Bassassin

What - Leo Fender was from Lithuania? Fwiw they do look nice & if the Shoreline Gold had a maple neck I'd be getting twitchy.

The Corts are nice but (fortunately for my GAS) there doesn't seem to be a 4, at least not yet. That's also about twice the price of a Squeee - or would be if you could buy one anywhere1

Missed it. What was it - a Super Headless through-neck (The Gallery currently has one at £600) or a Quantum/Rail? Wouldn't pay £650 for either of those but I'm dribbling a little at The Gallery's pics.

I think in the Real World, I'd struggle to spend that across a range of instruments/recording gear at the moment, never mind just the one bass. I've had terrible GAS in the past & have ended up with all of my musical needs over-carered for - although in fairness (to myself) my tastes aren't particularly expensive so I have an embarrassment of (mostly) cheap-but-decent gear. In the not-so-real world, & if it had to go on just the one bass, I think it'd be time visit a few luthiers & see if my vision of a headless, lightweight, double-neck through neck(s) fretted 4/fretless 5 prog nightmare bass is actually achievable. I have drawings & everything...

Even says 'Fresher' on the headstock. Midrange mid 70s MIJ copy made by Chushin Gakki, nice enough. Decent fixer-upper for £50, particularly if you could beat them down to £40.

Cream. Needs a black scratchplate really but it just yells '70s Rock Machine'!

I used a Session 4x10 bass combo from the mid 80s to the end of the 90s. Poor man's Trace Elliots, those were. Very bright & directional, & needed an extension cab if you wanted any appreciable bottom end. In fairness it made a better guitar amp than bass amp.

One or two cynics on FB saying exactly that!

And only £3k over list price.

Changed my mind. Want that one.

100% agree - that was the album where it sounded like everything they were trying to do came together, & they've not come close since. I still listen out of hope/curiosity but I don't think I even made it halfway through their last album. Metallica - watched SKOM when it was more current & the mess of a 'band' they were at the time helped explain the mess of an album St Anger was. By then I was only really vaguely interested - Justice had been the album that brought me back to metal at the end of the 80s but I gradually lost interest as they moved towards Black Album-era corporate rock bloat & became more bland. Summed up by a mate who'd been a fan since Kill 'Em All, after seeing them touring Load - "They should change their name to 'Licker' - because they're not f*ckin' metal any more!" They've had a couple of moments since, I quite liked Death Magnetic as a near-sequel to Justice, with a few moments of proper hostility & inventiveness (almost like they were trying to make up for St Anger!), but subsequently it's hard not to conclude their hearts really haven't been in it for a long time.

Top neck/bottom neck. I think the middle position mutes both but I can't remember - it hasn't been out of its case in years!

Double trouble:

In other cheap new guitar news, late last year I paid £110 for this from Gear4Music: OK - £159 list, reduced to £139 in a sale & a subsequent £30 refunded because it arrived a bit bashed up. Mild cosmetic damage that I didn't mind because I'm modding it. Been GASing for a hardtail HSS or HSH Strat-ish thing for ages but the new options seem to be limited to a Charvel San Dimas Strat or a couple of Ibanez Prestige things, all with prices getting on for 4 figures. Thought about building something but counterintuitively, a hardtail Strat body actually costs significantly more than one routed for a trem. And typically - more than the whole thing pictured above! This thing's a mess of contradictions & obvious cost-cutting - the humbuckers are garbage (doesn't matter because I want splittable ones & they're not), the bridge top-loads meaning the E & A won't intonate perfectly because the string itself fouls saddle travel (again, doesn't matter because it'll get drilled for through-body stringing & a new bridge) and the finish on the neck's weird. It's sold as roasted maple but I'm pretty sure it's dyed, the 'satin' finish on the back of the neck is poly that's been roughed with coarse abrasives to the extent it feels like unfinished wood - and I'm pretty certain the fretboard IS unfinished wood! On the other hand - it has a real flamed maple top, fully bound body, neck & headstock - and a quite excellent fret job, very smooth & level, nicely profiled with no sharp ends, and despite a ridiculously high-cut nut it's quite lovely to play. It's currently in bits having its issues dealt with, and about £70 of slightly better cheapo parts waiting to be nailed on. Will start a thread in the builds folder when there's more to report.

Never had one of these but I've had 2x Kay KB24 P copies & a K32 Strat - and they're not particularly well-made or nice to play. The necks, made from mahogany ply, were fat, heavy and badly fretted with thin, sharp-ended wire. Like a lot of ultra-budget stuff from this era I expect it's pot luck whether you'd get a playable/fixable one or a firewood dog - and it's not like there's much choice with these, they're mercifully rare! It's not quite cheap & cheerful (£495) but Retrovibe have this appealing little (30.5") shorty, seems reasonably light at 7.4lbs too: https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-rc30-lil-richard-short-scale-bass-30-6-scale-with-stinger-preamp/

Callen? As in Ned?

I do like a bit of out-there 50s/60s Italian design, and have a bit of affection for these. Me being me though - I'd have to go Japanese. And why stop at one neck?

So he paid £600 for it 10 years ago and now he wants £800? Not sure he's quite got his head around selling used stuff.

From what I've read, I think Antonio Tsai is a sort of Thai Tony Zemaitis - there's a relative handful of original Tsais in circulation, but the huge majority of fancy, pearly-inlaid 'Antonitsais' are knockoffs, or possibly made under license. I've not looked into it enough to have the slightest idea which is which, but if this acoustic (and the inlay work's gorgeous) is a verified original, it may be, much like Zemaitis, the collector market does command eye-watering prices.

Gorgeous - and I'm ever so slightly envious. Used to have this pic stuck on the wall, back in the Long, Long Ago & The Far, Far Away.

That's a proper rarity. Could say the same for Kawai basses in general. I have their rather odd-looking Sleekline (mildy & reversibly modded) which is basically a funny-shaped Jazz with a chunky P-ish neck. Kawai was a manufacturer in its own right during their guitar-making era (obvs they're still around as a piano/keyboard producer) and in fact most of the 60s MIJ guitars that Ebay sellers insist are Teiscos likely came from Kawai Gakki. Particularly the ones dating from after Kawai bought Teisco! The brand disappeared during the 70s (although they would still have been manufacturing for other brands) but re-emerged in the late 70s with (mostly) original designs, to compete with the likes of Ibanez, Greco & Aria Pro etc. Some blurbs here, including a couple of Aquarius range catalogues - the AQB500 is in the 1983 edition.

Funnily, that's not the first one of these that's come up with an absurdly eye-watering price tag.

Possibly, but not necessarily. These things are beyond the remit of science and deep within the realms of numinosity. Ineffable, innit?

Tokai (and Fernandes, Greco, ESP/Navigator etc) & their replica-standard copies were the reason Fender launched Fender Japan/Squier, but Tokai didn't get involved themselves until the late 90s CIJ era. In 1982 Fender did a deal with Kanda Shokai to produce Japanese Fenders at Fujigen Gakki, which meant Kanda stopped producing their Greco-branded Fender clones. Anecdotally the very first JV Fenders & Squiers started their trip down the production line as Grecos.