Bassassin

When CNC machines go bad...

Not now it won't be! Looks in very nice nick - these usually seem to turn up beaten to hell. Not my thing (I never manage to get those jazz gigs!) but would be cool if someone here got a bargain.

Like The Boy says, not easy to put a value on a bass like this. With vintage MIJ stuff the name on the headstock can actually make a significant difference to its value - so when there isn't one (which is surprisingly common) it can be a disadvantage. Also of the MIJ factories, Moridaira isn't the best-known (despite their top-quality instruments) so it's not got the same recognition that a Matsumoku or Fujigen might have. On the other hand there's a lot more recognition of the quality of 70s & 80s Japanese instruments, so that's in its favour. Tricky to talk actual figures but if I was selling this myself, say on a 99p no reserve Ebay list, I'd hope for about £175 and likely be happy with £150 or so.

[quote name='oldslapper' timestamp='1472315734' post='3120329'] Looks very similar to a Maya fretless precision I recently owned. Similar machine heads, nut and neck plate stamp. However, Jon is yer man for MIJ ID. Little cracker though. [/quote] A lot of crossover on components on MIJ stuff, lots of parts came from Gotoh. However Maya is currently reckoned to have been made by Chushin Gakki - who were actually a hardware manufacturer which expanded into full guitar production. They continued to supply parts to other builders though, just to help muddy the waters!

I think this bass has probably had north of 20 threads over the last couple of years. If we ignore it, surely it'll just go away!

Actually Jack - that might be the case. As understand it, Westone in the US wasn't a distinct brand as it was in the UK/EU - they were sold as a sub-brand of Saint Louis Music's Electra range, and the actual instruments (initially at least) were a bit different to the Westys we know and love. I'm not at all sure that the more idiosyncratic later models like the Quantums & Rails were sold there at all, and if they were, probably not in any great quantities. Listings like this really make me wish I'd stocked up a few years ago, when you'd be lucky to get £60 for one! Jon.

Good spot, watching - more out of curiosity than anything else. A little bit disconcerted by the high-ish looking action (certainly up the Dusty End) and the saddles appearing to be adjusted right down. Points to a couple of possibilities - excessive neck bow, (worst case scenario shagged trussrod) or - which I think is more likely - that's as low as it goes with that bridge. I've encountered a few Japanese & Korean neckthrough builds from the same era with this issue, particularly after big chunky bridges became fashionable. My Washburn SB40 was like that - nothing that couldn't be sorted after 20 minutes with a small round file - but in this instance I think I'd want a look before handing over money. Unless it was a proper stupid bargain. Jon.

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1472339102' post='3120509'] There is a Greco for sale at Bass Direct at the moment. It is a P-style bass with PJ pickups, albeit with the P pickup way closer to the neck. I think Ibanez had a similar bass as part of their silver series. [/quote] This one: [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Greco_PJ.html"]http://www.bassdirec...s/Greco_PJ.html[/url] It's a PB750S, looks like 1976 from what I can see of the s/n. Same bass in a 1978 catalogue: Tuners aren't original but otherwise it looks tidy. I'm guessing Mr Bass Direct doesn't know a whole lot about these judging from both the lack of any info and the surprisingly uninflated price tag. This was a Japanese market bass so very uncommon in the UK - or anywhere else for that matter. If I was selling one I think I'd cross my fingers & go for a bit more than BD are asking. The Ibanez you mention is very probably the 2369B-WH, broadly the same deal but white with black or pearl blocks, there were various versions of this including a Silver Series around 1977. Both the Ibby & Greco were made by Fujigen during the same period.

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1472331444' post='3120446'] Keef tended to remove the low E string and play them as a five string guitar, he did it with the famous Micawber Telelcaster if you google images of it [/quote] I never knew that. Shows how much attention I pay...

Only just twigged that the hideous Keef guitar's a 5-string. Strange.

God, that's horrific, surprised Tony Z put his name to anything that shonky-looking. I suppose he just made what the customer asked for though. Apart from the ridiculous inlays that guitar looks like one of Zematis' £200 student models.

Stranglers. By a complete lack of coincidence, I got my first bass at 16 and learned by playing along to IV: Rattus Norvegicus. Pretty much lost interest after they released The Raven, but JJ Burnel is one of the main reasons I play bass and doubtless why I remain drawn towards upfront, aggressive bass.

