Bassassin

[quote name='wotsy' timestamp='1402022148' post='2469312'] Grabber copy by Avon: [url="http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/151318704525?nav=SEARCH"]http://m.ebay.co.uk/...4525?nav=SEARCH[/url] [/quote] I had one of these, with the logo sensibly scraped off. Very, very accurate copy, sounded pretty decent too. Mine could've done with some fret fettling, which was a little beyond the scope of my abilities at the time. J.

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1401805241' post='2467044'] What about Lemmy? He has a naturally raw voice, and even if you only count from Motörhead onwards, you're still talking 1975. [/quote] This. And I don't think you can have a discussion involving Venom without mentioning the immense debt they owed Motorhead. Jon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squier#Korean_Squiers 87-88, then. I have a Fenix Strat, cost a whole £35 from my local car boot, Fender headstock, same E-serial. Lovely player, probably the nicest Strat I've played. J.

Yep - through-neck ET288 - definitely a little more rare & exclusive than the 280! What's annoying is that the Matsumoku.org site seems to be down at the moment. I did want to check Wunjo's claim that it's 1971 - the Mat site has a catalogue scan featuring this bass, which I think is 1975, which is a more realistic date. Matsumoku instruments prior to 1976 don't have date-related serials, in the case of through or set necks they don't have any, so the only way to establish a date is from literature like catalogues. A bit of digging suggests they were mid/late 70s, later ones should have an SN. Anyway, that's irrelevant to the price - while I might wince at the price tag, this is one seriously rare bass (certainly in the UK) and you might have quite a wait, or search, for another if you pass this one up. However, I would haggle, and haggle hard - when they turn up overseas they're nothing like that sort of money, so it might be worth pointing out to the shop that you'd pay less to buy one from the US & import it! Anyway, found a TB thread about them lots of pics & a bit of info there: [url="http://www.talkbass.com/threads/neck-through-epiphone-newport-embassy-coronet.596452/"]http://www.talkbass....coronet.596452/[/url] J.

The link won't work for me - but I'd think the ballpark for a decent mid-70s Matsumoku Epi ET280 should realistically be about £200 or so. They'e not that rare (The Aria version with the 4-a-side head's a lot scarcer) and they do come up on Ebay/Gumtree from time to time, and I think a few have floated around BC over the years. Can you post a different link, or maybe just the pics? I think the ET288 is a neck-through (owes a little bit to Matsumoku's Rickenfakers, I think) and would probably command a few more quid than a 280. However, considering the condition you've described, £800's wildly over the odds and probably about twice what it's worth. Jon.

Young Chang was the Korean factory which Fender used when they transferred the bulk of Squier production from Japan to Korea, which was, I think, around 1988. Fenixes with the Fender headstock were an excercise in naughtiness by Young Chang, when they basically badged up Squier production with their own brand name - so this bass & other Fenixes with a Fender headstock are late 80s or maybe just early 90s. When Fender got wind of the Fenix brand & its similarities to their own product, they transferred production elsewhere & prevented Young Chang (presumably with lawsuit threats) from using the Fender headstock design. If the bass has a serial it should be consistent with MIK Squier serials from the same era, as far as I know. Jon.

[quote name='lemmywinks' timestamp='1401559424' post='2464781'] Can we still call you a Scot? [/quote] Go on, then - it's not actually an insult, just wildly inaccurate! J. Edit - just had a thought - does Alan at ACG make ScotGrot?

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1401488223' post='2464271'] Pancake bodies are a 'Norlin' trait that typify Gibson Lesters from the '70s I think. The late '60s stuff was made more like the earlier Les Pauls. [/quote] Cheers for the info - makes sense that it was Norlin era, in retrospect. J.

