Bassassin

Without seeing it, generic Japanese or Korean (same design was made in both countries) short-scale starter bass. Body is probably plywood, pickups are definitely single-coils in mini-humbucker size cases. These basses were sold with lots of different names on the headstock, and also like this one, unbranded, which means it's not "an" anything. You see so many basses with this same Burns-influenced design that I tend to think a few different factories made them - as I said, I ve seen both MIJ and MIK examples. Here's an early 70s Aria catalogue with a very similar bass: [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/catalogs/75_aria/75_aria_catalog_pg1.jpg.html"]http://www.matsumoku...og_pg1.jpg.html[/url] Notice there's no brand name on the headstock. This is because these were stock factory shots used by any reseller who the manufacturer supplied. And in this case, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the factory wasn't Matsumoku! Jon.

Glad it went to someone on here, and also glad I didn't end up in a bidding war with people I (sort of) socialise with. Would have been wasted on me, really - I'm only after a fretless J neck for an ongoing project (that evidence suggests I'll never finish anyway) so would have ended up flogging its remains on here anyway... J.

Only reason I didn't bid on this was that it ran out at 7.30 this morning and I wasn't up in time for a last-second punt! Silly low price it went for - wonder why on earth he advertised it like that? Jon.

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1386951393' post='2306762'] Thanks for that Jon. I like its looks immensely, like the idea of it - a top end 80s MIJ bass is always going to be good! But, as you say, too rich for my wallet. £200 less and I guess I'd be bidding against you! [/quote]Quite possibly - but my ballpark's probably closer to £400 less! [/gyppo] J.

Don't know anything about these specifically but Riverheads were quite desirable back in the day - I had (and still have) significant GAS for the Riverhead Unicorn headless - like a Steinberger shape with a contoured body styled after the Burns Flyte. This one's very uncommon (seen pics on vintage guitar forums but never seen a real one) and it's probably worth £475 to a wealthier JapCrap collector than me. I would expect it to be a very decent instrument. Jon.

From the ad: [quote][font=verdana][color=#00429A]An electric piccolo bass is similar to a four-stringed electric bass, but is usually tuned one octave higher. The lowest note of a piccolo bass usually being equal to the E found on the seventh fret of the A string of a standard bass[b][size=4].[/size][/b][/color][/font][/quote] So - it's a four-string guitar, then. Jon.

As an unashamed gyppo gear-flogger, rule-of-thumb is avoid Christmas, as most people don't have money for gear before, and don't have money [u]at all[/u] immediately afterwards! Rein in the GAS & wait for the January pay packets! Jon.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1386510555' post='2300834'] Hohner headless guitars/basses used to come in that finish too. [/quote] They did - I've got one! Anyway, free ZZB? Welcome to nineteen eighty phwooar! I'd love an old pointy 80s bass (had a Washburn B20 Stage back in the day) - but now it'd have to be strictly for jazz gigs. Jon.

The Ventura name was used recently on some new low-end cheapies being sold through Ebay a couple of years ago - there's every probability that thiis is what it'll be. Probably worth £30. A few points about old Jap Jazzes and Venturas. Ventura was a brand name owned by distributor C. Bruno in Chicago, and Japanese Venturas were never exported to the UK. There will be one or two floating around so you can't rule it out but it's highly unlikely this will be one. Always worth remembering that 70s Japanese J copies almost always have block position markers, 99% will say "Japan" on the neckplate or somewhere in the hardware - and lots of them weren't very good. Jon.

A few months back we played a pub gig with a band which featured a long-term former Groundhogs member, drummer Ken Pustelnik. Really lovely guy and an excellent drummer. Interestingly, the band in question is fronted by a former Hawkwind member, Paul Hayles. The music was all original & didn't feature anything by their former bands. I have a lot of respect for guys like these whose pro careers are effectively over but who continue writing & performing because that's simply what they do. Jon.

I'd be a bit worried by that cheap scarf-jointed headstock with all that string tension on it! Still if it stays under a ton it'd make for a cheap headless project... Jon.

Easy when you've got [spoiler]an old Jedson catalogue[/spoiler] J.

My band exists as a vehicle to perform songs written by me & the vocalist - that's how it's been from the outset. Everything's demo'd to a high standard before handing it over to the guys & taking it into the practice room. I'm an OK guitar player & can programme pretty competent drum parts, but they have free rein to improve & embellish their parts as they see fit. As the song becomes a performance piece, it will evolve and improve and sometimes change. I've always been open to contributions & collaboration from the band, but they've never seemed that bothered! This is pretty much how every originals band I've been in has worked, even when I've not been a main composer. I've never been involved in an original song that's evolved from a jam. Jon.

