Bassassin

[quote name='tino' post='1155589' date='Mar 9 2011, 05:04 PM']Tell me how many guitars do you see where the scale length is in the text.FEW.......I guess I just take it that a buyer either knows or does their homework... T[/quote] Fair point but most basses are 34" - 30-inchers are uncommon (ooer missus etc) and it's sometimes not immediately obvious from pics. With a bass like yours it's a specific uncommon feature & worth a mention. J.

[quote name='chaypup' post='1155284' date='Mar 9 2011, 01:29 PM']Thanks Jon, fixed it now. By the way, It has the "Steel Adjustable Neck" plate that you mentioned.[/quote] Yep - that's a Matski alright - very close relative of the [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=57034"]Epiphone ET280[/url], in fact the same bass with a different headstock & paintjob. These were also sold under the Aria brand, and they date to the early 70s. J.

[quote name='chaypup' post='1155063' date='Mar 9 2011, 11:09 AM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ibenez-Roadster-Bass-Series-1979-/180634307347?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2a0ea4cb13"]Commodore[/url] Are these Matsumoku's? I found this thread [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=9999"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=9999[/url] still unclear![/quote] You've linked to the "Ibenez" (potential barg because of the literacy issue) twice, so I can't see the Commodore in question, but if it's one of the old ones then quite possibly. The Commodore brand has been sighted on recent cheap Chinese copies, not seen it on a new bass though. Jon.

Might be helpful if this topic had a poll, either delete asking price/info or keep it as an archive. Personally I leave all asking prices, pics & info on my FS threads, and just mark them sold. Assuming you haggle like a proper pikey, actual sale prices are usually discussed by PM so are seldom mentioned. Some self-hosted pics will disappear if webspace gets cleaned up etc. I've always found old FS threads very useful when establishing the price of a particular bit of equipment or researching the history of something specific. Deleting or editing info can make this frustrating, and in my view is utterly pointless. So don't do it, kids! Jon.

[quote name='hellothere' post='1154823' date='Mar 9 2011, 01:54 AM']Where can I find out more about Rickenfakers? Such as why there are so many and if there is any way to spot a "good" one without playing it.[/quote] There are so many because the Rick 4000 series design dates back to the 1950s and copies have being made since approximately 1970. There's not really a foolproof way of spotting a good one (my best-quality one is damn-near unplayable!) but many of the new ones have had very good receptions from people on here who have got them. However, most of these are not particularly accurate copies, so if that matters, you need to look at the 70s Japanese ones - probably the best way would be to wait until one comes up for sale on BC, at least you get more communication with the owner & possibly previous owners too. [quote]cross Jon's palm with silver [/quote] That'll be a fiver - cheers! J.

[quote name='farmer61' post='1154884' date='Mar 9 2011, 08:04 AM']Friend of family = Get your money back, save for a real Rick and learn a life lesson. Move on..![/quote] The lesson in question being that paying £2000-odd for a bass won't stop it from being awkward, uncomfortable, tonally limited, not necessarily spectacularly well-made, and a gargantuan one-trick pony which hasn't evolved for 40 years. I love the Rick sound & look but would never pay that sort of money for a bass that, because of the above, I know I'd hardly ever play. This is one of the reasons I like Rick copies. That & the fact they're very rare & interesting - any tw@t with more money than sense (or more money than me!) can go & buy a Rickenbacker. J.

[quote name='tomb' post='1154796' date='Mar 9 2011, 12:52 AM']i guess you really are the rickclopedia Bassassin [/quote] JapCrap generally, specialist subject The RickenFaker! Dunno why, really! J.

Sigma, in this instance, is just another brand name attached to a generic-but-good 70s MIJ Rick copy. The bass is the same as those branded Shaftesbury, Cimar etc and a few BC members own or have owned these. I don't own one myself (although one of my 3 Fakers might have started life as one - it was just a body/neck when I got it) but they are typically well-made & pretty much as authentic as they come. In the event you're interested, Sigma was actually the budget brand of CF Martin, understandably it's a lot more common on acoustic guitars, but Martin did dabble in dodgy copies of other US manufacturers' stuff in the 70s. To the best of my knowledge Martin was the first American manufacturer to contract Japanese factories to build affordable licensed replicas of their instruments - they were importing acoustics made by Kasuga Gakki as far back as 1969. I'm afraid I don't know who made this bass - not Kasuga, but the factory remains as-yet unidentified. Jon.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='1154664' date='Mar 8 2011, 10:23 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Columbus-Jazz-Bass-MIJ-Masumoku-/230594743776?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item35b0848de"]Columbus Jazz Bass MIJ Matsumoku[/url] I now sit back and wait until Jon gets here to see how many of the claims for this bass (MIJ, Matsumoku) are true.[/quote] MIJ: Matsumoku: 1980: J.

Looks fine for a Loft Monster, I'd be surprised if there was anything wrong with it that a good hose-down wouldn't fix. Don't expect it to go for any £50 though. Jon.

[quote name='Rickenbacker Bloke']That bass is a fake. To me it looks like an old Ibanez copy.[/quote] He's entirely wrong. It is absolutely [b]not[/b] an Ibanez, and it isn't any other Japanese brand either. I'm pretty certain this is one of the Italian manufacturers from the 70s (you see those big cream hex-pole humbuckers on late 70/early 80s Eko basses) and at this stage I'm sticking with Gherson. People who are aware of "lawsuit" copies but haven't actually spent any time studying the instruments tend to think they were all "made by Ibanez". The confusing truth is that none of them were. J.