Re the entire "JapCrap" issue - I've been contacted by a BC mod regarding this, and there is no problem with continuing to use the title. No-one has been upset by it enough to protest in the 7 years the thread's been alive & active and realistically that's enough to conclude that the context is fully understood by everybody who reads the thread, and it really isn't an issue here. For me, it's just a joke title, not a crusade, and I'd be willing to change it if there seemed to be a massive degree of genuine antipathy towards it - but there doesn't so I won't. And I'm not the kind of person who feels that just because Americans want/believe something, then I should feel pressured to comply. That's the sort of thinking that could make a British Prime Minister lie to their electorate, and end up becoming an untried war criminal, isn't it? This thread exists for the purpose of discussing Ebay, Gumtree & other listings of vintage (and later) Japanese, Korean etc basses that might be interesting to people with a mindset that goes beyond 60-year old American designs. I think perhaps the discussion on political correctness and the right to take offence and demand censorship on behalf of people who probably don't know they're supposed to be offended should take place in Off Topic. That might be interesting. Meanwhile - Kawai Aquarius? You don't see many of them - although I did miss out on a completely white-painted (including the fretboard) one about 5 years ago. Still, I managed to find a Kawai Sleekline, which made me feel a bit better... J.

Late to the party but I'm afraid I'm here to pop everyone's balloons. Unfortunately this isn't a Japanese bass - Kays of this era were Taiwanese, there are plenty of well-preserved examples with a heel-sticker with the model number (KB-24) and "Made In Taiwan". The good news is that there are quite nice ones of these - I've had two, both of them had pretty decent-sounding pickups, one of them had a really good neck with a quality fret-job. Like all low-end basses, quality control was an issue & occasionally a decent one slipped through without anyone noticing. Geoff's right about Moridaira using the 6-bolt plate, and like most of the construction techniques on this Kay (pancake body, "strip mahogany" neck etc) it's copied from early MIJ construction. Quite a few Japanese factories used the split-body, including Fujigen, and this technique itself was "borrowed" from Gibson, who used it on LPs from (I think) the late 60s. Jon.

Looks like a Thunder I, but still a deal. J.

Second time he's listed that, same price & no bids first time. I'm a bit of a Kasuga fanboy but this doesn't look like one of the more accurate copies, and imo is a bit too much of a project for £120. I think it's had one of those 8-pole single-coil pups originally, like this: [sharedmedia=core:attachments:69930] So replacing the J unit (which might well be a DiMarzio) would require more than a new scratchplate - you'd either have to route it for a P unit or fit a mini-Mudbucker type, in which case you'd have to make a scratchplate or pay someone to make one. If he wanted £50 I'd probably be tempted... J.

I'm no-one's Fender expert but if it's genuine - body's a refin, ashtrays & thumbrest are brand new. It's drilled for a tug bar - or at least the scratchplate is. Very odd choice of angles for most of the pics, and no pics at all of the back of the body, no clear view of the neckplate. Jon.

That's really pretty & nicely designed. Most self-built basses tend to have body shapes that just look sort of "wrong", but that's a really attractive & considered design. Shame he stuck with a Fender headstock shape - but I'm inclined to think it's a factory neck that's been modified. I've seen fretless necks which have been defretted by filing the frets down to the tangs to leave metal inlays. More likely he removed the frets & inlaid brass strips though. Jon.

Had a few thoughts about this - not the rights & wrongs, if there are any, but more how & why the term's used here the way it is. This is probably incoherent thinking aloud will likely pose more questions than it answers... It occurs to me that it's probably an offensive term in North America (and probably other English speaking countries like Australia & NZ) because significant numbers of people of Japanese origin live in those countries. In the UK there's been little or no immigration from Japan, so there's less perception of the term as an expression of bigotry - at least not that I've ever been aware of. I also think there's a big difference in referring to actual people by this sort of abbreviation, in the term we're discussing here it's a literal abbreviation of "Japanese Crap" (apropos of nothing - sounds much more insulting like that with the ironic alliterative rhyme removed!) and refers to a place of origin, rather than the people who live there. Therefore it's a mock-generalisation about the instruments themselves, rather than any reference to the people who make them. I said I'd never use the term to refer to individuals, and that's because I can't really envisage a context where it [i]wouldn't [/i]be either an insult or at least a faintly derogatory generalisation. Context is everything, and if the context here is ironic, irreverent British humour, plainly that doesn't translate well across some cultural divides - however the membership of BC is primarily UK, and the fact that the thread's been running & pretty active for 7 years does suggest the title's not a problem for the people who use it - so presumably it's taken the way it's intended. I hope. So - after all this, how do I feel about it? I would prefer the thread to keep the title it has, but after all this consideration have to admit a little part of me is [i]faintly[/i] uneasy about it. There's also a tiny reactionary element of me (call it my Inner Farage - no, on second thoughts, let's not) that thinks BC is a British forum & we really shouldn't feel we have to sanitise how we express ourselves in case we upset the sensibilities of a tiny minority of visitors. Of course we embrace people from other parts of the world, but When In Rome & all that... So to sum up - I dunno. J.

