Bassassin

What a gorgeous, unique bass!

I think these are gorgeous, utterly unique-looking basses, and am faintly disturbed by the fact that, having spent so little during lockdown, I could probably afford to buy the Edinburgh one (I expect it's still there) without losing too much sleep. No. Not a collector, and I'm surrounded already by basses I don't have occasion to play. And besides, I want a red one now...

You lot are rubbish at this detectivising, ain't you? About 5 mins Google image searching led me to these three close relatives: https://www.catawiki.com/l/33602959-silent-traveller-basgitaar-sandelwood-silent-bas-travel-bass-guitar https://www.catawiki.com/l/36392703-silent-traveller-basgitaar-sandelwood-silent-bas-travel-bass-guitar https://reverb.com/item/31935151-cherrystone-silent-traveller-4-string-electric-bass-black#full None of them identical, either to each other or to @Woodinblack's example, but all of them clearly related & variations on the same design. Examining the pics supports my hunch that these are the finest of weirdo Chinese oddities, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if a deep dig through the deepest abysses of AliExpress unearthed similar things. Although possibly with acrylic LED illuminated bodies, so they can see in the stygian dark down there.

Link's going to some boring red Precision. That's weird.

Bear in mind the existing tuners are torque-adjustable - if they're slipping, the collar under the key can be tightened to prevent this.

Thanks for the pics, the tuners & MIJ neckplate suggest it's from the same place as the basses in the other thread. I don't think these basses were made by Fujigen. There are several reasons but primarily it's because of the neckplate style - Fgn did use these plates up to the end of 1975, which is probably why many people assume they're the manufacturer. However at that point they introduced a serial system, which appears to be factory-specific rather than customer related, in that it appears on Fgn products with a variety of different brands. These basses, and many of the related instruments, are indisputably late 70s/early 80s, and there's documented evidence of that for many of them. So, no s/n means they're not Fujigen. The same neckplates appear on instruments from other factories (Kasuga Gakki & Moridaira both used them occasionally) which pretty much establishes they're a generic part from a 3rd party hardware manufacturer. Would I be right if I guessed the bridge is chrome steel, but has brass saddles?

No, certainly not the same, but shares common features which are unusual, and IMO points to the same manufacturer. If you read through the thread - and my posts in particular - I talk about the 3-screw tuners, the brands/models they appear on, and the variations that exist. Also gives (I hope) a bit of an overview of what's established, what's assumed and what's still a mystery at this particular stage of the ongoing research into the 60s-80s Japanese guitar boom. Sorry if what I said was misleading! Could you post some pics of your bass to confirm whether it's from this era? Later basses won't have identifiers like the 3-screw tuners or lower-half MIJ stamped neckplate.

They are - bought a pair for a project SB Elite B&G and they're spot-on, indistinguishable from the real things. They are plastic (early originals are metal, later ones plastic) but they are excellent reproductions.

They're not really common enough for me to have anything specific to contribute - tbh I don't know if it's even 100% confirmed that they are MIJ! However there are often a few tells with MIJ stuff which can sometimes give pointers to date & factory of origin. Clear pics of hardware & any serials or other numbers on headstock/neckplate. Pickups & electronics might give a clue or two. No guarantees but it'd be interesting to get a look at this stuff. Update - just did a bit of random Googling and found an MIJ-stamped Profile P & a Strat. This is both enlightening and a bit frustrating, because the features would make them part of a mystery which is being investigated here: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/435147-does-anybody-know-what-bass-this-is/ If the Profile has the same plate & tuners, I'm confident it's from the same source.

Same seller has this curiosity in their sold listings: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-build-passive-bass-guitar-rickenbacker-pickups-/164246352773 In the event those were genuine Rick HiGains stuck in there, those would cover 2/3 of the asking price. Apropos of whatever, I'm really tempted by that fan-fret, it looks stunning.

My Cimar's an XR series 2065, according to this 1979-ish catalogue: I've only ever seen a couple of others, they do seem pretty scarce. Mine's ever-so-slightly modded by necessity - when I got it, it had been sprayed black & fitted with a white P-bass pickguard. Replaced the guard with a tort to make it closer to original, but if you look closely you can see the stock guard's a slightly different shape with sharper corner angles. Wired mine V/T V/T with stacked pots, as I really don't like selector switches on basses where there's no way of blending pickups. Never saw it as being too similar to the Yam BBs, just struck me as an attempt to get away a bit from the identikit Fender shape - a bit like the Ibanez Blazer, to which these are related. It's also slightly offset, which isn't obvious from my pic, so it's somewhere mid-morph between a P & a J. There's an interesting page from a Geman site about Cimar basses, some good pics comparing the changes & evolutions in design. I've taken the liberty of linking through Google translate, which occasionally leads to the creation of some bizarre new idioms: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guitar-letter.de%2FKnowledge%2FHistory%2FDieGeschichteDesJazzBassBeiCimar.htm Some interesting comparisons with the parallel Ibanez models too, although he curiously omits to mention the Cimar Stinger/Ibanez Blazer paradox - wherein both instruments are exactly the same: I've actually got one of these Mk1 Blazers in bits, body needs a refin. Will do it one day...

Definitely - the more shoulders to the wheel the better! Parts are a can of worms, fortunately for the moment it's a pretty small can, I think for the 70s/80s era stuff we can point to maybe 3 manufacturers & that's it. Top of the heap is Gotoh, because they're still around & still manufacture a lot of the same stuff, they're fairly easy to ID. Chushin was known as a hardware manufacturer before they were recognised as the large-scale manufacturer they were, mostly because bridges on some MIJ Washburn basses have a big Chushin logo underneath. That was, of course before it was appreciated they actually made the whole thing - which of course gives rise to speculation that the parts were made for them, not by them. Third is Shinetsu Byora, apparently still trading although I can't find anything beyond fairly vague business lists for Nagano prefecture. I'd say it's probable, since the Japanese guitar industry these days is small & largely high-end, that if they are still around, they're more likely to manufacture general metal hardware rather than specific musical instrument parts. Like I said, can of worms - if you can find any other parts manufacturers, then I'm sure legendary status within the MIJ community awaits! Just had a thought since this thread's gone off on various tangents, should I start a general "Who made my MIJ bass?" thread? Might be fun. Or start a fight. Or both...

That's a mess. £100 off or GTFO.

This is my favourite non-Jazz Jazz derivative. A touch marmite, possibly. If you're new to these, Yamaha SBV500 from about 2000, a reissue of the '60s SB "Flying Samurai" basses. Sounds like a Jazz on steroids, neck has J proportions and it balances a lot better than you'd expect on the strap. Not exactly for the shy & retiring though.

Ran out of paint & had to resort to chalk for the stripe. Happens to everyone.