Bassassin

Guilty?

As charged, it's a fair cop, I'll come quietly, got me bang to rights etc.

Nah. After I'd been playing a little while I thought it might be a good idea to learn the dots & some theory, so I bought a 'How To Read Music' book. Started working through it, but as my playing involved either copying what people had already played, or creating bass lines for my band's songs (both of which I found easy), there seemed little point in persisting.

Never went back to it, although I do wonder if better formal musical knowledge would have been a benefit to my songwriting. Or rather, 'songmakingup'.

2 hours ago, jezzaboy said:

Calling @Bassassin 

 

Thats quite nice looking.

Not anything I'm familiar with - from the body & headstock laminations it looks through-neck. As has been said, looks influenced by that 90s style of Ibby Soundgear / Nanyo Bass Collection / Tune Bass Maniac types, although I doubt it's MIJ.

The style, build & offset dots have a very Cort-y look to them, quite a lot like the Artisan A4. Wouldn't mind seeing more pics, if there are any.

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

The bear appears rather disinterested given the situation? 

 He's at a Kylie gig. Go figure...

17 hours ago, merello said:

Do Fender own Charvel? Look very like the Charvel basses minus the J pick up?

 First thought was, oh - it's this:

...only more timid.

Very nice example. Overpriced to the tune of about £1000 though.

I mean - these are excellent instruments & the through-neck Thunder IIs & IIIs have appreciated, but Westones were never regarded as sought-after or pro instruments. This is getting on for double what you'd pay for something like an SB1000.

Chickenbacker - highly inaccurate £200 Chinese copy. Probably junk.

1 hour ago, Richard R said:

What does the front look like? Surely it can't be too bad?

Still a lot like this, only with the headstock lopped off!

If all goes well there will be a few details to make it more eye-catching - but that's pretty much it.

29 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

That's what's known in certain circles as a transformation

 

Great job 

 Getting there - but I'm having to live with the realisation it's always going to look better from the back!

From this:

To this...

And 5 coats of Danish Oil later...

Going to want a few more, but we're getting somewhere.

1 hour ago, lemmywinks said:

 

Here's what was fitted to my Sire V7 Gen1, different tuners

 

They definitely look like generic low-end parts.  When I got mine I assumed from everything I'd read about crap hardware on Sires that they must've started fitting better components.

Bought mine just a few months before the Gen 2s appeared so it's maybe more of a Gen 1.5!

You have to wonder at what point the 'builder' realised he was hopelessly out of his depth.

Fwiw looks like those tuners could be dismantled and reassembled as L/H.

12 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

Tuners...

These are nice and reasonable...

https://www.northwestguitars.co.uk/4-x-open-back-bass-tuners-for-right-handed-bass-guitar/

Screw hols were bang-on for what i needed so was extra handy... Aria Pro Jazz

Those are the actual tuners fitted as standard to my first gen MM V7! Grover 142 clones with torque screws.

I have an Aria STB-GT, doesn't really need new tuners but these are nice...

This seller has 100-odd poorly photographed guitars & basses, many of which have 4-figure price tags. Possibly lazy & delusional but doesn't look like a scammer.

I have a 2000-ish (so modern-ish) MIJ Talbo bass, a reissue of the 80s aluminium oddity.

It's an amazing-looking & nice playing thing but the hollow metal body makes it quite resonant and microphonic, making it very prone to feedback in my last noisy rock band, meaning it didn't get out too often.

I have a gen 1 V7 fretless and don't understand the negativity surrounding the tuners - unless earlier ones were different, they're accurate & nice quality Grover 142 clones with adjustable torque. I do wonder if some people have slippage issues and they've not noticed the adjustment screw?

No issues with the functionality of the bridge on mine, although I'm slightly (I'm sure needlessly) uncomfortable with the vintage type threaded saddles & flatwounds.

New one on me - had a bit of a dig and it's on page 56 of this 1988 Greco catalogue:

https://vintagejapanguitars.com/greco-1989-catalogue/

Should be good quality, at this point Greco was still exclusively MIJ & Fujigen was the factory.

Not going to be a particularly common bass so I'd leave it stock, or at least don't do anything irreversible.

37 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

Is that a smarties lid?

Wot - the blue bit?

It's a bit of clear blue acrylic rod poked through the hole.

So to speak.

After some delays, and stuff getting in the way, it would seem that I have taken something functional but ugly, and repurposed it into something weird and functionless.

An improvement? Who am I to judge?

Anyway - next, a little bit of fret dressing, then slapping on some Danish Oil. Wonder if I can get the cloth to spontaneously combust this time?

Much as I don't like to have all-time favourites of anything, I'd have to concede that the single biggest influence on the way I ended up playing, and (in the context of his former pop group) how I approach music in general, would be this dude:

On 05/07/2022 at 19:55, prowla said:

Not having its original TRC and damage impacts its value. 

 Agree about the damage (although if it's only minor fretboard delamination near the nut, it's a really easy fix) but most Fakers don't have their original trc & I wouldn't say it impacts value.

Would need to see pics to confirm it's a Kasuga - but imo €600 is a lot for any Faker.

My first amp (1981) was a T&B 50, the snakeskin covered one. Got it from a charity shop for £20, with a matching 2x12 cab. Gigged mine with a home-made 1x15, dunno how it really sounded but it impressed the f*** out of teenage me!

It died when our drummer's basement (where we used to practice) flooded. The annoying thing (devastating at the time) was that I'd just left the band but hadn't picked my gear up yet.

I did already know about this - and I envy the lives, free from related mental and emotional scarring, of those who do not.

I've seen them a few times over the years, was a big fan in their very early days and saw them at King Tut's in Glasgow in (I think) 1995, and chatted to Cass for a bit after the gig. Phenomenal player and a thoroughly lovely human being. Back then he was still 'that guy out of Terence Trent D'Arby's band'!

8 hours ago, Max Normal said:

Looks heavily shimmed - it's got quite a strong backwards break angle on the neck/body joint, which should usually result in a lower action (or choking on the higher frets).

 

This isn't the original bridge by the looks, you can see that it doesn't fit the routing where the original bridge would have been. If the saddles are too tall, this might explain the need for the backwards break angle.

Or there's a problem with the neck?

 

Looks like you can't do a factory setup on this bass without a bit of work. I'd pass.

I think the neck shim's a consequence of the swapped bridge - the original would have sat in a shallow route which appears to have been filled & the replacement just plonked on top. Action's pretty brutal although the saddles are bottomed out by the looks. These were rare basses so finding the proper bridge would be close to impossible - and even if you did, you'd need to re-route it. It's also been de-fretted (which won't help the action) although that looks like a decent job.

Pity - first 5-string I ever saw in the flesh & played was one of these.