Custom Elger - Rare 1960s MIJ Gibson EB Copy - True Lawsuit

This is a late 60's Made in Japan Gibson EB-3 copy, electric 4 string bass.  These Were made in Japan by Hoshino Gakki (which would become the Ibanez company in the 70s), imported by Harry Rosenbloom and sold from Medley Music in Ardmore Pennsylvania.  As far as I can tell, Gibson only actually filed one lawsuit against a Japanese manufacturer for copying their headstock design, and it was filed against the Hoshino Gakki company.  Japanese guitars and basses of this period were typically very well made copies of American instruments.  

I've lived within 30 minutes of Ardmore PA my whole life, so I'm very familiar with Medley Music.  It closed up about about 8 years ago.  But I've only seen a handful of Elger guitars of this vintage online, and this particular model is extremely rare.   A Gibson EB-3 short scale copy, with 2 pickups.  Here is the scoop:
I had this instrument professionally setup a few years ago to get the intonation right and clean the electronics.  So the pickups, knobs and jack all work with no issues, and no crackle.It has volume and tone knobs for both pickups and a three way selector switch.  Bridge pickup, neck pickup or both.
One of the 2 volume knobs is not original, but is a vintage knob that was the closest I could find to the original ones.The plastic back plate that covers the electronics is not original.  A guitar tech custom cut it for me.  It's 'B' quality.  It does the job, but it's not a completely snug fit.  It doesn't move, it's not loose, and it does the job just fine.Action is good, I'd call it medium height. There are relatively new half round strings on it.There is a truss rod, and it may need to be adjusted again to get the intonation back to perfect.  The strings are a little sharp at the 12th fret.  The finish is really nice, although chipped and dinged as you'd expect from an instrument nearing it's 50th birthday.  It's a nice dark red that shows the grain of the wood beneath.Tuning pegs work fine.It had a string cover at one point, but I've never seen it.  You can see the screw holes where it once sat in the pics.  Someone in 1970's took that thing off and probably threw it in the back of a Volkswagen bus never to be seen again.It's got a cool vintage tone you're not likely to hear on many other basses in your collection.  It's a unique, extremely playable rare vintage short scale bass made in Japan.  And it looks cool.  
Shipping will be exercised with extreme care, so it won't be really cheap.  I hate to hand off instruments to our good friends at UPS unless they are secured firmly.  I won't ship this bass in flimsy packaging.  Local pickup is available as well.

Product Specs

Condition:Good Make:Elger Model:Gibson EB-3 Copy Finish:Dark Red Year:Late 1960s Made In:Japan