Bassassin

Hey Steve, that mystery was solved upthread. The bass is a 70s Japanese copy, made by a factory called Chushin Gakki, and it pre-dates both the Chinese guitar industry & the advent of high-quality Korean-made instruments. Here's the translation:

Thanks - it will. It'll take about 4 months to work it out, though...

I look at the pics every month in the hope of inspiration, but... My creative process (if you can call it that) is incredibly unspontaneous, slow & laborious, ideas can take months to develop & just as long to record satisfactorily. It's very rare that any composition is 5 minutes or less, and although I dislike them, can't play them & obviously have never used them - unfortunately I can't guarantee no bagpipes. So maybe next month...

Three connected songs currently in progress, in varying stages of completion/disrepair. Today, we are mostly trying to work out what the hell the guitar's meant to be doing during the verses of Song #2, which may or may not be called Hourglass, or Seventh Season, or something we've not yet thought of. I will be consulting the Parasaurolophus Of Prog (currently working out a synth line for the instrumental intro) for advice but I'm pretty sure he'll tell me it's going to need a guide vocal before everything falls into place. Which is tricky as Lovely Singer has a horrid cold and is croaking more than talking. Never mind singing. The real mess is, as ever, in my head.

This is sort of my specialist nerd subject. Basically, it's quite a collectable bass - Japanese instruments from the 70s & 80s are sought after, yours dates from between 1984 & 1987 and was made by one of Japan's most respeted factories, Fujigen Gakki. Despite Squier being a budget brand, it's a very high quality bass. The fact you've had it since '95 and haven't played it means it's almost certainly in original condition & that's important in vintage instruments - it's 40-ish years old so that's what the market considers it to be. Condition looks pretty good, with a few cosmetic knocks & chips, and it probably doesn't have a great deal of play wear. I did a search to see if I could find any examples for sale or sold - there weren't many but what was interesting was that those that did appear (a couple were in Japan) seemed to be 32" scale. That's not a standard scale length for a Precision bass, which is typically a standard 34" scale. The scale length is the open-string distance between the fixed points (bridge & nut) at either end - it would be useful to know which yours is, as a 32" is uncommon & may make it more interesting to purchasers. Do bear in mind that if you hang around here, you may end up remembering just how cool the bass is as an instrument, & decide to start playing again. If you do - that's a pretty damn good bass you've got there. Might be a shame to flog it. 😎

Cool - that's why I didn't speculate about value.

Weird. There was a thread in Bass Guitars about this (which I assume was posted by the seller), looking for info & advice about the bass. I do know a little about MIJ Squiers so I contributed, but the thread seems to have vanished now. Hope the seller didn't accept £43 for it...

Bands that make me question why I ever thought I could write music No. 537548684748t57475 (not really) Lowen, a London band fronted by the daughter of Iranian refugees, who describe themselves as 'crushing progressive doom steeped in the history of the ancient middle-east and the empty vistas of space'. My description - the most gloriously apocalyptic, emotive, powerful, ethereal & downright beautiful music I have heard in a very long time.

Thanks for that - that's what I guessed it must be doing! 👍

Double post nightmare! Will it happen again? No-one ever knows...

Someone else's.

What a curious design - never had a close look at one of these before. So - I'm assuming the saddle blocks have tabs which sit in slots either side of the channels in the bridge base, so tightening the grub screws locks them in position in the channel? A pair of button-head allens for saddles/height adjustment is an interesting solution - I've absolutely never seen that anywhere before.

Mazeti is - or probably was - a brand from 15-20 years back & may have been exclusively sold on Ebay, back before it was complete sh!te. As well as the usual stuff I remember some nice-looking Jazz types with hippy-sandwich type bodies in nice woods - and I always had inexplicable GAS for this odd singlecut semi thing with a bizarre headstock & laminated fretboard. They likely pre-date the Chinese invasion so were possibly Korean, Indonesian or Taiwanese.

I agree, that's almost certainly the case - it's an unusual spelling of a fairly uncommon name, easy to see how confusion could arise.

Looks like someone heard about an 'oiled finish' and assumed that meant the stuff that dribbles out of the sump of their '98 diesel Astra.

Either/or, I guess. If I (for some reason) suddenly didn't have any of the ridiculous number & variety of basses I currently have & was plonked in a shop & told to pick something from a typical not particularly exciting selection of basses, there would probably be a J or two I'd get on with. But yeah, the neck proportions & pickups on a different-looking bass work equally well - I have a Yam SBV & a Kawai Sleekline which are both just funny shaped Jazz basses.

Leo himself did in 1960. If I was forced to choose just one bass for the rest of my life, it'd be some variety of Jazz. Not much you can't do with a J.

While I was looking for a decent Audiovox pic, I came across an interesting luthier who appears to have created a range of contemporary Tutmarc designs from a Leoless alternate reality! Liking the one in the middle...

Indeed. We'd all be playing variations on this:

Gorgeous. I've got a V7 fretless, and it's superb. Mine pre-dates the passive V5 or I probably would've gone for that rather than actives I tend to switch off!

I feel sufficiently out-of-place in 'my' age group/generation without subjecting myself to anything like that! Will not be joining.

Or perhaps 'Fender Tax or another two personally-spec'd bass builds?' I'm not a fan of brands in general, particularly slapped on what amount to little more than mix & match parts-box basses - as all Fender designs have become.

Buy a body with the timber, finish & routing you want. Buy a neck with the woods, inlays & proportions you want. Buy the hardware & electronics you want. Nail the lot together. Go out for a slap-up curry with the change.

Like it or not, it's Ozzy's time as a reality TV star which made him the odd cultural icon he became. His life & passing would still have been massively celebrated within the metal community, but there would have been very little of this blanket coverage if he hadn't been all over the telly with his catchphrases.

If I was looking for a budget fretless, I'd get this: https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton_jb_40fl_3_tone_sunburst.htm HB have a great reputation, plenty of folk on here use them as regular gigging basses.