Bassassin

Very tidy-looking example. No idea how reasonable the price is (£550) but you'd pay a bit more for a 'real' one.

Never seen one of these before. If he hadn't made that mistake with the price & stuck an extra '9' on, I might have had a punt. Schaller 460, for Gibson 2-point mounting. Got one in my spares box for a project that never happened.

Absolutely correct - apart from the tiny detail that no lawsuit ever took place. Gibson/Norlin issued their notification of intended legal action against Elger Hoshino in June 1977, presumably oblivious to the fact that Ibanez headstock shapes on their Gibson copies had been changed to be non-infringing a year earlier. None of the other US manufacturers took legal action (Fender would have been on iffy ground, having piched their best-known headstock design from Bigsby), and in fact there's an arguable case that Hoshino have more of a claim to Rickenbacker's designs than Rickenbacker themselves... I've heard of most 70s & 80s Japanese brands, but strangely, not 'Fairytale'. Could be an incredibly obscure Japan-only marque, or perhaps the clue's in the name. Edit - Done a quick bit of digging & Fairytale was a brand owned by Swiss dealer Musik Kuhn in Zurich. This comes from a 2006 forum discussion & MIJ knowledge has expanded somewhat since then, but the suggestion was they were either Matsumoku or Fujigen. Moving on, I found this, which is neither: https://www.vintageandrare.com/product/Fairytale-Jazz-Bass-70s-Reissue-1975-Natural-55695#prettyPhoto That's a pretty generic early/mid 70s J copy, and the truss cover shape & 6-bolt plate suggest it's made by Moridaira. Mats & Fgn never used plates like that. Also found a very replica-y looking ES345 copy: https://reverb.com/uk/item/29921483-fairytale-es-345-stereo-ca-1978-japan-walnut More in line with the level of the bass we're discussing, high quality but nothing particularly unusual, tbh. Anyway, I'm bored now, think I'll go out on me bike while it's still sunny.

This looks to be an 80s Aria Integra with 3x DiMarzio Model Js and a Kahler trem. I'm leaning towards it being a highly modded SB-Integra (predecessor of the later IGBs), like this: https://reverb.com/item/319578-aria-pro-ii-sb-integra-bass-1986-black

The only vintage copy of this I'm aware of is a Fujigen/Ibanez from 1972. Never seen one in the wild and probably never made it to the UK. This is the only known pic & the OP's ain't one of these! I'd go for butchered real Ampeg.

Only a matter of time before a Free Speech Fundamentalist turned up to unironically scream at people to keep their opinions to themselves. And get the thread locked, if this follows the typical BC pattern.

And I've spent 17-odd years with this mental image of you: I am disappoint.

Ah - the old 'adding a y to a single-syllable name to create an affectionate diminutive' ploy! I know all your sly linguistic tricks, that's what they teach at Pedant School.

You're up against OCD and pedantry here, fella. Because not in the lyrics of the song, it wasnt!

Off the top of my head the Banana Splits were: Fleagle. Bingo. Drooper. And SNORK! Snork is an objectively awesome name for a pet, in the event I ever have another it'll be a toss up between that, Sprocket and Bloop. 👍

Unless it's been modded since Ebay, it's a different bass. Only 2 knobs on the Ebay one.

The bolt-neck from the '00s SB range was an SB40, & according to this 2005 catalogue there was a 5-string, (SB40/5, not pictured) so maybe that. https://www.dropbox.com/s/bkvqj9fh5qgcjs4/2005 Aria Catalog.pdf?dl=0 (Page 15) Can only find a couple of pics of any model of this bass online, obviously not too common!

According to the blurb, the bass was originally built for Matthew Pegg - son of Dave Pegg. Dave was so enamoured of his Riverhead Unicorn that he composed/named a Fairport track in honour of it. Well, according to my ex-bandmate, who's a massive Fairport fan, he did... Indeed - clearly by the early 80s Japanese guitar makers still hadn't got over copying other designs! Fwiw there were natural finish Riverheads - possibly Japan-only, like most of the cool stuff! Given a choice I dunno if I'd pick the Rob Armstrong over this...

