Bassassin

I've seen people using these things for years - but exclusively for string-muting whilst doing tippy-tappy two-handed fretboard stunt bass gymnastics. Which I can't do and have no particular interest in learning to do. The idea of needing one to play cleanly using conventional fingerstyle or plectrum techniques seems odd, and from the perspective of my own hamsifted technique, unnecessary.

Hmm. Why would you "commission a luthier" to bolt together a bunch of cheap-looking bits to create something indistiguishable from a £50 Crack Converters special?

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1501862509' post='3347894'] A 'Luxor' jazz copy, looks very Matsumoku . Slightly optimistic BIN I feel. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1972-Luxor-Jazz-Bass-Lawsuit-MIJ-Matsumoku-/322595387244?hash=item4b1c2ef76c:g:s-sAAOSwxxdZa2cV"]http://www.ebay.co.u...-sAAOSwxxdZa2cV[/url] [/quote] Quite nice, 100% a Mat build. Not 1972, looks like '75 or later to me - most 70s Mat serials were random numbers. Bit dear considering it's pretty beat-up and has non-original parts. I think Luxor's a German importer brand, so it's travelled a bit.

[quote name='Hellzero' timestamp='1501633748' post='3346152'] Have you ever played one ? This is real crap, sorry but these Japanese plywood basses are not good instruments at all, just like the Morris and other atrocities made in the seventies. It's not because it's old that it's good. I'm almost 52 and started on these basses that were awful but affordable when you are a student. Thanks to them, I now have a powerful left hand (and fingers) and can play double bass easily. So for that point I should say they were good, but the action was so high, the pickups so bad and noisy and the weight so heavy that telling these basses are good is proving that you never played one. When I bought my first real bass something like 5 years later, a second hand 1972 Fender P-Bass, I asked myself how could I have been able to play such an "instrument"... [/quote] Well. I guess that's me told, and firmly put in my place, then. Tempting as it is to respond with my usual elephantine sarcasm. I should probably be a little more constructive and explanatory. So yes, I have owned and played well over a hundred instruments from this era, starting with my first bass, which was a Grant-branded shortscale Jazz-ish copy. I had this brand-new in 1978, when I was sixteen. It cost £59, which was actually more than I could afford back then. It wasn't good - properly low-end and somewhat absent-mindedly put together. The thing is, I didn't even know how to tune the thing, never mind adjust the intonation & the truss rod, shim the neck etc. So I thought it was garbage, it held me back and eventually I bought another low-end MIJ bass off a mate. This was quite a lot older and had presumably been set up at some point, and this was what I learned on, and did my first few years of gigs with. Subsequently I have owned a really stupid amount of basses & guitars, predominantly midrange 70s MIJ copies. For a while a few years back I was making something of a living buying these instruments, restoring/fettling them and reselling, and as a consequence I have a somewhat trainspotter-ish level of interest & knowledge relating to these things. So I know exactly what this bass is, which factory made it and when, to within a year or so. Unless it's damaged or has excessive playwear, the neck will be well-made with good quality fretwork and it should set-up to be playable without any fret levelling. If you look, you'll notice it's a 3-part quarter-sawn construction which is typical of midrange MIJ of this era, and was a construction technique adopted to minimise the likelihood of neck twisting. The real MOP inlays to the 17th fret are an indicator that the bass is pre 1973. The pickups are very decent single-coil Maxons (actually pretty sought-after by MIJ geeks) which despite the appearance do give a good impression of "proper" J pups. At the time this bass was made, there were no accurate copies of J or P pickups which is why these turn up, hidden under the chrome ashtrays of so many early MIJ Fender copies. These will have codes on the back which give an accurate age for the bass, although I'd say '71 or '72. The body is probably not ply - on instruments of this type 99% of times they're veneered butcher-block - it's likely a mahogany core with birch veneers & probably a 2-layer pancake construction. The only real cost-cutting here is the admittedly nasty 2-saddle bridge, which, like the pickups, is intended to be hidden under the ashtrays. In fairness, in this condition (and if I was still fixing these up to sell) I wouldn't want to pay more than £50 for it - whatever way you look at it, it's a 45 year-old resto project and there's always a risk associated. However if the neck's intact and the pickups are working, then it probably would take very little to make a decent and useable instrument out of this.