Cheers Eric, look forward to hearing from you! Jedson? House brand of Dallas-Arbiter, formerly J.E. Dallas & Sons. See what they did there? Anyway, early 70s Jedsons were often Matsumoku-sourced so it's probable that ones identical to this are out there. And if you ever see an old Jap copy of a Jazz with "Status" on the head, that's actually a Jedson 4450 Sabre bass. No, I don't understand it either. J.

It was inevitable that returning to BC after a long absence would have a detrimental effect. I am not at all proud to say that I appear to be reverting to type. First blood goes to an Eros Mark II Jazz copy from Ebay: Arrived this morning, fresh out of the bubblewrap and as yet uncleaned, unrebuilt & obviously unplayed. This is a Matsumoku-built bass, and based on details like the tuners, pickups and knobs, dates from around 1971, making it one of the earliest accurate Jazz copies. Apart from a replaced nut & (possibly) jack, it's all original & lacks only the ashtrays & tug bar it would have been sold with. Quality-wise, it's several cuts above the ubiquitous Columbus copies with its solid 3-piece mahogany body & real MOP inlays. Everything looks good - pickups & electrics work, truss rod adjusts, neck's good & straight with virtually no fretwear. No damage beyond the inevitable lacquer chips & scratches and an oddly-bent saddle screw. More pics: Bit of background, if you're still awake - Eros & Eros Mk2 were brands used by importer Rosetti (who, confusingly, also distributed Italian-made & unrelated E-Ros acoustics) and early ones were sourced from Matsumoku & Fujigen. Later Eroses (?) were Korean-made and more in line with Hondo & Satellite in terms of quality, but this is the 3rd MIJ Eros I've had, and they're very nice instruments. Looking forward to getting it fully stripped & cleaning it up. Jon.

First NBD for me in a while - here's the Eros Jazz, fresh from the (copious) cardboard & bubblewrap: Pleasantly surprised - under 40 years' grime, the neck's in very good condition, everything's original apart from the nut, no damage apart from the knocks & chips you'd expect. Cleaned up this will be a very nice example of a very early (black button tuners date it to around '71) Japanese Jazz copy. I may give it its own thread. J.

Classy. Easy translation of garish blue text - ineptly assembled piece of garbage made mostly from shoddy junk parts. Two nice vintage tuners on it (Gotoh Resolites) - presumably he binned the others because they [font="Arial"][size="4"][i][color="#002cfd"]"WHERE A BIT LOOSE"[/color][/i][/size][/font] - shame he didn't notice the torque adjuster screws. Jon.

If you're in the market for a Speccy, have you seen this one? http://basschat.co.uk/topic/222040-westone-spectrum-gt-bass-w-hardcase-l160-posted/ A fair bit higher up the food chain than the Ebay one.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1386157973' post='2296456'] 'High end' is anything over 100 notes for you though Jon [/quote] That's a fair point. J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1386154875' post='2296391'] You appear to be coming into your stride in terms of buying stuff :)I If you search on "Old Bass Guitar" on ebay, and find the red (I think) one with that title, are you tempted? [/quote] Fortunately having just changed energy supplier, I have a reasonable deal (for a month or two at least) and less of a need for firewood! I normally only post stuff I don't intend buying - the Matsumoku J was a rare exception due to a moment of weakness. If that Daion had a J pup as well as the P, it wouldn't be on here! J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1386157310' post='2296440'] Incidentally, can anyone explain how you can look at a piece of sawn wood and confidently announce that it was done with a "surgical saw"? [/quote] Probably when you'd used your very own "surgical saw" that morning to hack bits off your Aria Laser Heritage! J.

Having been away from BC for a couple of years I admit I was not pleasantly surprised to find selling gear is no longer free. However I appreciate the reasons and will, like NAS, pay the £20 in the new year, when people might have money to spend on old Japanese basses rather than figgy pudding, mince pies and iPads! The marketplace feels different, though - dunno if it's a result of the fees or just the changing membership on BC, but there seems to be proportionately a lot more high-end stuff, and less of the sort of [s]shonky tat[/s] - sorry - modestly priced vintage curiosities - that I'm usually drawn to. Speaking from a seller's perspective though, a fee's a lot easier to comfortably accept when the bass in question's £500+ rather than £60. Jon.

Moving on, this really is something you don't see every day: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121228649213"]Daion Power Mark X-B[/url] These are the proverbial rocking horse poo and £300 is probably pretty reasonable. Made by Yamaki, have a close look at the hardware & build details and you can see why a lot of JapCrap anoraks believe the early MIJ Washburns (like that lovely Vulture) came from the same factory. Slightly more modest but getting quite rare, a Vantage VS600 (I think), looks pretty tidy: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141132131797"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141132131797[/url] J.

If this stays cheap, I might have a punt on it for the neck - my old RSB Deluxe 2 has a horrible & uncorrectable twist and I have a hunch this would be a straight swap. Looks like the end of the headstock's been lopped off too, but that's not too noticeable & could be reshaped. Jon.