Bassassin

In an ideal world, I'd have a half-cut bass.

Have you tried a squish of Servisol lubricating switch cleaner in your original pots? I've revived many an ageing & crackly potentiometer with it.

Hi @Heydayday - welcome to BC! It's important to remember the huge majority of headstock names on these instruments have nothing at all to do with the factories that made them - your bass looks like it's probably from a different manufacturer - and possibly a different country - from the Johnny Guitar in the link. Headstock names would be applied by the manufacturer if a customer requested one and provided a logo design - it looks like Johnny Guitar (& later, Johnny Pro II) were probably names owned by a European retailer or distributor (possibly German or Dutch), who would have ordered & imported batches of these instruments. If a customer didn't request a brand then headstocks would be blank and the wholesale price lower, which is why there are so many 'no name' guitars & basses from the 70s & 80s era around. Sometimes, like both unbranded basses in the first post, it's possible to work out the manufacturers from build quirks & details, but sometimes they can be annoyingly hard to ID! The DiMarzio Model J on yours is a bonus - the PAF-stickered, silver pole early examples are increasingly rare, and that bassbucker's interesting. Both Schaller & DiMarzio made similar pickups, but those both had hex pole pieces rather than the slotted ones on yours. Not sure what that is.

I was a massive fan of Stuart, BC and The Skids - when Fields Of Fire came out, & subsequently The Crossing, it coincided with me starting to take songwriting & composition seriously, and using the guitar as a writing tool. It's entirely fair to say he was my single biggest influence as a guitar player & songwriter at that point. I got the opportunity to meet him briefly in the early 90s & told him so - he seemed genuinely humble & flattered. Such a loss, it broke my heart when he took his life.

JJ Burnel, Lemmy, Geddy Lee - in that order. It worries me that I may not have progressed particularly far in the subsequent 45+ years.

Stoopidest bass-related decision I ever made, knocking that back. Bugger.

That's an SB-R60 or an SB Elite I, which are broadly identical - apart from minor neck width differences, apparently. I've only ever seen fretted TSBs in this finish - is yours definitely factory?

Holy NecroThread, Batman! And an opportune moment to mention that I have spent the last 5-odd years kicking myself for not buying that Fernandes P/P when I had what was undoubtedly the only chance of my life. And I bloody knew I would be...

Love that finish - very rare & something I've only seen on TSB550s - apart from this, which might be a refin for all I know. Not sure but that & black might be the only solid colours Aria used on through-neck body wings.

Agreed. It's the classiest BBOT I've ever seen.

It's got a nice brushed finish & a word on it. 👍

There's been a few. A detail-perfect reissue of the passive SB Elite 1 B&G that Cliff's best known for, and as well as that a sort of Elite/SB1000 mashup that had the SB active electronics, with the Elite/SB-R inlays & conventional neck proportions. Got an idea there was a more modest spec budget version as well at some point, a bit like the current SB-One. But yes - this current thing does look like it's the current SB1000, only painted black. Nice to see that that it has the period-correct bridge & knobs, even if the neck shape's all wrong!

Shame the OP didn't post any pics. However based on the description & name I wonder if it's related to the 'Bass Workshop' instrument which is the B-list star of this thread: If you can't be arsed looking - it's a £99 Korean-made through-neck Satellite cheapo from 1980, which someone's painted black & stuck a Letraset 'Custom Build' logo on the end.

Looks like a vintage-ish Fernandes P (hardware looks old) that someone has recently decided to cowboy-up with a novelty leather/pleather exoskeleton. In contrast to the metalwork the stuff on the body is unworn, the stitching's intact & looks perfectly clean, & the studs on the back are new-looking & shiny. I doubt it's been played much since it was done. I shall reserve my opinion on the aesthetic merits of the modification - and I'm sure we can agree that's for the best...

Logic suggests there should be a better tonal balance, experience (which in my case is a Yammy BB400 fretless & a Washburn SB40 P/J) doesn't really demonstrate much appreciable difference. I sold the Yam because I couldn't get the fretless tone I wanted with a P pickup. There's probably an argument for it on a 2x P, or any bass with the pickup closer to the bridge than normal, but I dunno. I quite like the look.