Musky

[quote name='Rowley Birkin QC' timestamp='1337208689' post='1657301'] Th OP asked a fair question and wanted a considered opinion......did he get it? [/quote] Yes.

It looks fine, but if he's thinning out his stupidly large 70's Precision collection (presumably including this one's twin in the background) why is he selling his very first bass? I might be way off beam here, but I might have thought if it was any good he might have liked to keep it. Probably worth asking about the weight, action, etc.

[quote name='Balcro' timestamp='1337250488' post='1657719'] Errr..Calling electrical experts. There maybe another minor difference between the Promethean and the RS/HB clones. Have a look at Musky's translation link on Page 1 and Wateroftyne's pics on P.6. Look at bottom right of pictures. The TDK magnetic ring (for EU, US, FCC UL certification etc) seems to be missing on the clones. I wouldn't think that's an expensive part but isn't it something to do with interference? Can it be retro-fitted? Can anyone confirm, elaborate or both? Balcro [/quote] Very easy and cheap to retro fit. http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=ferrite+clamp&_frs=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m359

[quote name='TheButler' timestamp='1337204232' post='1657232'] I think it'd cost more to produce the amps with different stuff? Like, the cost of setting up another production line as it were, to utilise components that don't seem to be significantly cost saving? Fair enough regards a branded neutrik. It seems weird that they'd install a different pre-amp to cut costs, when in component terms there would surely only be pennies in it - pennies that they don't mind spending on extra pots? I dunno, all naive conjecture. [/quote] Yeah, I think you're probably right. I was just comparing the photos and noticed the 'methean seems to have four rods to support the casing a bit, another thing missing from the HB. There certainly seems to be a bit more thought that's gone into the Ibanez, but how far that extends and exactly how much difference it'll make is still anyone's guess. Part numbers on the transformers are the same though.

I'm not sure if the RS/HB pre is actually a different design, just that it's got a few extra controls on it. The specs for the Promethean and HB are the same for the controls they have in common. I'm not sure how the extra controls might affect reliability, but I've never heard that extra knobs and switches can make anything [i]more[/i] reliable. Looking at the gut shots, the Promethean seems to have the same ferrite ring and Neutrik as shown on the Beta Aivin blog, both of which are missing on the RS and HB. Everything else appears to be the same (just going off the photos) but who knows what the quality or tolerances of all the components may be?

Precisions from that sort of period tend to go for around £1100-ish, but it's all very dependent on condition and originality. Got any decent pics? You'll have to get a screwdriver out to determine the originality of the electronics.

I've had it since I was 12 - at least. Perhaps it was always there as I'd never noticed it start, although I suspect it may have been due to suffering from glue ear as a child and having grommets inserted (twice). I just watched the old Nationwide programme (anyone remember that?) and they had a short piece on it. I just thought to myself "My ears ring like that", and forgot all about it. It's just permanently dialled out - unless someone starts a conversation about tinnitus. You don't need to be exposed to high noise levels to get it, as even moderate amounts of noise for long enough periods can damage your hearing and the effects are cumulative. I've clocked a fair old mileage riding motorbikes, and the killer isn't so much engine noise or exhaust noise but the wind noise, especially at high speeds.

I'd be very surprised if a '78 Fender had an alder body. As Jezzaboy says there's no need for a skunk stripe on a rosewood neck, but they do exist. Curiously they share a neck code with the maple fingerboard versions.

[quote name='njr911' timestamp='1337032286' post='1654505'] Thanks. Interesting stuff. Budget would be less than 500 ideally. For rock covers.. Maybe the ashdown would be a good choice. [/quote] Seems like a decent price for the Ashdown, a MAG presumably? If it's an ABM I'd snap it up. It would leave you plenty of cash left over for a decent cab (or two).

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1336977927' post='1653318'] I wonder why he changed his user ID? [/quote] He's had that one for quite a while, but usually uses it to sell parts rather than complete instruments. He's got another user ID as well though I can't for the life of me remember what it was. [quote]I have a 76 Jazz with 3 bolt neck and the same size logo. Mine is also Mocha but looks different. His one looks like its been brought back to natural and then stained.[/quote] Yours is Walnut - it even says so in your sig! Mocha is a considerable darker brown and didn't appear in Fender colour charts until the eighties.

