may well be original.
This neck never had the plastic sheath covering, but there is no black tape up the center; if that was ever fitted it is long gone. The Wandre logo sticker on the upper body has begun to peel slightly but remains intact. All the hardware including the famous Davoli pickup, plastic barrel tuners, aluminum bridge and minimalist tailpiece with the knob and jack mounted to it are good order with some general wear. The metal has some scratching and wear in spots, particularly on the tail extension, strap buttons and dinks to the top of the headstock.
The aluminum bridge is situated slightly too far forward for perfect intonation; the twin mounting posts can be moved slightly back on the body if desired to correct this but it will leave marks in the top where they previously sat. We would only recommend this if the bass is to be seriously played. Despite its unusually configured contoured body the bass rests comfortably on the lap and balances well on a strap. Fitted with extra heavy strings to compensate for the super short scale this Rock 6 is a nice specimen of a really unique and somewhat iconic creation, a cool find for any Wandre aficionado. A modern hardshell case is included. Very Good + Condition.
