Bassassin

Might be worth PMing the OP in the hope they've got notifications turned on - they've only posted once + a status update. Btw that's a bargain at £250, even not entirely original. Apropos of nowt, IMO wiring it passive with 2x V & T (ie making it an RS824) is actually an improvement - I prefer mine passive, and wish it had a facility to blend the pickups!

That is definitely a defretted RS924, and the OP should absolutely get it refretted. These are extraordinarily good basses (if a bit of a boat anchor!) and increasingly rare - as I implied in my earlier post, you're not realistically going to pick up a replacement neck for it anywhere on Planet Earth - they're getting on 45 years old & were only made for a couple of years before the Roadstar IIs were introduced. I own one of these, old MIJ basses are sort of my thing, and I know of what I speak. And if I'm wrong, please point me in the direction of a replacement blueburst neck for my irreparably twisted 1984 Aria RSB Deluxe II - cheers! RS924s are also worth a bob or two in an increasingly collector-oriented market - as it's not factory fretless, returning this to standard would potentially improve its potential resale value.

That "small tour" (with a session drummer) is currently standing at 56 dates and I'll be surprised if there aren't more. Given the short timescale from the initial announcement of 11 gigs, for an event of this scale all of those additional dates & venues must have at least been reserved in advance. So those 'unhappy' fans are clearly willing to bend over & accept the sphincter-ruining ticket prices, however much they may complain, and the band/management would have had a pretty shrewd idea that's exactly what would happen. I'd be very, very surprised if the band weren't well aware of, and getting a pre-agreed percentage of the outrageous prices - I don't think any of the tickets & packages are a consequence of dynamic pricing - that's just what they cost. I first saw Rush in 1981 and I'm quite saddened that even going back that far, I never saw them in a venue smaller than the colossal, soulless, acoustically disastrous sheds that 'big' artists tend to play. I detest these venues with a passion & at this point I don't think there's any band I'd be willing to pay 3 figures to 'see' (through some f*ckwit's phone screen waving in front of my face) in one. And that includes 2/3 of Rush!

Finally - a new bass I can (almost) justify buying! I've been shortscale-curious for years but so far nothing's been pink enough well specced & affordable enough for me to justify it. In the wildly unlikely event that the UK market gets anything other than the drab green one, I'm in. 😎

Regrettably a lot of people appear to be. You'd think musicians, who you'd expect have devoted a lot of time, effort & dedication to learning & refining their craft, might be skeptical about music 'created' in seconds from a handful of lines of text, whether it's supposedly 'original' or intended as some sort of jokey pisstake. Maybe not being content, even eager to embrace my own obsolescence means I have finally succumbed to old-fartdom. I dunno.

AI slop, then. I'm curious but don't feel I want to encourage it.

Hark! Is that the echo of the sounds of salesmen?

Yes I do. It's not something I feel there's any ambiguity about - I play musical instruments to create music that would not exist if I had not created it. It's not for me to judge whether or not the music I make has any 'artistic value' - but I like it; since I first started dabbling in composition many thousands of years ago, I've always been motivated to try & make music I'd want to buy or go & see if I heard it. I didn't start out with any ambitions to be a composer/songwriter - I just wanted to play in a band because I loved music, and wanted to make the sort of noise my favourite bassists made! I doubt I'd still be playing at all if I'd never got beyond just playing other bassists' lines, though.

I never said it still fits me...

Hah - still got mine, somewhere... That's an objectively awful design.

I think 1980 Rush would be shocked - possibly even horrified - that the band still existed in any form, 45 years on. I've mentioned I've followed them for a while. I distinctly remember reading an interview with Geddy - I think it would've been in 1984, the band's 10th anniversary and the release of Grace Under Pressure, their 10th studio album - discussing the future of the band. Of course, a band with a 10 year career was fairly unusual back then, and they already had a huge back catalogue & had been through several musical metamorphoses. Discussing what he thought the future held Geddy said Rush was "nearer to the end than the beginning", and that when it came it "would be a beautiful day". I wonder if he remembers giving that interview?

I'd like to hope QC has improved in the post-Big John era. There's been progress - they seem to have finally managed to drag themselves in to the mid-late 20th century with truss rods & intonation adjustment, after all!

Quite. Wonder what 1979/80 Rush would make of 2025 'Rush'? 🙁

I would think any full-scale 24-fret neck with (what I assume is) standard Fender heel shape/dimensions could be made to fit. Unless you can find a random 80s Ibby neck with the correct proportions (which is wildly unlikely) you'll have to improvise/do some modding, or at least shimming to make it work. Is the original neck definitely unsalvageable? And do change the thread title!

Lob a set of these in. 😎

That'll be me! Cool little thing - have wanted one since a much younger & poorer version of me saw one in the old Wapping Bass Centre back in 1980-something. Its future may hold a refinish - the black's not original anyway, and I always fancied a pink one... I'm also vaguely curious to find out if the wood/build's like this under the paint. But I bet it's not. I have read a bit (old MIJ basses/guitars are sort of my thing) about the background of Headway/Riverhead & it's likely the info on the current Headway/Deviser website is a pretty reliable overview. https://www.deviser.co.jp/en/headway/about/history Prog nerd factoid - Fairport Convention/Tull bassist Dave Pegg played one of these, & liked it so much he named a bass instrumental piece after it. And presumbaly it's the bass he's playing here: https://youtu.be/iC_GmZzfq8M?si=lowA6MZInIv5wWKm

There was someone on the Rickenfakers FB group a while back who got a Chinese builder to make them a one-off Kip Winger Spectorbacker copy. I think they mentioned that it was subsequently available as a 'standard' model! I'm strangely OK with the gold bling!

Much as I didn't want to think this was a cynical, last-ditch cash grab, the screen grabs I've seen of prices for some of the different 'packages' tickets are being flogged in, with prices going into the multiple thousands, do lead me to the uncomfortable conclusion that my once-favourite band whose principles as artists I once admired, are quite happy to gouge like there's no tomorrow.

Probably not all of them! I do know Aria's MB range of pickups used in the SB, RSB, TSB etc basses did include P-style coils in a soapbar case. Some even had exposed poles.

That may well be the single w@nkiest thing I've ever seen, musical or otherwise.

Apropos of nowt, there's a very early live bootleg (I think Peart's second or third gig with them) where they jam bits of what became By-Tor in the instrumental bit of Working Man. 😎

Hi Dazzer, welcome to BC! If the serial's a little silver sticker, unfortunately there's no known way of dating them, as I mentioned upthread. There is a pattern, but cleverer minds than me haven't worked it out yet! Best guess is late 70s/early 80s, as it seems Moridaira carried on making copy guitars fro a few years after most Japanese manufacturers stopped. Hohner production went to Cort in Korea around '82 so it's unlikely to be later than that. Post some pics if you can, always good to get a look.

Yeah - that's kind of my hope/fear! Fear in that I won't buy a ticket if they announce any UK/EU shows, because of the greatest hits/nostalgia thing - then they'll go "by the way, we recorded these ten new songs we'll be playing for the first - and very last - time on this last-ever tour!"

Likewise. Upper bout looks like a huge, pointless expanse of unnecessary bulk. Looks like it could be shaped into something with a bit of coherence but that ain't it.

Fair enough. On a quick count, I saw them 14 times between 1981 & 2013, and I think I'm fine with all those memories. Doesn't mean I can't be a tiny bit disappointed by the way the band which I have to acknowledge has been my single biggest musical influence has decided to bow out. Assuming that's what they are doing - if they were to announce some new music alongside these gigs I'd feel quite differently, I think.