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1337016777' post='1654097'] [color=#333333][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=1][b]eBay have at some stage changed the way it works, just found this;[/b][/size][/font][/color] [color=#333333][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=1][b]Example[/b][/size][/font][/color][list] [*] The current bid for an item is £10.00. Neil is the high bidder, and has placed a maximum bid of £12.00 on the item. His maximum bid is kept confidential from other members. [*] Loraine views the item and places a maximum bid of £15.00. Loraine becomes the high bidder. [*] Neil’s bid is incremented to his maximum of £12.00. Loraine's bid is now £12.50. [*] We send Neil an email that he has been outbid. If he doesn’t raise his maximum bid, Loraine wins the item. [/list] [b] The small print[/b] [color=#333333][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=1]In reserve price auctions, if your maximum bid is at least the reserve price, we’ll automatically increase your bid to meet the reserve, and bidding will continue from there.[/size][/font][/color] [/quote] They must have gone back to the old way of meeting the reserve then - that's certainly the way it used to be done.

Re the impedance switching thing, for SS amps it's pretty much a waste of time. They generally have a minimum load which is usually 4 ohms but sometimes 2 ohms. That pretty much covers most people's needs. Orange are the oddball here, in that the Bass Terror puts out 500w into either 4 or 8 ohms. Valve amps are a bit different in that the output impedance needs to be matched to the cabinet's impedance so they'll almost always have a switch - and although you cite the Bassman, the old ones actually only operated at 4 ohms! The Epi uses a dual coil to switch impedance (there was definitely a thread here somewhere on this!) and quite frankly had more drawbacks than advantages - hence why nobody else takes this approach!

[quote name='Gunsfreddy2003' timestamp='1336945259' post='1653165'] Saw this today and alarm bells rang straight away - lots not quite right with it. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261023097792&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123"]http://cgi.ebay.co.u...ME:B:SS:GB:1123[/url] Should someone tell him? [/quote] Given that he's the 'gnomes in the attic' feller, I wouldn't bother. Unless you fancy hearing about the price of his house and cars.

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1336862766' post='1652172'] Aargh back from the pub lets get this topic rocking again. I once put a fender logo on a banjo! Now what have ya go to say about that. [/quote] Fender might have beaten you to it.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1336842028' post='1651852'] It would take nothing for one of them to join up and no way of checking I suppose. [/quote] That's true, but other 'faker auctions that have been posted up here since JH contacted the site have run to finish, which suggests that at that point in time no one from RIC was checking this thread. Though that's not to say they haven't joined up more recently. We'll just have to see if other less obvious auctions run to completion.

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1336823468' post='1651555'] So Fender use the Squier name to differentiate between the different price points. So where is the problem of labeling something a Fender Squier? [/quote] For me, there's no problem (other than the relatively minor one that people might think Squier is the same as Fender and pay accordingly. ) That's exactly what the guy on Ebay is doing, just like many others on Ebay do and just as FMIC do - increasing the chance of a sale with a higher price. That's what marketing is all about. The issue that some have with removing the Squier decal is not so much with the seller or his description (which is pretty much faultless), but the distinct possibility that some of these will end up on the market at a later date as Fenders without any reference to Squier. I'm not sure there's much we could (or should) do about that, other than educate people on what to look out for.

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1336821343' post='1651503'] So Fenders aren't fenders they are FMIC which is [b] Fender[/b] Musical Instruments Corporation Anyway. [/quote] Yes, FMIC has the word Fender in the name. Had they not, and used a completely different company name (like CBS ) they'd probably still use Fender as a trading name. But Fender and Squier would still remain different brands. As would SWR, DeArmond, Guild and all the other brands now owned by that company. They could always rebrand Squiers as Fender, and then there would be no confusion - just different Fender models at different price points. Only the marketing bods have decided that they want some brand differentiation for those differing prices. The problem for FMIC is that Mr. & Mrs. Blogs buying a guitar for their first born might well have never heard of Squier, and quite honestly it looks exactly the same as many other cheap guitars on the same wall. So the same marketing bods put 'by Fender' on the headstock as well. "Oh look", say Mr. & Mrs. Blogs, "It's made by Fender. Jimi Hendrix used one of those - it must be good." Sale made. Job done. It is indeed all about money.

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1336819992' post='1651476'] And Squier is a Fender brand ... so Squiers have Fender on the headstock and if it's on the headstock does that not make them Fenders? [/quote] No, Squier is an FMIC brand. Squiers do have the word Fender on the headstock but Fender no longer exists as a company, only as a brand. So as I said earlier, it would be more accurate for the headstocks to say 'Squier by FMIC'. Only most people wouldn't have a clue who or what FMIC is, whereas 'Fender' is probably the higest profile brand of instruments in the world. So they create an association in people's minds by putting the words 'by Fender' rather than 'by FMIC' on the headstock.

