Custom Defil Lotos 1966 rare, made in Poland, Hagstrom Kent clone, plays fine, surf city

Here we have a mid 60's (1966) Defil Lotos bass with everything in working order. The bass is a nice takeoff on a Hagstrom Kent bass style but not an exact copy. Defil basses were made in Poland during the 60's-70's and were apparently built at an accordion factory called Bydgoska Fabryka Akordeonow (Accordeon factory of Bydgosnhzcz).

The electronics include a pair of single coil pickups, two volume controls and a tone control. All of the electronics work but have a bizarre pattern, not like typical pots. You have to play around to figure out the settings (Spinal Tap would have loved this feature) . The control plate has some pitting and chrome missing. The knobs are original and are slightly out of kilter but work fine (the hats just don't line up perfectly with each other)


The neck has a very slight back bow, I haven't attempted to adjust with truss rod but I assume it works correctly. The action is medium low . The rosewood fingerboard has 21 frets, including a zero fret, the scale measures 31" from nut to bridge (short scale). The neck is pretty chunky, not overly thick but not a baseball bat, measuring 1 5/8" at the nut and 2 1/8" at the pocket. This bass has the Hagstrom lawsuit headstock with original Defil tuners with the covers missing. Apparently, Defil mounted all of their tuners upside down.

The body is in vintage shape, a few dings, some very light scratches and scuffs. There is no finish checking or buckle rash. There is a coating of clear poly on the body and neck so the bass looks fairly glossy but certainly not polished (funny...) The pick guard is a fairly perfect copy of the Hagstrom kent and gives the bass its awesomely distinct look, especially the grill. The rosewood thumb rest in place. The Lotos logo is in place on the body, as all Defil models were.

  The bridge is original and adjustable. The original chrome bridge cover missing. All chrome is with some minor pitting.


There is a appropriate period chipboard case and will be shipped well packed.


This bass is a rare piece to add to the herd, definitely not a lot of them around. This is actually the first I've seen, had to look into them as I had not heard of the brand before. But the obvious design copy of Hagstrom is hard to miss. I can't say that this is the finest bass to have as a main axe but on a mojo scale, it rates very high.