Bassassin

Cool idea in principle and it will certainly be interesting to see what - if anything - the Basschat Hive Mind will agree on. Fwiw I'd definitely be interested in that Serek-esque shortscale, and off the top of my head, will also propose a compact & lightweight headless double-neck (fretted/fretless), with neck(s) through construction. Don't want much, do I? One question though - why Eastwood? They're a brand I've observed with some little interest over the years, and broadly speaking they're purveyors of modern re-hashes of quirky retro tat, and do seem to ask some pretty eye-watering prices for what I'm sure are inexpensively-made Chinese / Indonesian etc instruments. Considering we have brands like Chowny & Retrovibe right here on BC, wouldn't approaching them with this suggestion be more sensible?

Nut looks to have been replaced - looks a bit too wide to me. Did wonder if the intonation might want a tweak, too!

Yep - these were made by Moridaira, probably mid-late 70s. Still has its serial sticker (this type was exclusively used by Moridaira) but unfortunately this can't be used to date the bass - or if it can, no-one knows how they work... Looks like the body's not solid timber - the big overspray on the contour is the giveaway - likely to be mahogany butcher-block with front & back veneers. Proper bargain for £50!

I'd dispute that the Brandoni could possibly have been a traditional classical guitar! No internal reinforcement, no truss rod, designed for near-zero tension nylon strings? Stick bass strings on a normally-constructed classical guitar & it would snap in half before you could tune the G to pitch.

This should work: I would think that's fairly straightforward to do - I'm assuming it's actual newspaper applied to the front & headstock of the bass, probably over a white, or other pale base coat. Not sure what you'd use as adhesive but would guess something water-based that would allow you to position the paper, smooth out any wrinkles etc. and shape it around contours when wet. Can't be entirely sure but I think it's only on the front of the body. Once it's applied, trimmed so it's tidy & allowed to dry, you'd lacquer over it & build up sufficient coats to be able to cut it back to a shine without going through to the paper. Looking forward to seeing a Daily Mail Brexit rant stuck all over someone's bass then...

Well, that's nice! This is an early 70s Matsumoku build (easy to ID from the offset dots & "Steel Adjustable" neckplate) and very closely related to the Aria 5120 & 5520 models: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/hollow/sem/semi.html Eros & Eros Mk II were Rosetti's own import brands, as the catalogue suggests, and all of the Mk IIs I've encountered have been Matsumoku products. There *might* be date codes stamped on the backs of the pickups but from the black-button tuners I'd expect '72 or earlier, since those vanished around that time. The serial numbers on the neckplates seem to be random, certainly on pre-76 instruments. Anyway, that's a very nice, intact example of a pretty uncommon bass - as one of them there "purists" I think it's be a shame to mod it irreversibly because you'd struggle to find another one!

Mine was a horrid Jazz-ish shortscale, branded Grant, exactly like this: Bought brand-new for £59 in June 1978, from Unisound Music in Chatham High Street. It was borderline unplayable, and sounded vile through my stereo hooked up to a home-made 1x12 cab. Didn't help that I didn't even know how to tune it, never mind set it up! Anyway, it ended up painted several different colours, defretted & generally abused horribly. Never sold it and I think it went missing several decades & house-moves ago. It's probably still in a loft somewhere. Being an unplayable piece of sh!t meant that my first GAS attack was within 3 or 4 months of getting my first bass & I bought one of these off a mate for about £30: Unbranded shortscale LP thing, these were also sold badged as Jedson & I think might have been made by Sakai Mokko, if you're interested in such things. Was a bit of a beater, in fact my first project (needed new tuners & knobs), and looked ancient when I got it, although it couldn't have been more than 8 years old. It was, however, light-years beyond the Grant, and played well enough for me to able to start seriously learning - mostly by playing along to The Stranglers. Used this in my first proper gigging band for a couple of years until I could affords something more fancy - a Washburn B-20 Stage, which was very fancy indeed. Sold that in 1984 because you couldn't slap on it. Silly sod.