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1336815335' post='1651378'] So basically what you are saying is anything made outside Mexico or California is not a Fender So can we say then that seeing as Gibson, American and Mex Fender, Hofner, Some Dingwalls and Rickenbacker come out of their own factories that the rest are not what they say on the tin? By that theory a Washburn should be sold as East western Guitar Co. Limited or something. My two Deans aren't Deans they are Samick. Squiers aren't even Squiers . But then Some Fenders are reportedly being made in the same factories as Squiers. But these aren't Fenders nor are they Squiers. So if we list them on Ebay what the heck do we list them as? But then what way does that leave Epiphone. They come from the Epiphone factory mostly these days. But then they are owned by Gibson but then so is epiphone. So are Epiphones Epiphone because they come out of the Epiphone factory or are they Gibsons because the factory is owned by Gibson. If that doesn't hurt the head and blur the lines even further nothing will [/quote] No,what I'm saying is that if it says Squier on the headstock it's a Squier - unless it was from the short lived first run of export Squiers. I probably shouoldn't have mentioned the factory thing, as it just confuses matters. I was just saying that, as you've rightly mentioned, both Squiers and Fenders have come off the same production lines. Some have come from a non FMIC owned company (FujiGen) and some have come from a factory that is owned by FMIC (Ensenada), but the ownership of the factory makes no difference. The only difference that matters is the brand on the headstock.

Possibly, although the seller didn't do himself any favours by putting both the R word and 'copy' in the auction title.

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1336773274' post='1651025'] Oh, and for the record, the first 'Squier' guitars, were branded as 'Fender-Squier Series' instruments in April 1982, not 'Squier by Fender', that came much later. [/quote] This is very true, and something that had occurred to me. It was a situation that only lasted a few months though. By then Fender realised the need for product differentiation, and both Fender and Squier became two separate brands owned by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Fender don't make Squier just as they don't make Fender - FMIC make both brands. That is rather the point of brands: they're just names on the headstock, divorced from whatever company that happens to own that brand at the time. Jon (Bassassin) was rather fond of pointing out that the various instruments emanating from the larger Japanese manufacturers were often branded up with a huge variety of names on the headstock, and that despite the fact that these were identical instruments pouring off the very same production line, the only thing that made it an Ibanez, Greco. Lyle, or whatever was that brand sitting on the headstock. Exactly the same with Fender/Squier. AFAIK, FMIC own both the Corona and Ensenada plants - any thing produced there under the Fender brand is a Fender.* FMIC also license out rights to Fender Japan, which is not an FMIC company. They also make Fenders, because they've purchased the rights to put 'Fender' on the headstock. I've no idea about who produces Squiers elsewhere in Asia, but it's a fair bet that FMIC doesn't own the production facilities. These facilities don't produce Fenders instruments because these instruments [i]don't say Fender on the headstock, [/i]and not because the factory making them isn't owned by FMIC. Basically we're talking brands here. The only thing that makes that brand is the decision by the owner (in this case FMIC) to use a certain lettering on the headstock. Fenders are Fenders. Squiers are Squiers. Unless they are Fender Squiers. Amen. *Ensenada has also in the past made Squiers - these are not Fenders [i]because they don't say Fender on the headstock[/i].

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1336694684' post='1649774'] Title edited for accuracy What's it like to play, if I may ask? [/quote] It plays quite strangely really. The neck feels like the thinnest I've ever played, but actually measures 40mm at the nut. When you pick it up the E string side of the neck feels quite flat-ish - if it was a more upmarket manufacturer you'd probably say it was an 'asymetrical' neck . Having said that, it's actually really comfortable to play with a nice action. It was tuned to fifths, 120 - 30 strings when I bought it and it handled that without any problems - I actually left it like that for a while. Biggest bugbear for me is the fact that the bridge is positioned closer to the pickups than you'd usually expect on a bass - it's more like a guitar in that respect. As a result the bass is the size you'd expect on a full scale bass, despite it being short scale, so the neck is moved to the left. I found it a bit tricky hitting the right notes when changing position, something you get used to but it has put me off using it live. Probably should spend some more practice time with it. Ed Friedland has had one of these for years - he calls it the Fabulous Egmond!

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1336686617' post='1649659'] Surely you mean 'hair splitting'. [/quote]

I'm probably just splitting hairs.

Yep, the wattage thing has been done to death and I think even the naysayers thought they were loud. I just thought it strange that the RH750 produces the same wattage at 4 and 8 ohms. I know the Bass Terror does the same, but that has a switch. Presumably the TC does the same thing but automatically adjusts for impedance???