S.D. Curlee

S.D. Curlee was a guitar manufacturer back in the late seventies and early eighties. They went out of business twenty-some years ago, but for a while their electric basses were popular, much more so than their guitars. They were especially popular in Belgium during the late seventies and early eighties because of the poor products then coming from Fender.

The Curlee basses featured a unique blend of neck through body design and had a bolt-on neck, which was anchored in the body with a heavy brass plate.

All of the bass models shared the same basic, almost symmetrical shape, and were available in a fretless version. These were the various models:

• 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, maple stripes)
• Summit (body and neck made of laminated walnut)

The Yankee line with active electronics and a slightly more modern shape was released in the early eighties.

Considered by some to be the poor man's Fender, you can occasionally find one on eBay for about US$200.

External links

• Sections were borrowed liberally from GuitarSite.com
• eBay