From what I understand about CITES, I think it would be best if you and your friend complete all the necessary export/import paperwork and pay the associated fees. Without doing so there's a very real risk the bass will be confiscated and subsequently destroyed by UK customs. I'm aware of this having happened to uncertified imports of vintage instruments in the last few months. Alternatively, couldn't your friend use a non-CITES wood for the fretboard?

Erm - that's the neck which belonged to this - compare the neck pocket pics: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/328045-damaged-mij-fender-p-body-apparently/ KInda wish he'd tried to sell it as a complete bass!

That's a cool old thing isn't it? Never seen that brand before, or the exact same bass. There are plenty similar though - around 1980 or so every Japanese & Korean factory (and there were literally dozens - not just Matsumoku!) made a range of through-neck, symmetrical double-cut basses - usually with a single P pickup. This one's unusual (and more interesting to me) being a P/J but while £200 is a fair price IMO, I don't want it enough to pay that! Edit: Did a bit of digging - Martinez is currently a Chinese based manufacturer of handcrafted acoustics, which claims to be a international company established in 1978. I'd guess originating - or sourcing from - Japan. I also found this - looks familiar, and a lot less likely to be neck-divey than the bass: https://best-vintage-guitars.de/martinez_neck_through.html Also looks familiar because it's a variation on a very common design made by Kawai & sold under a bewildering number of names.

Should be in the "things I don't understand" thread. So - how much unrecyclable global waste is a consequence of Hofner basses being non-compostable? This clearly demonstrates that they regard their instruments as short-term and disposable, so d'you think the price reflects this? And no plastic parts? Chinny reckon! Pickup bobbins, pot internals, wiring insulation? You can even see the nylon bushings on the tuners!

Like that a lot - really interesting take on a lightweight headless design. Do think it's a major oversight not having a contour to allow it to be played sitting down. Also if you're going to have cutouts (presumably to reduce weight rather than for the sake of it!) why would you not have them in upper & lower bouts, rather than compromise rigidity by sticking one right in the middle? Or am I just being too damn pragmatic about a piece of art?

Still think he should've called it Bignose's Bass Book - that's what it'll always be to me, anyway. Ordered mine when it was £18.59, happily.

Does indeed look like a scraggy nylon gig bag with "Fusion" printed on it!

Only found out myself yesterday. Hopefully it'll be back, best resource of ID info out there. Thread about it on RickResource, looks like it may get incorporated into the RR forum, which would be good. Not really clear why Joey took it down, but it's his site, so whatever! http://www.rickresource.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=415609

I think that's a 1983 4003, (possibly a 4003SB) with a plethora of replaced & bodged parts. The additional bridge screws are consistent with this era of 4003. I know my Fakers pretty well, my Ricks a only little less well, and this is no Faker I've ever seen. 100% worth acquiring and restoring, imo. Edit: pic of heel-adjust headstock end in this TB thread.

Years & years ago an ex (who was presumably sick of listening to me hammering away at my bass) treated me to a cheap flatback octave mandola. Took a while to get my head around the tuned-in-fifths thing and I eventually got a convncing semblance of a tune or two out of it - but it turned out I don't have an Inner Folkie, really. Fun but limited for me - and it ended up in the loft, where at some point something heavy fell on it, breaking the neck. I did glue it up but never got around to re-stringing it, although I imagine it's still playable. Wherever it is now.

Doesn't even look remotely like timber - pretty sure that's MDF of some sort. Did Fender Japan use MDF?

Fair point - it's unclear when the very first Fakers appeared but the presence of the skunk stripe precludes '71 - I hadn't been clear about the Rick timeline before. Lots of (un)educated guesswork's involved in trying to date old MIJ stuff because there are no reliable records beyond a few catalogues & those instruments which have dateable components. It's a very cool bass but I'm not volunteering to drop £825 on it just so I can pop a pickup out to see the serial! @prowla - my dream Rick right there, you lucky barsteward, you!

RSB Standard: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/catalogs/1984late/pg9.html Serial number will be dateable but I'd guess '82 - '84 because I don't think these were around later than that. Definitely MIJ and a Matsumoku build. Nice bass!