Hard to gauge price on something so uncommon - Vantages seldom turn up in the UK and I can't remember the last time I saw a set-neck twin P. Think this is a VP-710B, if Google's correct. Sub - £300 would be nice but this is pretty much unplayed-looking - looks like it's lived in its case under someone's bed for the last 35 years. Jon.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1472021175' post='3117663'] LOL. This started out as a blatant attempt to buy, do up and sell for profit.... I know, I'm BAD!! [/quote] I feel your pain. Last year I bought a proper beater of an SR500 for £80, quick tart-up & flip, I thought. Before: [url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Ibanez%20SR500/sr500original01_zpspxs6c5sn.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Ibanez%20SR500/sr500original02_zpsww0scrli.jpg.html"][/url] And after: [url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Ibanez%20SR500/sr500refin01_zpsnkckqift.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Ibanez%20SR500/sr500refin02_zps0kjzon1a.jpg.html"][/url] My first go at a Danish Oil finish, amazed by how well it came up. And - surprise surprise, it's a keeper. SRs are lovely! J.

Funny what people will do to a bass to "improve" it. Maybe he made a simple schoolboy error and got his treatments for body & fretboard arse-about-face! Decent components I suppose. But having owned a couple of 90s MIJ SRs, the originals would have been top quality - including the original Gotoh tuners.

Hats. Used to be all about the hats.

Moridaira serial sticker. You'll find the same serials on Morris, HS Anderson & MIJ Hohners, all of which came from Moridaira. Not sure how the serials work, but I'm inclined to think they're sequential rather than date-coded. Did you buy it new? It looks late 70s/early 80s to me. Anyway yeah - your bass came from the same factory as Prince's MadCat Tele copy. Jon.

This has been doing the rounds for long enough for Meg to have learned to play like Peart.

This trend for making everything (not just basses) look like a filthy, ruined pice of cheap crap that's been dragged out the wreckage of a burned-out slum - is that a hipster thing?

Compared to many of [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?_odkw=&rmvSB=true&_ssn=rockinbilly&item=222099989762&clk_rvr_id=1079609985183&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xbass.TRS0&_nkw=bass&_sacat=0"]the same seller's other designs[/url], that one's both tasteful and restrained.

Same guy does a triple J too, and also sells bodies separately without control dillings: [url="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/guitar-alliance?_trksid=p2047675.l2563"]http://stores.ebay.c...=p2047675.l2563[/url] I'm disturbingly tempted by the idea of building a Triple P with a maple/pearl blocks J neck. Possibly with inverted Tele-style headstock... Better not, eh?

Fender Japan came about because CBS-era US Fenders couldn't compete with the high-end, replica-standard copies coming out of Japan in the late 70s and early 80s. Fender Japan was set up as a collaboration with Kanda Shokai, owner of the Greco brand - and anecdotally the very first JV Squiers began their manufacture as high-end Greco copies. Never owned a JV but I've had SQ and A-serial Squier Precisions. The SQ was superb and one of the few basses I've had second thoughts about selling. The A-serial was very good but a bit later ('87 or so) and slightly more obviously a budget instrument, in terms of finish and hardware. I also have an E-serial Strat which is a lovely guitar. I do think there's a massive premium attached to the JV serials these days which is more reflective of the mythology that's grown up around these instruments than anything else. Japanese manufacturing is nothing if not consistent and later serial Squiers (in my view!) offer better value - as do the plethora of 80s replica-strandard copies from the likes of Tokai, Fernandes, ESP, Greco etc. I recently acquired a Daion P copy from around 1980, which is the nicest Precision I've played since my old SQ. Jon.

If you look, the headstock's been modified from a 4 inline, so it could've been a Squier. Hope it wasn't a JV...

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1471111696' post='3110643'] 'Kawai Teisco Satellite',60s, through neck. Looks interesting, though not for me. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BASS-GUITAR-/232047205716?hash=item3607175d54:g:bRYAAOSwMtxXrsj8"]http://www.ebay.co.u...RYAAOSwMtxXrsj8[/url] [/quote] Hilariously inept description. It's Korean, from about 1980. As you'd assume from looking at it! These are OK - I had one, it had a treetrunk neck, was was incredibly heavy and the timber under the brown lacquer was a bunch of random knotty offcuts. Quite playable but built to survive the nuclear apocalypse we all expected in the 80s. If it stays around £70, that's a decent price. J.

Sorry. I should definitely get out more...