Bassassin

It's an interesting & quite layered question. I've been trying to think of a band/artist who's objectively rubbish on every level - but I don't have a single example. I can think of any number of bands who have members with no discernible ability - oddly it's usually the vocalist, and even more oddly (or is it?) you can be confident that if they didn't have that vocalist, you'd never have heard of them. As examples I give you Liam Gallagher, Axl Rose, Ian Brown - terrible, terrible nails-on-blackboard 'singers' but all absolutely central to their bands' success, despite the fact you're left thinking the only reason they got to be in their bands in the first place was because it was their van or their PA or something... I think I grew out of the 'that's rubbish because I don't like/get it' mindset by the time I hit my 20s, and while there's a lot of music across all genres that I don't like (I'm a prog fan who thinks Dream Theater are utter dogsh!t, for example) I think I can be analytical enough to appreciate (maybe not the right word) why something works, and usually how, even if I hate it.

Actually - just did what I should've done when the original thread was posted - and look: https://auctions.gardinerhoulgate.co.uk/catalogue/lot/882974bf7db6720157926c6e60ceb460/63b778f7668dabe928d3800924a99077/the-guitar-auction-four-day-sale-including-guitars-e-lot-267/ Sold for £620 (exc. fees) in March last year. So - did the buyer whip out the original Superfluxes, spend £5 on some plastic for a cover plate & then try to flip it for a profit - or are there two black fretless JB Tbirds with no logo out there, turning up within 18 months of each other?

Found a scan of an old JB catalogue from 1977. Interestingly there is a TB (page 10) but I'm not completely convinced the Gumtree fretless is the same. Body shape & control positions look a little different - although considering pics of both are pretty terrible, it's hard to be sure. http://vintage.catalogs.free.fr/johnbirch.pdf Worth a look for the plethroa of curious & downright bizarre stuff John did back then!

Gotoh GB11W might be worth a look... https://g-gotoh.com/product/gb11w/?lang=en

They are - and that daft collar comes loose all the time! The new design's something of an improvement, looks like it's got a hex screw for torque adjustment at the bottom. Speaking of which - if the screw pattern's the same it's a drop-in replacement, non-matching key notwithstanding... https://btnmusic.co.uk/products/yamaha-bass-machine-head-assy?variant=47499549311300

The original 3-screw Yammy tuners do turn up from time to time so it's worth keeping an eye open. Apropos of (probably) nothing, the same units but with cloverleaf keys were used on Tokai & various other MIJ basses in the early 80s, again, individual units & occasional full sets turn up on Ebay & Reverb sometimes.

I bought a Squier VM fretless Jazz off a BCer (sorry, can't remember who!) about 15 years or so back - there was a nice headphone practice amp/FX thingy tucked in the case - which I promptly returned to them 'cos I'm nice like that. Years ago I picked up a bargain MIJ Squier Precision (late 80s A serial) locally, came with a folding stand & an awesome wide leather padded strap. The bass went off within a fortnight for many multiples of what I paid, the strap & stand still are still here & in constant use. Bought an old 335 copy once, inside the hard case was a really odd, almost home-made looking tremolo adaptor device, designed to replace the stop-bar. Obviously the guitar's long gone but I've still got the trem thingy in a drawer somewhere. Didn't know what to do with it then, still don't...

Yeah... Not a fan, but it's set up nicely, intonates properly & they don't shift once locked down. Just as well it was only a £99 bass - makes me less likely to have a brainstorm & stick a Babicz or something on it!

Not sure if I'm gatecrashing this thread here but I've recently hauled this oddity out of the Big Pile Of Near-Forgotten Basses: It's a 2004 Aria STB-GT, which would seem to fit the hybrid bill as it's an Aerodyne-ish P shaped body with a Jazz-proportioned maple/blocks neck, plus an MM pickup in the correct position! The original pre was pretty horrid - and constantly drained the battery, so I cleverly converted it to passive with series/parallel switching, only to find it sounded worse. So I sort of gave up - which is a shame as it's a great player and (IMO) looks amazing. However, 10 or so years later it's back on the slab as we speak, having a well-deserved hose-down & about (this afternoon, hopefully) to be fitted with a shiny new Retrovive Stinger Pre!

I think the grifter seller's trying to say they've stuck a set of Seymour Duncans in it - although the other interpretation does sound like prime Ebay AI bullsh!t! If so I suppose that might raise their total outlay on this mess to about £200. Excluding the power consumed by running a belt sander for 10 minutes.

Unlike the wonky, malformed lumps and blobs that make up the majority of 'unique', 'hand-crafted', 'custom' & 'one-off' basses, it does at least seem that this is what the creator intended it to look like. Perhaps, like the work of numerous artists in a variety of other disciplines can, this artefact offers us a glimpse into the unique mind and tortured soul of a profoundly disturbed creator.

The seller doesn't point out that this absolutely catastrophic bodgefest is a Hondo with the logo removed, not an original US-made Curlee. They maybe don't know - but now you do. 👍 I know - just me being a dork!

Yeah - thinking about it a bit more, my 'shim staircase' won't work because obviously (well, to anyone but me!) it raises the bridge as well as the neck block, so the relationship between them stays the same. Duh. So the options would appear to be limited to shaving the neck block, recessing the bridge - or ripping off the fretboard & sticking a thicker one on! Unless there's a bridge out there with much lower saddles...

It would, but you create an angle by stacking layers of thin shims of different lengths, so they add height at the bridge but not where the neck exits the body.

😲 I absolutely wasn't suggesting you should do that!!! I just showed that as an example of how someone corrected a build flaw in a through-neck bass, where there wasn't an alternative fix, short of prising off the whole fretboard & replacing it with a thicker one! You have other alternatives available - it occurs to me you could shim the length of the 'through' neck with a series of graduating thin shims, layered like steps, so they add height at the bridge end but not the heel end - I did something similar to a guitar with a fairly long heel, using layers of thin plastic card. If someone else already suggested this, just ignore me. I really should go to bed...