Bassassin

Maybe, but I suspect it'll just end up hung on some Shoreditch hipster's wall.

[quote name='jimdolore' timestamp='1481310052' post='3191468'] I know this is an older post, but I just stumbled upon this. I still have my first bass, which I bought in 1991 and it's a white Fenix by Young Chang Jazz Bass. I just checked the serial number and it is E737650! Who knows how long it had been sitting at the store before I bought it new, but I'm guessing it was made in '90 or '91. [/quote] Dating these things is a bit unclear. According to some sources the serials are the same as MIK Squiers that were made in the Young-Chang factory. YC apparently lost the Squier contract because they were selling identical guitars off the same production runs under the Fenix brand. Doubt Fender were that keen on the name, either.

It's a lovely-looking bass and that's woodgrain, not a blemish or imperfection. I really like that finish, btw.

Agree 100% with BRX's post. Had a massive vinyl collection as a yoof (the alternative was cassette) but when I finally got a CD player & decent system in the mid 80s it was a revelation. I did miss the 12" sleeve artwork & presentation, and coloured vinyl was fun, perhaps for about an hour or so in 1979 - but I'm not a big wearer of rose-tinted specs. Vinyl was always crude & crap - now it's trendy hipster crap.

Performance-enhancing drugs?

That Jazz looks like a bitsa made using a [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Half-Paddle-Maple-Rose-Fretless-4-string-Bass-Guitar-Neck-NK26-/131919547486"]blank headstock neck[/url] & that's presumably the best the builder could manage. Now this, on the other hand, is what you call a fugly headstock: And this isn't far behind:

Bloody hell. Someone dragged that piece of scrap out of the cut & flogged it for £160. And I though[i] I[/i] was a gyppo...

Unfortunately I think they are within their rights to decide that the instrument is no longer available for sale & can refuse to honour a purchase on that basis. Really hope they don't, as £629 would be a awesome deal.

Beautiful example, Andy.

One of these had an Ebay residencey for a few months a year or two ago, same sort of price & the seller making all sorts of unverified claims about its provenance and wonderfulness. It got discussed right here commencing [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/7473-japcrap-spotting/page__view__findpost__p__2536091"]with this post[/url]. Interestingly the Ebay link, complete with pics, is still working: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Takeharu-Bass-Guitar-MATSUMOKU-Made-in-Japan-Very-Rare-model-/121417792460"]http://www.ebay.co.u...l-/121417792460[/url] It's quite a cool-looking bass but apart from the slightly unusual body it's all a bit generic, tbh. It's a set-neck rather than neck-through, which you occasionaly see on MIJ instruments from this era.

Pretty sure you could achieve that effect by pouring acetone over a £5 black plate. If you really wanted to.

[quote name='josie' timestamp='1480383285' post='3183973'] Just back from seeing Marillion at the Manchester Academy. Awesome. New material, still proper classic prog rock, complete with strange complex visuals - rare to see live these days. Not my most favourite genre of music, but well done, live, in a room packed with hardcore fans it's one heck of an experience. [/quote] They're a band I've only quite recently rediscovered after being a slightly reluctant fan during the Fish era - had a Scottish girlfriend (& now ex-wife) at that point & she was massively into them, but dropped them like a stone after the big guy left. Wasn't really the sort of thing I was into at the time so never paid too much attention afterwards. However, saw them again 4 or 5 years ago and was blown away, particularly by Hogarth who's got to be one of the most charismatic, captivating & expressive frontmen I've ever seen. It's hard not to feel I missed out on so much of their career over the previous 25-odd years, but their new material is breathtakingly good. Saw them in Glasgow last Wednesday and they were on fire. Superb band.

Can I assume covers recorded 10 and 15 years ago won't be eligible? Even if they'd be exactly the same if we'd recorded them yesterday?

