Bassassin

Don't know a lot about Orville, (or Gibson, for that matter) so I did a bit of reading! Orville was a Japan-market brand & seemingly a collaboration between Gibson & Yamano Gakki (distributor/retailer) from the off. So pretty much the same deal as Fender Japan, which was set up between Fender & Kanda Shokai. Didn't know Orville was Japan-only, although plenty of Japanese domestic-brand isntruments end up being unofficially exported - Greco being a good example. Regarding Fender Japan, I *think* Squiers were always intended for export while initially MIJ Fenders were home-market only. I also think I'm correct that JV Squiers & Fenders were the same apart from the branding - the earliest Squiers having the big Fender/small Squier logo to differentiate them from home-market Fender JVs. Export MIJ Fenders might've started when Fender changed ownership in the mid 80s but I'm not certain. This is both off-topic & dull as ditchwater so I'll STFU now.

What's interesting is that Orville was an official Gibson brand - high-end Epiphones, if you like. Seems a lot of people don't associate Gibson & Orville. As far as I know Orvilles stopped production in the late 90s & I guess Gibson attempted to fill that hole in their range with "affordable" USA Gibsons. Which, as I understand it, are a bit rubbish.

If that was true Rickenbacker should've folded 40 years ago. Ricks have always fallen to bits if you look at them funny. Maybe Trump will succeed where John Hall's bloodyminded incompetence has failed. Probably because Fenders were designed to be mass-produced inexpensively & they've sensibly decided to maximise the cheap & cheerful end of their product range for the last 35 years or so. Can't help thinking their cleverest trick might have been to persuade some people it's worth paying £3000+ for a bass/guitar that's fundamentally identical to a £200 one with Squier on the end.

Not massively over the odds but IMO it would need to be as-new to justify that. They go for a fair range of prices but as I said, £150 is pretty much the median. Ebay sold listings.

Great basses with excellent build quality - as has been mentioned, hefty, and with a slight neck-divey tendency, but a bona fide 80s MIJ classic. Don't pay £200+ Ebay BIN wishful thinking prices - because these were built like tanks & good players out of the box, there are still loads around. Sensible prices have sat around the £150 mark for years & that's still pretty much what you should pay. Badly listed Ebay auctions often go for a fair bit less.

Hipster gouging at its finest - can anyone top this for audacity? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Roadworn-Jazz-Bass-Guitar-Daphne-Blue-Recaster-Aged-Nitro-Relic-Finish-Surfer/123146018856 In fairness you do get a wanky relic refin and cheapo Wilkinson pickups & bridge. Or you can pick up one that hasn't been butchered for around the £50 mark, if plywood starter basses are your thing. Completed listings for Peavey Milestones

Tuners & that truss adjustment aren't something you'd find on any 70s MIJ bass. Looks recent to me.

Wondered that myself. Hardly the busiest of threads lately, though - Ebay's not the marketplace it once was for interesting Japanalia.

Most interesting thing to me is the cast brass bridge, which is from a 1980-ish Kasuga, probably a Scorpion. Shame it ended up on this generic whatever-it-is. Worth noting the pickup's not original either - the screw tabs are too small for the scratchplate. Wouldn't be surprised if that came from the same bass as the bridge. So - bitsa with headstock overpainted - could be anything.

Thanks for the Reverb link, will bookmark that, lots of interesting info - really like the pink one on Ebay! Re: the Romaxe, a bit more info turns up if you search for Emex guitar - seems Matt Bellamy from Muse played these a while back. Digging a bit more, Emex was Europeam Music Express, from the Czech Republic and these were apparently designed by Jerry Auerswald - who was the designer behind Prince's "symbol" guitar. I'm even more jealous now!

My first question would be - is the lettering on the headstock definitely original? I'd guess the seller described it as a Borisov because it looks like that's the only known Soviet-era Belarusian guitar manufacturer. Like most Cold War era Eastern European stuff, there's not too much info and not many examples - most of the Borisovs do look a lot earlier in design than yours, I'd assume 70s, and heavily influenced by 60s design. Your bass is interesting in that it's a pretty blatant copy of a mid-80s Ibanez Roadstar so that probably dates it to around '84-'85. I'd send pics & info to Cheesyguitars.com, they have a specific section for unidentified instruments & that's probably your best bet for finding an ID. Don't be surprised if you come away with GAS for more Soviet-era oddities, though!

That's fair enough, this is BassChat, the clue's in the name etc. So why is any off-topic discussion hosted here, what with the Internet being big & full of variety? Thing is, BC is an established community, many of us have been hanging around here for a really long time (I remember it when it was all just trees BassWorld) - and that inevitably means we're going to want to discuss things beyond string gauges and the evils of plectrum use - well, sometimes. Seems odd - and I have to say, a little patronising - that discussion of some incredibly important everyday things should be absolutely off-limits. Maybe I'm perverse (actually - no "maybe" about it, but obviously that's not something I can talk about ) but I'd like to see some of you lot off the leash. 😈 Not sure about these new emoticons, tbh. 💀

Where do you find this stuff? 😀 This is what you'd get if Ibanez Roadstars were made in a lumber mill in Minsk - it's even got the heart-shaped tuners! Awesome, that is.

I B T L ...if you keep this up! 😀 On a serious note, I would be very much in favour of an unmoderated (or less-moderated) area - we live in very interesting times and there are enough off-limits discussions on BC for it to be a bit frustrating at times. A forum I was a regular on a few years back had a similar area for no-holds-barred discussion and that seemed to work OK there, despite a broad spectrum of political & social perspectives & attitudes from forum users. I'd propose an experiment - "The BC Basement" - where pretty much anything goes, for regular members (based on post count and/or length of forum membership, perhaps) & access given by mods/admin.

It's almost at the bottom of mine - if by some leap of the imagination a busy A-road constitutes a drive! Funnily enough... Recent mugshots for current project. In the service of Topic Consistency, I should point out that the subjects were photographed against an (interior) wall, before being shot into outer space.

This guy appears to specialise in wonky home-made "originals". Cornwall's answer to WishBass, perhaps?

I read the topic title as "Deplorable String Mute". Thought it was another Rickenbacker thread.

Collection only & £300 start makes it more than the impulse buy it would (probably) need to be but yeah, I'll be watching. They really don't turn up that often but the couple I've narrowly missed over the last year or two have been a lot cheaper than that. I remember trying one of these at The Bass Centre in the 80s, light-years out of my league then in both price & playability. Aesthetically always my favourite headless (didn't know it was a Flyte rip-off when I first saw one!) and almost on my list of Basses I Need To Own. Really would have to be a pink one, though.

Possibly not - maybe try focusing on a small patch in the middle of a particularly cloudy bit. Give it a serious rubbing (matron!), then you should be able to see if there's much contrast with an unpolished bit.

If it's a poly finish, knock yerself out. I've lost count of the number of old, battered basses & guitars I've T-cut to within an inch of their lives, with some genuinely spectacular results with poly. The stuff is bomb-proof, usually at least 1mm thick and IMO takes a shine better than car lacquer. This is a '72 MIJ Jazz copy which someone had tried to relic, and was sanded all over when I got it. I didn't take any "before" pics but there was absolutely no shine anywhere. Took a bit of elbow grease but turned out quite presentable! I would say it's probably a good idea to test out on an inconspicuous area first, just to make sure it'll do what you want. I apply T-Cut with those little circular cotton-wool pads Boots sell in the make-up bit, and polish off with a clean, dry cotton rag. Microfibre cloths work OK too.