[quote name='simon1964' timestamp='1400974246' post='2458818'] Jon - a very balanced post. But given that you acknowledge the phrase is considered offensive in the USA (as it it is in most parts of the world) why not change the title to Japanese Classics or similar? The irony is that this thread actually recognises how good some Japanese copies are - so to use a term that is racially offensive to the people who produced those basses seems somewhat bizarre. [/quote] To answer the first point - the term "JapCrap " was always intended as ironic humour, the point being that for the most part, MIJ instruments are good to excellent quality, and not "crap" in any sense. For me it also satirises the way older BC members (such as myself) regarded them back when we were young & easily-led brand slaves! To reply to the second point, I'm actually interested in whether it is in fact offensive to the people who produced the basses, or if it just offends the politically-correct, who so often seem determined to take offence on the behalf of others. Anyway, it is late, I'm tired and am probably not making as much sense as I would like to. I'll return to this when I've had some kip. J.

For me, it derives from old biker slang. When I was a kid getting into bikes, JapCrap went hand in hand with BritShit, (I ride a BritShit bike these days) and YankW@nk. If Korea had a motorcycle industry it would've been KoreaDiarrhoea. In the UK these abbreviations were not, are not, and I doubt will ever be intended as insults. This said, personally I'd never use the abbreviation to refer to a Japanese person. I am very aware how unacceptable the use of the term is on US - based forums. Cynic that I am, I've always been vaguely suspicious that this felt a bit like an attempt to utilise political correctness to redress potential collective guilt from the USA having waged nuclear war against Japan - or for whatever other reasons the US might feel bad about its historical relationship with Japan. Just my view on this - I love Japanese instruments, and have what is probably an incredibly romantcially idealised notion of Japanese culture. I suppose what actually makes any difference is whether this colloquial use of language would be perceived as offensive by any Japanese person using BC. Don't know if there are any Japanese BC members, but a few people on here have lived & worked there so might have a bit of insight into the matter. Jon.

Has this been on before? I seem to remember wondering why that horrible P ashtray's been stuck on it & what it's hiding. If the original bridge is gone, you'd struggle to find one to replace it. Jon.

I would. But I'm not allowed to buy anything else. Jon.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1400767921' post='2456805'] If it was me, I would buy all three. [/quote] There's your answer. Obvious, really. Jon.

It's an iconic bit of hardware so it's a sad day if it's no longer in production - I do remember reading somewhere that Leo Quan had died - but personally I'm not a big fan. There are various high-mass bridges that are more refined, compact & better engineered than the somewhat crude BA2, in my opinion - Schaller 3D, Babicz Full Contact etc. Just wondering whether to hang on to the shiny nearly-new BA2 in my spares box, just to see how mad prices go... Jon.

No GAS allowed for a month or twenty Eric. I have had a couple of indiscretions recently but the trend is to part with gear rather than to accrue more, due to an imminent house move. Got room for another T40? J.

To be honest, I've never seen one in real life - I'm something of a fan of vintage Japanese basses & I tend to notice these things. I think it's a strong likelihood they were never sold in the UK. You'd be surprised how much cool stuff doesn't make it over here! Jon.