Catanna 12-String Basses

Catanna 12-String Basses

Catanna brand 12-string basses are manufactured near the city of Shenzen in Guangdong Province, China. They appeared in early 2019. It is likely that they have been produced in several different factories. While superficially these basses are attractive, they have serious mechanical and quality flaws that demonstrate the builders are clueless about how to properly build a 12-string bass.

Catanna 12-string basses have only been seen in the Explorer body style, typically in a natural finish although painted finishes can be ordered in a variety of custom colors. The basses are short scale with 21 frets.

These 12’s can be purchased on various Chinese websites for under $400.00 US including shipping. They have also been listed on eBay for $1,200.00 from sellers in Japan.

Inexpensive generic hardware has been used. The grain pattern on the reverse of the headstock shows a variety of Asian mahogany that has been used in low quality furniture for many decades.

The basses incorporate a single truss rod.

Catanna 12-string basses are offered with a hardshell case for an additional cost.

A close-up of the bridge and tailpiece proves that the builders know nothing about 12-string basses. While an 8-saddle bridge was used, rather than the octave strings being positioned together on the same saddles, one octave string shares a saddle with the fundamental string. Also, the octave string gauges do not correspond to those found in a proper string set, in fact most are unwound steel strings and almost all are the same gauge.

The 8-hole tailpiece is attached to the body with only two screws - a disaster waiting to happen!

Nearly completed Catanna 12-string bass, shown in front of rows of counterfeit Gibson guitars.

A bassist ordered a Catanna 12-string bass in this two-tone blue burst finish from a Chinese website. It includes body binding. However…

… four weeks later, this is the bass that was actually produced. When the bassist complained about the significant color differences, he was told that the finish was a special kind of paint that would change colors as it cured, it would look exactly… — … four weeks later, this is the bass that was actually produced. When the bassist complained about the significant color differences, he was told that the finish was a special kind of paint that would change colors as it cured, it would look exactly like the sample displayed in the website description, and that this change would miraculously occur during the 3 weeks that the bass was being shipped to the buyer. The body binding was also missing. Fortunately the bassist was able to cancel the order and received a full refund.

It is possible that the factory creating these extremely low-quality basses is the same company that produces the counterfeit Musicvox MI-5 12-string basses that have been found offered for sale on several Chinese retail websites. Similar to the Catanna 12’s, most of the Musicvox counterfeits are also short scale (although long scale fakes without the Musicvox logo appeared in 2022) and have similar weirdness regarding the bridges, tailpieces, and string gauges.

The bottom line on the Catanna 12-string basses: Buyer beware!