[quote name='Bassassin' post='384219' date='Jan 18 2009, 06:21 PM']The 6-bolt plate is not a 100% ID - Moridaira did use them, particularly on early instruments, but you'd need a headstock with a known Mori brand for a full ID. Morris is Moridaira's house brand, and they also built the Japanese Hohners in the late 70s and early 80s, but these confuse the issue by having either plain 4-hole plates, or MIJ-stamped 4-hole plates. It's believed the early Japanese CMIs with 6-hole plates are Moridaira - although that might just be an assumption based on the plate. Moridaira's also annoying for frequently using unbranded/unmarked components. And yes - JapCrap is all this confusing! Mostly...
A 6-hole Mori plate will (probably) say MIJ - however, the Kay Precisions like this one:
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kay-P-Bass-Precision-style-guitar-70s-vintage_W0QQitemZ180321547827"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kay-P-Bass-Precision...emZ180321547827[/url]
...have a blank 6-hole plate. These are very common, and the necks (hefty great things made of strip-ply) are probably their worst feature. These were Taiwanese in origin, don't know what timber was used for the body but they're very, very heavy.
The upshot is really that although Moridaira did use the 6-hole plate, other builders did too, & it's likely they weren't the only Jap factory to use them. Really in JapCrap you need a brand with a known provenance (like Antoria, for example) or an exact comparison with a known branded instrument to be 100% certain of ID.
J.[/quote]
Thanks for that.
Now.
Anyone like to buy it?
Geoff