Bassassin

First one I've seen since the last one - and that was a while ago... However, I've seen these same through-neck basses (and the equivalent guitars) with various different names, and I think I know what they are. From what I can glean they're a variation on a Japanese-market thing called a Fernandes Custom Hand: [url="http://www.fernandes.co.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1978_vol1.pdf"]http://www.fernandes...9/1978_vol1.pdf[/url] (page 28) It seems that Fernandes was built by Kawai at this point - this Yasuki appears to be the same thing as the FXB-I bass, with different (probably cheaper) hardware & electronics. Jon.

[quote name='Shambo' timestamp='1456630134' post='2990932'] Any thoughts on the guitar hiding under the stickers? Says 'Made In Japan' on the neckplate. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mi-Electric-Bass-Guitar-with-Cover-Bag-Stickers-Hospiscare-/381554431743?hash=item58d66a96ff:g:ZYcAAOSwe7BWzu~0"]http://www.ebay.co.u...YcAAOSwe7BWzu~0[/url] [/quote] CMI (Cleartone Musical Instruments - a Marshall sub-brand) Jazz copy, same bass as the Avon discussed here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/277141-replacement-pickups-for-a-1970s-avon-jazz-bass/"]http://basschat.co.u...avon-jazz-bass/[/url] Probably made by Chushin Gakki, ply body, a decent neck if you're lucky, single-coil Telecaster pickups etc. Might be cool if you can grab it cheap enough (about £50 - £60ish), those stickers would all come off no bother if you warm them with a hairdryer to soften the glue. Jon.

Copies are still copies. Me - I like copies (good vintage MIJ ones, anyway) and have never owned a real Fender. Closest I've come is a few MIJ Squiers. Which are licensed copies anyway. There seems to be a variety of inexplicably expensive knockoffs around at the moment - some even craven enough to be sold brand-new wearing shonky Fender logos - and I struggle to see how these are innately any different to the MIJ copies of the 70s & 80s. Apart from the complete absence of any historical interest value, making them seem even less authentic. Just goes to show I suppose how dismally unimaginitive and undemanding most bassists and manufacturers must be. Jon.

Much to the surprise of absolutely no-one at all on BC, I've got one gathering dust in my spares box! PM me your address & I'll bung it in the post Jon.

Don't think so - seller says he thinks it's a one-off & I'm inclined to agree. Looks quite nicely made, has a hint of the Ned Callans about it. Loving the banjo tuners! The bridge is interesting, it's a Schaller 3D made for a 2-point Gibbo fitting, discontinued years ago AFAIK. I think that's proper cool, you should buy it if it doesn't go too mad. J.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1456513959' post='2989952'] Feel free to PM a list! [/quote] I might hold you to that! [quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1456511609' post='2989925'] I do have one other question is it possible to have the obvious traders in another category then? [/quote] ...which would have broadly the same effect as a sub-£500 category! J.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1456501631' post='2989730'] If people can't be bothered to filter through a few ads then that's their problem. [/quote] That's also a problem for the people trying to sell cheaper basses. So it sort of becomes [i]everyone[/i]'s problem. J.

What sort of tuners are they? While I don't intimately know Tokais, I do know that early 80s examples sometimes had 3-screw, cast body units, with torque-adjusting collars. Similar to the ones used on Yamaha BBs from the same era, apart from the keys. From what I can see, yours might be this type - I'd doubt that a '97 bass would have these. Jon.

I for one wholeheartedly agree with Twincam. I hardly ever look at the Basses For Sale section any more because it seems to be predominantly high-end instruments - most of which are for sale from mainland EU countries. There's seldom anything within either my budget or scope of interest any more. For the same reason, I haven't sold anything on here in several years. The fee isn't an issue; simply the fact that it feels like my modestly priced, niche-interest MIJ stuff would inevitably disappear under a mountain of ten grand Foderas! A sub-£500 section would be incredibly helpful & would do nothing to interfere with the marketing of higher-value instruments. It would only help make the Marketplace more accessible - and probably busier. Jon.

OK - since this has become a thing, and most of us can't see the pics, this is it: [url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Hondo%20P%20copy/hondo1_zpsvduosjy5.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Hondo%20P%20copy/hondo2_zpsguwchyz0.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Hondo%20P%20copy/hondo3_zpsksh1mkbt.jpg.html"][/url][url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Hondo%20P%20copy/hondo4_zpsu8kuxut5.jpg.html"][/url][url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Hondo%20P%20copy/hondo5_zpszlvsri0a.jpg.html"][/url][url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Hondo%20P%20copy/hondo6_zpss9zzu8p0.jpg.html"][/url] I'd say a bit further down the food chain than Eric's. The guy says the tuners are "apparently" Grovers - but they're clearly generic pressed tin cheapos, so his research doubtless comes from Eric's blog! He does say the body's ply, Eric's is clearly timber. Nothing about this says MIJ to me, apart (perhaps) from the chunky string-through bridge, which is the same as those you find on Yamaki-built Washburns & Daions. However I have seen similar bridges on low-end MIKs, although these usually have chrome saddles rather than brass. Still a cool old bass for £70 though. Jon.

You're correct that the Kimbara-branded Ripper copy was from the same factory as the Shaftesbury - both basses were Matsumoku builds. Shaftesbury & Kimbara were UK importer brands - the top-end ranges of Rose-Morris and FCN Music respectively. Matsumoku Ripper clones would have appeared under various different brands, perhaps most prominently Aria Pro II - the LB650 in this catalogue is essentially the same bass with some cosmetic differences: [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/catalogs/77_lclsst/77_lc-ls-st_pg7.jpg.html"]http://www.matsumoku...st_pg7.jpg.html[/url] Jon.

