Bassassin

Want.

How does this sort of thing happen? Do these people get a bit of wood & blindfold themselves before they start sawing and hacking or what?

Not sure how I missed this when it was first listed. Stunning, and pretty much the rarest of the rare of the SBR range, if not SBs in general. Beautiful, and I wish I could afford it! GLWTS!

Mats have some easy to spot details - slightly translucent pickguard with control position dots, Grover copy tuners, very dark fretboard wood and a small "staple" style bridge pickup, like the OP's bass. Also helps that I've got both a Matsumoku and a Shafty myself!

In fairness, the likes of this will have zero impact on sales of Ritter originals.

Like I said, Matsumokus are easy to ID - and yours isn't one! However that's not bad news. Yours was almost certainly sold branded Shaftesbury, and these really are great basses, and aren't prone to some of the structural issues fairly common to Matsumokus. Apart from the single truss rod and the type of tuners, they're very accurate, and very well made. It's not completely clear who made these but it's probable that it was Chushin Gakki, one of the less well known names, but actually one of the biggest Japanese manufacturers during the 70s & 80s.

Seen these turn up on Ebay a couple of times & they sort of look like they were aiming for something similar to the 80s Roadster/Roadstar 2 ranges mashed up with a bit of ATK. Looks like these were around for a couple of years in the mid '00s when they weren't making ATKs, although it's hard to be sure from the few available catalogue scans. There are some in the '05 blurb: No model number on the Ebay one but it looks closest to the RD900, so a pretty high-spec version. Would think it's probably quite a lot of bass for not too much money, by the looks.

Not sure what's going on with that squared-off neck pocket route either - inclined to think neck & body aren't related. Apart from the colour, the best bit is the machined alloy volume control knob - aficionados and restorers of 60s MIJ guitars would pony up a tenner for that.

They are, aren't they? Assumed when I first saw this they'd be copies but what looks like Grover logos suggest otherwise. If this hadn't had the frets ripped out it'd be worth the asking price for the tuners & MIJ Antoria neck alone. Wish people wouldn't do that.

I expect it's a bit sh!tter than a Ritter. ...Sorry...

Couple of oldies but goodies. First edition Hohner B2A, 1984, owned from new: Cort Space B2 - bought from a BCer about 8 years ago, original black finish was badly worn so I removed it using a heat gun & was pleasantly surprised to find a satin poly sealing coat underneath. Want to pop some different pickups in at some point. And this one's a no-brand Crack Converters special I picked up because I liked the sort of Marleaux/Laurus-y styling, and it was dirt cheap. Unfortunately quite cheaply-made too, despite appearances it's not through-neck, it took a lot of work to make it play nicely and unfortunately the tuning system is over-engineered, poorly thought out and barely fit for pupose. Looks smashin' though, but sadly no use as a wall-hanger because paradoxically, it lacks a head to hang it by. So off it went. Future headless ambitions include a Riverhead Unicorn (had GAS since the 80s when I couldn't afford one), Hohner Jack (the J/J version) Westone Super Headless (when one turns up at the car boot for £30) Status S2/S2000 (see previous entry) - and probably more realistically, a conversion of a sort-of Rickenfaker I've had kicking around for years, which has one of the ugliest & most incongruous headstocks I've seen.

That's a Maton Ibis, ridiculously, insanely rare 60s era Australian-made bass- and I believe I have encountered this particular one before. A long time ago, the band my partner & I were in the process of putting together briefly used a rehearsal space in an old church turned arts centre in Craigmillar, Edinburgh. Would've been 1998/99, according to Karen, who worked just round the corner at the time & had blagged us the room. There was a band finishing up & packing away & I got chatting to the bassist, an Aussie guy, probably in his 60s, about his quite amazing looking white Maton Ibis, which he'd brought with him when he emigrated from Aus to Scotland. Having never seen one in real life either before or since, I'd imagine this is the same bass. It's a real shame the shop's clued up enough these days to know what they're selling (had a few silly bargains there in the past) or I'd be sorely, painfully tempted to give this a home.

Lovely thing & I'm quite appropriately envious. I'm faintly amazed by the fact I've never owned a Westone bass.

Depends - most of the music I've played over the years is my own composition - I find when something's been worked out, learned, rehearsed to death then gigged for a bit it's pretty much locked in. If I don't play it for a while a refresher run-through or two sorts it out, but it doesn't really go anywhere. I have the ability to pick up the parts for covers I'm fairly familiar with quickly, but I don't retain those for long if they don't get played. If I needed to play the same song again say, six months later, I'd have to pretty much start from scratch.

I think one of Peart's reactions to the NME stitch-up was to remark that they must be unique in being the only band in the world with "a Jewish Nazi bass player"! The song Red Sector A, from the Grace Under Pressure album is inspired by Lee's parents' experiences as survivors of a Nazi concentration camp.