The 1490 bass
began life as a Silvertone-branded
machine, and ended its career with the famous stylized 'Space Dot' logo tag by
the end of its 5 year run. Sharing the bottom end duties with the MIJ 'Beatle
Bass,' the 1490 had the more traditional look that the Fender 'P' and 'J'
model basses had
popularized.
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The 1490 bass was a solid monster of a Fender-type
clone, imported to us as part of the late-60s Japanese
'invasion.' As the Dano era came to a close, the Made In Japan era began
in earnest with a crop of MIJ axes in the fall of '68.The 1490 sported a beefy look, giant pickups and a
cool multi-part pickguard. Interestingly, the catalog descrips also list a
'damper.' Like the 'Country Gentleman' 1475, looks like this one came
from the Matsumoku factory.
Introduced:
Fall/Winter
1968
as the 57H1490L
at $77.95 (case included initially; case optional in 1970)
Retired (last sighted, anyway):
1972
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