Bassassin

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.

Spectacular! I knew these existed, previously I'd only seen these scraggy little Ebay pics from about 5 years ago: [sharedmedia=core:attachments:35315] [sharedmedia=core:attachments:35316] So - how much, and where from? I want one! J.

Looks fantastic! No scratchplate. Jon.

Bits of the review are faintly amusing, but I don't need to hear the album to know they'll still be peddling the exact same insipid, diluted U2-circa-Unforgettable-Fire knock-off slop that's made America love them so very hard. Just as well they're so incredibly easy to ignore, they pretty much barely exist in the first place. Jon.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1400442117' post='2453937'] The lower horn pointing the "wrong" way on the Riverhead bass took me a few tens of seconds to get used to. But, now I think it's one of the best looking headless basses I've seen. [/quote] That's quite amazing-looking. The steampunk bridge/tuner is remarkable! J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1400444542' post='2453972'] Sold for £411. [/quote] Total bargain. Be surprised if another one of these turns up anytime soon. J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1400269561' post='2452555'] Can I phone you at 6am on a Sunday if I find a misshapen lump of wood with "Made in Japan" on the neck plate? [/quote] By all means. I won't actually answer, though. That's a serious car boot alright. J.

Never fear, Captain Twit - despite having long since lost any grasp of anything remotely useful in the Real World, I can still remember countless useless bits of info about cheapo bass & guitar brands, so I'm confident I'll be able to [s]pontificate endlessly[/s] - [i]offer advice[/i] - about all your Junk Bass needs for decades to come. Davetbass - glad it went to someone who'll appreciate it! J.

A lot of the later Jedsons were Matsumoku-made, including the LP copies (although not the bass in the link) and sometimes do get quite daft money on Ebay. Jedson was J.E. Dallas & Sons' house brand (see what they did there etc.), when J.E.D. amalgamated into Dallas-Arbiter, Jedson was replaced by the Arbiter brand. Some of them are quite decent too. J.

Same bass is on Ebay for £130, with added fabrications about its origin: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/S-D-Curlee-Bass-Guitar-USA-Model-Vintage-and-Rare-hondo-11-model-/201089574171 Jon.

I have an unbranded guitar version of this - it's actually pretty good, bass is probably not too bad either. FYI that's a Jedson Scimitar Bass, model 4454. Jon.

If it had the original pre-litigation Fender headstock I probably would. Picked up a Fenix Strat at my local car boot a couple of years back. Paid £30 and thought I could probably flip it for maybe £150 - £170ish. Still have it - it's the nicest Strat I've played and p!sses all over my '84 MIJ E-serial Squier. Fenixes were seriously good. J.

Hi - like most of the brands you see on old 60s & 70s cheapos, it's not a "make" at all, just a brand name chosen by the importer/distributor. In this instance the distributor was John Hornby Skewes Ltd, from Leeds. Without seeing the bass I can't tell you definitively whether it's junk or not, however Zenta was JHS' low-end starter range, so quality is unlikely to be great. However, like all of these brands, there was a price/quality range and the dearer Zentas will have been better instruments than the rock-bottom ones. Any chance you can show a pic or two? It might be possible to tell whether it's Korean/Taiwanese (very ropey quality back then) or MIJ (generall more likely to be useable). These old instruments can have a sort of kitschy collectability, and if you are lucky enough to get a decent one (quality control was pretty much non-existent) it might be fun & sound interesting. Whatever you do, don't pay much - these don't have any real value as such so around £50-£60 should be the ballpark. Jon.

Literally just round the corner from me. Must.... resist..... Jon.

Had to dig a bit to find your feedback thread Graeme! Just bought a very pretty bass from Graeme, delighted with the bass & the deal couldn't have been smoother or easier. Bass arrived promptly, well-packed and Graeme even included a diagram to indicate which holes the different-length neck bolts go in. Highly recommended, would be happy to do business again. Jon.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1399970696' post='2449371'] I have a vague suspicion that my lowball bid will not be enough to win it. And I have a vague suspicion that if by some freak of economics I did win it, that I wouldn't be in the slightest bit inclined to sell it on [/quote] That's saddeningly uncharitable of you but perfectly understandable. It's OK though, robbery is always an option. J.

Blimey, that's extraordinarily rare and lovely. Someone in Watford - buy it & sell it to me! Jon.

Cort through-neck (Korean), sensible start price of £50: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/bass-guitar-/261476776943 Bonus if the Precision pup turns out to be a DiMarzio Model P. J.

[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1399734489' post='2447163'] There's been a purple/blue one on ebay on and off for quite a while [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hartke-XL-4-Bass-Guitar-US-made-with-Vaccaro-aluminium-neck-/191162736496?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2c822fdf70"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2c822fdf70[/url] [/quote] That's our resident Weird Bass Guru, BigRedX selling that one. J.

Interesting, but I wouldn't touch this without seeing it first. About 8 years so back, a bunch of these necks were doing the rounds on Ebay, I picked one up for a project, when I got it, it was obvious the headstock was bent forward from the wooden back component of the neck & the fretboard was delaminating. Fair enough, returned it for a refund no problem, but I did a bit of reading about these and it appears this was a common issue - the headstocks are welded on (presumably not particularly well) and the necks are very susceptible to temperature changes - I found details of extreme examples, eg where a bass had been in the luggage hold of an aircraft, temperature changes & string tension causing the head to detach completely. Pretty sure the neck I'd had was failing in the same way - it had signs of use and I think it was being pulled apart by string tension. Jon.

[quote name='bh2' timestamp='1399706998' post='2446788'] I also had a bass by H Noble... he is also on the list (don't tell him Pike!), although I've heard he's a made up geezer. [/quote] Not exactly made up - Hayashi-san is held in high esteeem by many MIJ fans: [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/nobuaki_hayashi.html"]http://www.matsumoku...ki_hayashi.html[/url] Arguably his Atlansias are more innovative than the Aria/Matsumoku designs he's best known for. J.