Bassassin

That tuner's identical to the ones fitted to my Kasuga Scorpion - so clearly they weren't exclusive to Aria. The only MIJ hardware manufacturers I specifically know of were/are Gotoh & Chushin Gakki but I'm sure there were others, so that's not much help! These tuners lack the sprung screw on the top of the button which allows torque adjustment on most sealed units - I always assumed the collars were torque adjusters rather than for locking. The same sort of design also appears on tuners used by Yamaha & Tokai, amongst others. J.

[quote name='tonyquipment' timestamp='1418914670' post='2634792'] Kick it around the floor List it on eBay as vintage relic original Make money ??? [/quote] Or don't damage it, list it as "good condition vintage original" (not convinced '92 really counts as "vintage"!) and get more money. Wrecking old (ish) basses makes them less attractive to buyers. J.

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1418899531' post='2634549'] Don't know if I can do a NBD about it on BC though. Decent bass I think. [/quote] I think it's OK to talk about them! Definitely be interested to hear first impressions & see proper pics, up to the mods whether it's legit or not though, I guess... J.

Now I see the pics - I have seen these before. Did a bit of digging & found an old catalogue, looks like it's '92: [url="http://www.ibanez.co.jp/anniversary/198/19.jpg"]http://www.ibanez.co...sary/198/19.jpg[/url] Maybe an early foray into Korean-made budget designs, hence the knotty/twisty neck. I had 2 early 90s SR800s, both of which were MIJ and top quality. Still an interesting & pretty unusual bass, I'd definitely hang onto it! J.

Which specific bass do you have - which model, what year? There have been hundreds of different Aria Pro basses! Jon.

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1418865085' post='2634335'] 79p?? Someones got a bargain!! [/quote] Nah - Lidl will sell you 20 kilos of kiln-dried logs for £2.49. J.

I hate these things with a passion. There's another (non-music) forum I use which has an entire thread of simpletons patting themselves on the back because they managed nail a stick to some splintery old box they found, & now they want to pretend it's a musical instrument. Aaargh! Jon.

[quote name='darren' timestamp='1418847657' post='2634101'] I've still got by first bass. there is nothing left on the frets and the last time I loosened the strings the nut fell out. I keep it in the wardrobe if that helps. [/quote] When old basses get interesting - that's a Shaftesbury rebranded Eko, not too many of those about. Collectable, if not exactly worth a fortune! J.

[quote name='Donnyboy' timestamp='1418839434' post='2633973'] ....... please [/quote] What he said. I'm unfamiliar with the model & surprised that any 80s Ibby turned out to be a bit crap! Jon.

[quote name='wotsy' timestamp='1418828935' post='2633770'] Yasuki bass guitar, it's only 30 quid but it has an input jack fault. I'd risk 30quid on it if I was in London: [url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/yasuki-electric-bass-guitar-for-sale-input-jack-is-loose/1093315060"]http://www.gumtree.c...oose/1093315060[/url] [/quote] £30? Crazy. These turn up with various different names (Lincoln & Asama are the first to come to mind) but were made in the late 70s by Kawai, & this is a variation of the Japanese market Fernandes FXB: [url="http://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-and-amp/fernandes/1978/pdf/15.pdf"]http://brochures.yok...1978/pdf/15.pdf[/url] Someone buy it! Jon.

[quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1418646538' post='2631928'] The battery counter part and the pots counter part is plastic i think, I need to double check. If so, i guess is best not to put it on that part i guess? [/quote] Test a bit on the inside of one of the covers to see if it damages the plastic - it's quite possible it'll be OK. Why not ask the owner how much they want for it? Thunder 1s usually go for around £150, give or take. J.

[quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1418639159' post='2631833'] The acetone is polish remover right? Do it put it in some cloth and just rub it on the paint area on the back? [/quote] Nail polish remover is diluted acetone but should still work. It won't harm the body finish but probably best to keep it away from plastic parts. J.

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1418590957' post='2631555'] Really surprised at the price on this. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Transparent-Acrylic-Electric-Bass-Guitar-4-String-Pickups-1-2-Right-Handed-/390993707643?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item5b090a827b"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item5b090a827b[/url] [/quote] These are quite recent - there were loads of them on Ebay (often branded Wesley) about 5 or 6 years ago. Think they were about £100 new, so this seller's done pretty well. That Thunder II's stunning - one of the nicest examples I've seen. Interesting to see what it goes for. J.

[quote name='FlatEric' timestamp='1418579888' post='2631369'] OOOOoooooooooo Jon, I saw this when it first came up - now I see a good shot of of it WOW! [/quote] Hopefully you'll understand me swapping my (very nice but almost as heavy) T-40 for this! As far as I know, the twin-neck's unique, it was built in 1985 as a custom order for a Manc session player called Pete Glennon. It's in very good condition overall, in fact necks & hardware are almost like new. The fretless neck is simply the sweetest I've laid hands on and the whole thing sounds superb - the pickups & switching make it very versatile. The body has been refinished - neck pocket & routing indicate it was originally black - and unfortunately the refin's a little bit amateurish when you look closely. Looks like someone tried mixing some red stain with Ronseal & brush-coated it. I gave the whole body a thorough T-cutting, which evened the surface a bit & gave it some gloss, but it would benefit from a pro (or competent amateur!) job at some point. No idea if I'll ever use it in anger - my band does have a few multi-part prog epics which it would lend itself to, just don't know if I can stand the pain! J.