Cool, but £600 & £500? There are some downright absurd numbers attached to 80s MIJ stuff atm, I seriously doubt any of it's shifting. J.

[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1456099207' post='2985455'] Spotted this neat Gibson copy earlier, and it looks nice. I can't help but think that if he flipped the machine heads upside down they'd be a better fit. [url="https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/172105239676"]https://www.ebay.co....tm/172105239676[/url] [/quote] If he'd left the originals on (these are an "upgrade") they'd have been a better fit. Pickup looks like a Dimarzio Model G. Probably doesn't justify the ambitious price tag though. J.

Bassist, bass player, bass guitarist, low-end offender, guy who's too ham-fisted to play a guitar. Really don't mind. It is an electric bass guitar though, otherwise it's a bass... [i]what[/i], exactly? "Bass" simply describes the instrument's range, and is meaningless beyond that. I do prefer it not to be described as simply a "guitar" though, and similarly I do not answer to "guitarist". Jon.

[quote name='Stance' timestamp='1456069373' post='2985078'] You´re a fan of Japanese basses - check this other gem (at least to me) I got [url="http://s163.photobucket.com/user/cacem/media/IMG_2112a_zpsxpao27jk.jpg.html"][/url] [/quote] I missed out on one of those - very, very cheap - a few months ago! Is it definitely MIJ? J.

Will do. I didn't keep the Yam tuners on my CSL because the cast heads rattled! J.

Very cool bass - mojo's one thing, but give it a hose down for pity's sake - you'll catch something nasty! Seriously, that's definitely high-end, one-piece neck & solid timber (not laminate/butcher block) body makes it near-replica standard. El Mayas don't seem very common in Europe so that's a fine score there. Those tuners are interchangeable with the Yamahas - I have two basses with these, a CSL Jazz and a Cimar P/J. I had a Yamaha BB400S fretless, and swapped the CSL's tuners briefly. These torque-adjustable 3-screw cloverleafs do turn up on quite a few late 70s & early 80s MIJs - including Tokais from that era. Keep your eyes peeled on Fleabay & a set will turn up eventually. Slow progress on the Daion, mostly because my workspace is in the garage and it's freeeezin'!! Cleaned up the pickup, tuners & truss adjuster mechanism, screened the control cavity, now looking forward to cleaning up all the screws & bridge components with numb fingers! J.

If I recall correctly Roland synth basses & guitars were from Fujigen, like Ibanez, but weren't otherwise related. The Roland instruments seem to be variations Greco designs so there may have been some collaboration with Kanda Shokai, Greco's parent company. Jon.

Me, I really like basses. There are all sorts of basses, all different interesting shapes and pretty colours. Some have different components and constructions and can play or sound very different to others. Some of them speak to a deep fascination I have for the history of certain eras and parts of the musical instrument business, and some need to be restored to playability, or to be tweaked and improved to liberate their potential. I really, really like basses. For me to have more basses than sense, I'd probably need only three or four, but I have more than that. Many, many, [i]many [/i]more. It's probably not unreasonable to imagine that I have more basses than actual brain cells. My basses aren't expensive - in fact I think I have a sort of subconscious inverse snobbery which makes me a little disdainful of certain brands & types. Or maybe this is a mechanism which simply assists me to be able to afford to buy more basses, more often. I do sometimes sell basses - in fact I many of the basses I own were bought with a view to reselling for profit. But instead I just kept them, because I like them. In fairness though, I've probably sold significantly more than I own, and I don't ever experience any remorse or regret when selling. Although I'm aware that I own several basses that I wouldn't want to part with because I couldn't replace them if I did sell them and then regretted it. Which I know I wouldn't. I think that you can try to rationalise GAS until you're blue in the face, but ultimately it's not rational behaviour. I cannot rationalise mine beyond saying: I [i]really[/i] like basses. Jon.

Daion/Yamaki/Joodee spotters should keep an eye on this: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172106587098"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172106587098[/url] Identical to the one I picked up a couple of weeks back, but in much better general condition, Joodee on the headstock & original pickup. Comes with a spare neck because the truss geabox on the original is borked. However, having dismantled mine, the box unscrews and it would be child's play to just stick a nut on the threaded rod end & adjust it with a spanner. Someone might end up getting a better deal than I did... J.

The Kimbara's gorgeous, Matsumoku build and coincidentally the same as the Aria-branded ones that were around at the same time. Interesting though - I do remember being faintly excited by these Aria SB reissues (or "re-ish-ues", maybe ) but the one I tried in my local shop was horribly set-up and played like a total plank. Just goes to show what difference it makes if a shop can be bothered to make sure an instrument's playable before putting it out. It did colour my opinion a little, I have to admit - although I've subsequently had several other recent Arias and been very pleasantly surprised by the quality. Jon.

All depends on the price really. Mine was ace for £20! J.

As a regular buyer & seller myself, I've always found the idea of a secret reserve price pointless and off-putting - I tend to pass over listings with hidden reserves and I very much doubt I'm alone. As a seller, either set a BIN or start your auction at the absolute minimum you will accept for the item. Jon.

I had one of these, £20 from the local car boot. Looks like he wants £100 for this in which case absolutely no. Otherwise it's a OK-ish low/midrange MIJ 70s cheapo, worth about £40 in this condition. Pretty low-rent compared to the Antorias & Shaftesburys of the era, this was made by Chushin Gakki and is the same as many of the Columbus, Avon & CMIs that turn up - plywood body, single coil fake mudbucker, cheapo hardware, but could have a decent neck if it's not too thrashed. There's an element of historical curiosity as Grantson was a slightly cheeky brand used by defunct Scottish music chain Grants Music, who had shops in Edinburgh & Glasgow. Jon.