Oh aye. Early 70s - there will be dateable codes under the pickups - the big silver trc says '71/2 or I'll be slightly surprised - mid-70s versions had a small white plastic cover, and proper J type pickups. Very good quality for an early 70s copy, these were made by Fujigen Gakki and are the same instruments as the equivalent Ibanezes, even using the same Fgn factory model numbers - this is a 2365B. Not sure but this might have been refinished - looks like visible laminations on the edges & contours. These were mahogany butcher-block with birch front & back veneers, & usually sunburst. A look in the cavities will confirm or otherwise. The pickups should output the 7-8k or so you'd expect from J units - as far as I know these were used because at the time there weren't accurate copies of Fender pickups available, and these were intended to be hidden under ashtrays anyway. Like all the inaccurate details on early MIJ copies, these were gradually phased out & by the time these stopped being imported (probably 1978 or so) they were close to replica-level. I had a project Antoria a few years back which came with dead pickups - digging around, it looked like Artec mini-humbuckers were very close size-wise & should have been a drop-in replacement. Never found out as a working set of Maxons came up. So if they do sound rubbish there are options!

Seen a couple of these before - very odd. I think it's a through-neck but with a piece of timber laminated in the body section to raise it to the depth of the body wings. I suppose it let them use less timber for the neck. Only ever seen this on Zen-On branded Fakers, and no idea who made those - Zen-On was one of the 60s Japanese Guitar Boom brands that vanished as that decade drew to a close. Along with the likes of Teisco, Sakai, Guyatone, they're assumed to have ceased to function as a manufacturer by 1970 and like the other two, presumably the name continued to be used because it was a popular & established brand. Some curious differences from most other MIJ Fakers of the era - no centre stripe, black pinstripe binding, inlays that look a lot like real MOP, and that centre section. Annoying that I can't pin down the manufacturer of such a distinctive bass!

Ibanez 2351, assuming it's a bolt-neck! 1978 would have been the very last of the copy-era stuff. Is that the original colour? Never seen a blue Ibby LP before.

Taking the natural/blocks J as an example, I can't think why anyone would choose this over the equivalent HB, which is made from nicer-looking timber, has a bound neck and is £30 cheaper - excluding the minimum £5.99 (Parcelfarce) that PMT charge for delivery. If it was from the 'Harley Benton Factory' you'd think it would be the same bass.

Ooo - that ain't something you see very often! Pedant alert - it's an MC940 - the 824 was passive, fretted. Looks like the designations for these, the Studios & the Roadsters were 8 for passive, 9 for active & then the fret count - the earlier MC800 & 900 Musicians were 22 fret & the RS800 & 900 Roadsters were 21. Yeah, I know nobody cares but me...

Got that wonky Musicvox thing going on with the body shape, although I don't think it's trying to be deliberately wacky or kitschy. Hard to tell, though. And I have an unreasoning loathing for Dean's idiotic 'tiny Flying V' headstock. Always makes me think of this w@nker's bass. (Just re-read this before posting and I'm actually not in anything like as bad a mood as it sounds!)

Most manufacturers produced different versions of the same designs for different price ranges - there would very likely have been a set-neck version of this from the same manufacturer. We see a lot less of the higher quality/dearer stuff because there would have been less of a market for it. This looks pretty early (guessing '71 or 2) but quality got better/more accurate over time. Shaftesbury was Rose-Morris' top-end brand above Top Twenty & Avon and the later stuff - including their through-neck Rick 4001 copy - was excellent quality. Importers' own brands were always less expensive than 'name' stuff like Ibanez or Aria which led to odd situations like Antoria (owned by JT Coppock Ltd) being the exact same guitars as Ibanez, but about 25% cheaper. Ibanez (made by Fujigen) did set/through & bolt-on versions of all their Gibson/Rick knockoffs and the bolt-ons are way more common. Anyway, this is pretty cool because I don't think I've seen one before. I'd put a tenner on it being a Kasuga - the giveaways are the truss cover shape & script, the bridge pickup with the single row of poles (pretty sure it'll be a Maxon but for some reason Kasuga seemed to use this style rather than the more common 8-pole units) and the plain neckplate with no MIJ stamp.

FFS if any of you hacksaw-happy nutjobs really have to do a DIY SuperHeadless, please murder a Thunder 1, not one of the neck-throughs! Unlike the through-necks, 1s & 1As are still like fleas on a scabby dug!

Very useful link - bookmarked! 👍

£205? Crazy bargain, even with the pre missing. That's Thunder 1 territory pricing.