Commodore's just an importer's (possibly Rosetti) rebrand, as were most old MIJ brands, & as a name is pretty much meaningless. The headstock shape on this bass seems to have been used by the Matsumoku factory prior to adopting the Gibson "open book" shape - I don't remember seeing a Commodore with this headstock before. However this headstock does appear on early Conrad, Greco & Aria Diamond instruments - none of which were imported to the UK. Matsumoku's regarded as one of the best Japanese factories of the "lawsuit" era, and their heyday was definitely the mid 70s-mid 80s period. This is a somewhat earlier bass than that - I'd say 60s judging from the headstock shape - and it's not going to be fantastic quality tbh, it's over 40 years old and may well have deteriorated structurally. A lot of early Japanese manufacture used unseasoned timber, and warped necks can be common, as can body distortion (particularly in hollowbodies like this) under years of string tension. Don't buy this if you want a gigging bass that youre going to beat the hell out of, it's really more of a collector's curiosity. J.

Whip off the neck & you'll probably find a date and Andrew Evans' signature, if he did work on it. I've got this, and it's pretty amazing: Could do with a stronger back, though... Jon.

£60 with a hard case would be a serious bargain for those who know what this is. [url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/commodore-bass-guitar/1092714272"]http://www.gumtree.c...itar/1092714272[/url] Late 60s/early 70s, Matsumoku-built, looks in original condition, even seems to have the original bridge cover still fitted. Probably not an agressive-sounding bass, so not my choice for Punk (I'd say Precision with new strings) but a bit of a score for a vintage MIJ collector. Jon.

Westone Thunder 1A fretless, made in Japan by Matsumoku in 1986, worth about £150- £175, a bit of acetone should sort the back out. Jon.

+1 to what Musky says, can't be early 80s. IIRC the first MIKs were made by the Young-Chang factory from about '87, & are very good quality. There was controversy over Young-Chang launching their own Fenix brand (essentially rebranded Squiers) which led to them losing their contract with Fender & facing legal threats over the use of headstock shapes etc - so if it turns out yours is a Young-Chang then there's some collectability in that. FWIW I've owned a Y-C Squier Bullet, and currently own an early Fenix Strat & both were top quality. Jon.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1418469001' post='2630417'] Note 2: When someone goes to the trouble to add 'No Returns' to a listing it makes me suspicious. [/quote] Particularly when they're too lazy to even be bothered to post the bloody thing. Having said that, after a buyer broke a guitar I sold, badly repacked it & posted it back to me unsolicited - [i]then[/i] made a claim against me saying I'd sold him a damaged item, I started adding "no returns". Ebay can be a nightmare for sellers. Jon.

[quote name='razze06' timestamp='1418379107' post='2629650'] Perhaps a late 70's/early 80's Italian copy? Factories in the centre of italy were producing pretty believable versions of various instruments, and they would have had access to DiMarzios or other similar pieces of kit. I have a spine-bendingly heavy strat copy in natural finish which looks to be finished in the same style. [/quote] I did wonder about that, thinking about those nice original design Eko through-necks. Still thought the finishing looked a bit too rough & ready, though. Still might be worth asking on the Fetishguitars FB page... J.

[quote name='razze06' timestamp='1418317781' post='2629141'] Jolana made a number of copies of gibson basses (i remember an interesting RD copy), but never seen one with DiMarzios [/quote] That one & the through-neck Rick copy are what I was thinking about - but you're right about the pickups, I'm pretty sure it's not a Jolana. J.

Agree with you Eric. This T-bird thing's interesting, think this was on a few months ago for a bit less money, not sure if it was the same seller. Anyway - IMO certainly not MIJ, never mind Matsumoku, I don't really understand why the average Ebay pikey inevitably concludes that anything with a through-neck is a Matsumoku. I'm inclined to think this is a one-off, quite a lot of shonky details you wouldn't find on a production instrument - scruffy pickup routes, wonky headstock shape, reversed single-side tuners, lumpy-looking finishing where neck meets headstock. That strip of marquetry would be odd on a factory-made bass too. I suppose it's possible it might be Eastern European - finishing on things like Jolanas wasn't quite up to MIJ standard - but I doubt it. That said it's interesting & fairly inexpensive - I'm pretty sure that's a set of DiMarzio Model Js, if so, there's half of your purchase cost. On other matters - two proper Matsumoku basses. That Westbury Track 4's a stunner, these very seldom come up & when they do, they're usually butchered or wrecked. Likewise the Washburn Force 40, I have an SB-40 which is the same bass with a 2-a-side headstock & passive electronics, again you never see these, and I can't say enough good things about them. Hope someone on BC can get a bargain - I'm not buying anything at the moment & would like to see some of you lot taking advantage of currently low JapCrap values! J.

Nice example - Avons weren't top of the MIJ heap but most would set up & play nicely - typical good quality Japanese necks & fretwork. I had the exact same bass branded as "Grantson", it definitely looked & sounded the part! Jon.

I know two bands who have done small self-arranged US tours "under the radar" on visitor's visas. The problem they faced is that you can't take any instruments or other gear, because it's assumed you intend to work if you do - so they had to hire/borrow/buy equipment to be able to play. The other downside is that if you get rumbled, you'll get deported! Jon.