I've seen a lot of variations on this thing, would not want to point to any particular maker but I don't think it's a Teisco. These were around throughout the 70s and the same design was even produced in Korea in the late 70s/early 80s. From some of the details (the machined aluminium knobs, for example) I'd say this was early 70s or perhaps even late 60s. The brand name doesn't give any real clue about it, during the Japanese guitar-making boom from the mid 60s onward, there were hundreds of different workshops producing instruments for export, many of them very short-lived and long since forgotten. Distributors would badge instruments to customers' requirements, meaning the same instruments would be sold across the world with any number of different brand names. It appears to be near-identical to the one pictured in [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/catalogs/75_aria/75_aria_catalog_pg1.jpg.html"]this early 70s Aria catalogue[/url]. However that doesn't mean it's an Aria, and I very seriously doubt that it was anything at all to do with Matsumoku.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1480598457' post='3185725'] Well, I've learnt something today. [/quote] Likewise. Never knew there was a passive SR. I suspect they're quite rare.

Back home and had the opportunity to look at additional pics Jeannette sent and do a bit of digging. I think it's an early 70s Moridaira build, with Maxon pickups. Neck style (round cornered inlays to the 17th fret) point to early 70s, as do the pickups. It's a bit neglected and needs a new nut & the bridge sorting out. Can't tell what else it might need, so suggested Jeannette could pop it into a local music shop and get it looked at. I was in Portugal last week - if Jeannette's anywhere near Lisbon I could have had given it a once-over myself!

1991 catalogue: I think it's passive. Controls are described as vol, tone, balance, pickups are not described as active, whereas they are in the specs of the others. I had the identical SR800 to the one pictured above the SR600, it was definitely active!

Jeannette has PM'd me about the bass, but at the moment I'm away from home & posting from a temperamental mobile device so I can't do a great deal of meaningful research! I've asked her for more & detailed images but can tell a few things from the pics she's posted - however not enough for any definitive identification. More to follow once I get back 'ome...

I'm another DiMarzio Model P fan. I'd also recommend trying 500k pots - if your Squier's fitted with 250s (which it probably is) it's throttling back a lot of the output from whatever pickups you're using. Earlier in the year I picked up an old Daion Precision clone fitted with a late 70s DiMarzio, I wired this with 500s and a push/pull tone pot for series/parallel switching, all of which makes it very versatile. And loud. Some pics and a bit about the wiring [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/278129-nbd-yep-its-a-beat-up-40-year-old-mij-precision-clone/page__view__findpost__p__3018567"]here[/url].

I remember these, at this time (1984 or 5) pretty much every manufacturer had a black/red binding range. Marlin were cheapos and despite the optimism/hubris of some Ebay sellers, they're still seen that way. Might make £100 if you're lucky. Or just keep it for its oddness & novelty value (like I would).

I suppose they were trying to do something different & give their "Studs" an identity rather than leave them as straight copies. All of them had the same headstock.

I'm sure it'll come as a massive surprise to absolutely no-one that I'm quite familiar with Ampeg's range of amusingly named early 70s MIJ guitars & basses. There were 2 basses in the lineup, the other being a P copy called the Little Stud. Wonder which one sold better?

[quote name='ZilchWoolham' timestamp='1479404012' post='3176317'] There's also the interesting question of why the Roadster series' successor was called Roadstar II. There is no Roadstar I, nor is there a Roadster II. That's Japanese brands for you! [/quote] Anecdotally, it was a simple typo - the Roadstar range was meant to be called "Roadster II". Would make sense if it was true, and odd Japlish mistranslations are not without precedent - if not for a similar spelling error, Nintendo's platform-jumping simian videogame mascot Donkey Kong would have been boring old Monkey Kong. Which realistically would have been a bit less confusing.

Serial number (L plus 5 digits) checks out as post '81 Tokai according to the Tokai Registry page - so that's what it is. Unusual model with P/J pups, don't remember seeing one before. Shame it's been abused like this but I think if it was mine, I'd consider a refret & give it a Danish Oil refin. I've also seen repro Tokai decals online.

Those tuners are MIJ and appear on several Japanese-built brands from the late 70s & early 80s, most notably Tokai. I'd look at old Tokai, Fernandes & ESP catalogues to start with. Maybe this? Tokai TJB-55.