Val-Pro 85 Vintage Bass Guitar
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A vintage bass guitar can come in some unusual shapes and sizes and so it was for the Val-Pro 85.
Some Brief Valco/National History
The National String Instrument Corporation was established in 1926 by George Beauchamp and John Dopyera. Its primary business was producing guitars and they became the first company to make a resonator guitar which became very popular in blues as well as bluegrass music.
A few years later Dopyera left National and formed Dobro with his brothers. They also began producing resonator guitars along with electric guitars, mandolins and amplifiers. By 1935 the two companies had merged to form the National Dobro Corporation.
In 1942 they reorganized and became known as Valco and made instruments, amplifiers as well as accessories. They merged with the Kay Music Instrument Company in 1967 but would go bankrupt in 1968.
The Val-Pro 85
During 1961, Valco/National launched a brand new guitar line manufactured from synthetic “Reso-O-Glas.” This was a combination of a polyester resin and Fiberglass and allowed them to quickly and cheaply mass-produce some unusual molded designs.
In the same year, they released a bass model called the Val-Pro 85. It was also referred to as the “map bass” because the body was thought by some to resemble the map of the United States. Within two years, the treble cutaway ended up being altered to curve downwards and it was renamed the National 85.
1962 Val-Pro 85
1963 National 85
The photo of the 1962 Val-Pro 85 vintage bass guitar might give you the impression that it’s just a toy, yet it has sufficient heft to set your mind straight once you lift it. The large body of this vintage bass rather masks the fact that the scale length is only 25.” The odd paddle-shaped headstock has large Gibson-style tuners while the trapeze bridge features a wonderful slice of art-deco flair.
The thumb and finger rests illustrate the newness with the electric bass guitar during the time, as some individuals performed using their thumb and utilized the lower finger rest, while other people made use of the top rest and performed fingerstyle. Obviously, slapping and popping weren’t yet being taken into consideration.
The two-pickup styling included a magnetic single-coil pickup with a second pickup constructed on the bridge itself. The basic volume and tone controls are positioned backwards from typical convention. But by turning down the tone knob a little it emphasized the magnetic pickup but when you turned it up then the high-end of the bridge pickup came through.
Irrespective of its dimension, this bass had great tone plus the really short scale made it a lot of fun to play. With its flatwound strings and way-out plunky tone this vintage bass guitar would seem ideal for blues, R&B and just about any type of roots music.
Collectibility
Personally I think this vintage bass guitar is a real beauty even if I don’t see the map of the U.S. Unfortunately, it never sold very well and was discontinued after 1965, probably because of its very short scale length.
The 1961-1962 models came in white with later models featuring sort of a cream colored finish (they called it ermine). If you can find one today in excellent condition, it would run you about $1,200.
Sometimes good things can be found in small packages and the Val-Pro 85 vintage bass guitar was certainly one of them.
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