[quote name='Hellzero' timestamp='1501539988' post='3345446'] It's an old Maya or crap like this, better avoid this. [/quote] It's an early 70s Moridaira, probably sold unbranded. Like most early MIJ stuff, it's a fairly inaccurate copy, but a long way from "crap".

Affirmas are like rocking-horse poo, they were never a mass- produced model as far as I know. I missed one that went for about 90 quid, ages ago.

I think that might be the highly sought-after Westone Bitsa.

Now at £102 with less than three hours, certainly heading towards mad bargain territory. Won't be bidding because I've got one! Very odd bass in every way but definitely a keeper. Curious advert - apparently this one's a "walnut" finish. That'll be those metallic grey plastic walnuts, I suppose.

Oh, they're out there if you look: [url="https://reverb.com/item/5988768-80s-b-c-rich-wave-bass-nj-series-neck-through-in-desireable-ocean-blue-with-cream-pus"]https://reverb.com/i...-with-cream-pus[/url] I seem to be making a habit of missing out on ludicrously underpriced vintage MIJ gems - following this & the £100 Riverhead Unicorn, last night I failed to spot someone selling an early '80s Ibanez Artist (OK, it's just a guitar) on a local FB group for £170. I guess this is what it feels like to lose your touch!

Another crazy bargain BC Rich - would be all over this if it was nearer. More like 1983 than 1973 - NJ series = Nagoya, Japan.

Maybe he prised off the Stagg badge (or sanded off the Wesley logo - they were the same bass) and applied the amusing composite logo. A "similar" Stagg sold on BC last year: £80. Compare & contrast... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/277806-sold-stagg-mb350-jaguar-style-bass/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/277806-sold-stagg-mb350-jaguar-style-bass/[/url] These actually pre-dated the "real" Fender Jag basses by a few years - I was a bit tempted by a maple-board Stagguar for the basis of a project.

Thought these weren't allowed on here. And that ain't no '73.

Damn. My pics have been BotoPhucketed!

Great news - hopefully he'll be back to full strength & out on the road again soon.

There's something about black/black/maple that just works. One of the best-looking basses Mr Konig's offered IMO, if it had checked binding I would have had it myself.

It's even got a name - it's a 0010/F! Catchy! [url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Catalogues/columbusbasses_zpscpar9kzo.jpg.html"][/url]

Looks in great condition for a 40+ year old, £30 bass! These hardly ever turn up with the ashtrays still on. Great score.

Very common & pretty decent mid-70s J copy, probably made by Chushin Gakki. Bodies can either be ply or veneered butcher-block, as many of the MIJ copies were. Electronics might just need a good clean & any dry joints re-soldering, but tbh pickups were never great on these so if it plays nicely it might be worth dropping a halfway decent set in if the originals are dud. They should fit OK despite the round-end originals. £30 is a little bit of a steal - these can go for £150+ on Ebay.

If you do want to spend a few quid and can, as you say, play guitar passably, think about one of these: [url="https://www.fishman.com/products/series/tripleplay/"]Fishman Triple Play[/url] I impulse-bought one a couple of months ago - not used it properly yet (still getting to grips with new recording gear) but it's very, very good.

A long time ago I went out with a classical basoonist/mezzo soprano. She was technically superb at both disciplines - but the most unintuitive musician I ever met. I was highly amused when she was surprised that I practised a lot - she thought "pop musicians" didn't bother with that sort of thing! And from the other perspective, a couple of years back I was asked to play a few gigs with a folk/traditional band, standing in for a member who was away for a while. I said sure, let me know the set list, keys, arrangements, give me a week to learn them & then let's get a rehearsal or two. They said no, just expected me to turn up at the gig & busk 20 or 30 songs I didn't know & might never have heard before! Because that's the Folkie way, apparently. Unsurprisingly I declined. Different worlds.

Sales patter's sales patter - but I'm sure most people on BC appreciate that "forgotten" and "unwanted" basses & guitars are typically the ones that are, well, a bit rubbish. And I doubt what he's selling is actually recycled throwaway junk - at least I hope not. I may be being a [i]bit[/i] cynical but I went through all the pics on the FB page - when I encountered the relic'd Strat fitted with Teisco gold foil pickups, I cringed so hard I nearly blacked out. In its way it's a bit like that deranged Ebay experiment artist who causes so much combined amusement & dismay in the Weird & Wonderful thread.