It's a lot for a copy but alarmingly this is only £100 or so over what these tend to be advertised for privately. The Ibanez factor is a big deal because of the "lawsuit" mythology and the misguided assumption they were somehow better than other 70s copy brands. Both pickups on this are single-coil Maxons - I had the same set on an Antoria EB copy & they sounded pretty decent togenther. Output can be variable though, I think the pair I had read around 6k, but I have one of the small 8-pole units on my bitsa Faker (The Frankenbugger!) and that one sticks out nearly 12k. Something worth knowing if you have a bass with these - they have accurate date codes stamped on the backs, which is useful as most MIJ copies don't have an s/n. Interesting (to some) detail about that Ibanez, seller says 1974 but I'd say earlier, '71 or '72 - if you look at the tailpiece, it has square holes - these were very early MIJ versions, and like the old gap-tooth Rick ones, were solid rather than hollow, so no tail-lift with these. Only ever seen them on very early Fujigen Fakers. Are either of you, erm, out? Well - I'll be around in a mo - hang on while I grab my crowbar...

Out of those I'd go for the Shafty - these are excellent basses & the only obvious deviation from the original appearance is the tuners, which are generic closed-back Gotohs, used on millions of 70s MIJ basses. Re Ibanez - these were Fujigen builds (very good quality) but typically not very accurate. Fujigen Fakers pre-date the availability of accurate pickups, so for some reason Gibson-style units were used, including a massive single-coil in a mudbucker case on the through-necks. The design did change around 1976 to use accurate Maxon-made Rick type pickups & hardware but most don't have these. You'll also pay a premium for the Ibanez brand, same thing with Greco (most of which were also Fujigen) but less obtainable due to being a Japan home market brand & never officially sold in the UK. Shaftesburys typically sell for a good bit less than many other neck-throughs and are much more common - the same bass also turns up branded as CMI, Cimar, Arbiter & several other names, and are very solidly built. The Matsumoku through-necks are beautiful, incredibly accurate and unfortunately the ones most prone to neck-lift issues, because of the unusually thin body, pickup route position & dual truss rod routing. I own one which has this problem & wouldn't recommend a purchase unless you can get a good hands-on look at it first. Unfortunately I didn't have that opportunity - mine came from California via the RickResource forum, after its owner discovered it had been masquerading (quite convincingly) as a 1974 4001 for several decades... There are stunning MIJ Fakers from various other brands/factories - Kasuga, Yamaki, Fernandes etc but all ridiculously rare and pretty unlikely to come up for sale under current circumstances.

Spoken like a true Rick fanboy! FWIW given unlimited cash I would love to own a '72-ish 4001 in age-darkened Fireglo, with checked binding, full-width crushed pearl inlays, explodey wavy Grovers & all the bells & whistles! However as it stands I'm happy with my 3 MIJ Fakers and a couple of more recent projects - one of which might well end up headless... Could argue all day about the merits of original Rick designs (and the many improvements that Japanese manufacturers made!) - but you'll agree there's nowt to be gained - however you made a point which did make me think. Both Ricks & certain Fakers can be prone to neck-lift, which as you say is largely a consequence of the pre-1975 neck pickup route position. The only Fakers I've seen which have this are the twin truss basses made by Matsumoku - never seen it on a through-neck single rod copy. Would seem apparent that the big route needed for twin rods weakens the structure at this point - never thought of that before!

What I said was Can't actually "demonstrate" - but the evidence is that 70s Ricks are prone to brittle finishes which can crack & flake as they deteriorate, neck problems due to the primitive design & function of the truss rods, delamination because of the type of adhesives used, warping at the neck/body junction (admittedly some Fakers do this too - it's a design fault), exploding Grover tuners, tail lift... MIJ Fakers were built using modern manufacturing techniques, materials & components like standard adjustable truss rods (usually just the one), poly finishes etc. If they display age-related issues it tends to be a consequence of the design rather than the build. Re Chickenbackers - I don't think anyone regards these as anything other than budget copies - some may be decent enough quality, but none of them are replica-standard - and I guarantee that in 30 years time, absolutely no-one will ever be surprised to discover their 2018 Rickenbacker is really a Chinese Faker!