[quote name='tino' post='1154228' date='Mar 8 2011, 06:32 PM']Tiz Not Tis a 30" but theres loads of arse left on it to drop a BA in further down if thats the length you need ..lol I was once considering puting a second pickup in that would have required the bridge moving down,I even bought a rikiripoff bridge to do it.....just others took priority and I fely this one should remain as is due to the good original condition,see I do have a heart [/quote] Good job you didn't mate - you can't shift the bridge without affecting the intonation & the pitch above the 12th fret! You'd need a longer neck if you wanted to reposition the bridge! J.

Hi - sorry to confirm that the bass is not a Rickenbacker. I'm not 100% sure what it is but the twin-trussrod adjusters are the same as those used on Italian-made Ghersons, although the Ghersons I have seen have different tuners and a more Rickenbacker-styled bridge. They also had the more common triangle inlays so this is possibly a different model from the same range. An interesting & unusual Faker, but not a real Rick, I'm afraid. Jon. Edit - just checked your other thread & if you got that for €250, you should still be well pleased, that's a steal for any Faker!

These are DiMarzio Model Js - they still make them and new they're about £100 a set. Sadly I don't think there's a vintage "premium" for old ones, they tend to go around the £50-£60 mark. Are you sure they're 1974? I thought the Model J & Model P lines appeared around '78/'79. They are nice, punchy, warm-sounding pups, I have a set (one 70s with the PAF sticker, one more recent) in my CSL Jazz and they do sound sweet. Jon.

[quote name='tino' post='1152723' date='Mar 7 2011, 05:41 PM']So it wasn't you offering the Gherkinns & a shiny 50p??? [/quote] Not me Squire. I could do you a box of Betamax videos (some featuring "adult" content) and one of those gadgets for shaving the fluff off of knitwear if you're game. J.

Nice lot of early bids your Maya's attracting Tino! Might even have a sneaky punt myself... J.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='1152021' date='Mar 6 2011, 10:55 PM']Am I missing something, or is this going for more than would normally be expected? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270713069923"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=270713069923[/url][/quote] Lots & lots, no idea why but can't help suspecting a bit of shill action. I've watched a few of these in the past & they go for up to £150ish. So typically they go for a lot less than the Hohner B2A (also made by Cort), but this time it's arse-about-face: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260746887873"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=260746887873[/url] Even odder as the black & white finish is rare as f*** - they only made these for the first year (1985) that B2As were around. Jon.

[quote name='chaypup' post='1151609' date='Mar 6 2011, 04:38 PM']I THINK I like this [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Fame-861-Tokai-Bass-HC-Hondo-MIJ-Japan-/290541455679?pt=Guitar&hash=item43a59ec93f#ht_860wt_936"]Tokai[/url], but then I'm not so sure....[/quote] You mean the HONDO? Tokai, indeed. And people wonder why you get cynical. Very nice bass apart from the w@nky droopy pointy 80s headstock (I was in the 80s & the ubiquity of these things has left me with a spontaneous gag reaction) but this is a Samick, made in Korea, like 90% of Hondos. That round brown & white sticker with the writing is a Samick factory inspection sticker. There's actually a foolproof way of spotting & recognising Made In Japan instruments, and I really should do more to go out of my way to publicise & promote it. They say "Made In Japan" on them. J.

[quote name='meatbingo' post='1151411' date='Mar 6 2011, 01:03 PM']That was my auction. I still have the bass. For the record I certainly wasn't pretending that it was a Greco. Rather cynical of you to have assumed so. We don't all have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Rickenfakers.[/quote] Eh up, sorry, didn't mean to cause offence & I hope I did my bit for clarity when I messaged you on Ebay with the correct ID for your bass. It's absolutely fine to advertise Rick copies here, selling them here or anywhere else in the world is perfectly legal and your right as the owner. Ebay's an American company - in actual fact based very close to Rickenbacker International Corp in California - and they remove listings for "Rickenfakers" to keep themselves in the clear and avoid incurring the legal wrath of RIC themselves. RIC own trademarks for every element of the 4001/4003 design, and US law requires that a trademark owner must pursue every visible infringement of that trademark, or run the risk of it passing into the public domain - as has already happened for Fender & Gibson. This is why they - or Ebay on their behalf - shut down "infringing" auctions, regardless of where in the world they appear, technically it carries no legal weight in the UK & is just an effect of Ebay being a US company. Best of luck if you do sell the bass on here! Jon.

Hello Captain Search Function: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=105025"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=105025[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=96975"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=96975[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=57558"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=57558[/url] Some of them are quite pretty, but otherwise they appear to be inexplicably expensive Chinese (or wherever) - made knockoffs, some of which (the Rick "copy" particularly) are a bit rubbish-looking. Jon.

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='1150733' date='Mar 5 2011, 05:09 PM']I really liked the look of that. Then I [url="http://www.giggear.co.uk/p/Ibanez-Grooveline-G104-Bass-Natural/"]saw the price[/url]. I still like the look of it... I just know now that I won't be getting one. [/quote] Bloody hell - thought it would be steep but that's probably about a grand more than I would've guessed. The price of JapCrap these days, I dunno! So no, not for me, either. If I ever lose enough good sense to consider spending that much on a bass it'll be my own design, hand-built by the luthier of my choice. J.

A few on here have been getting a little bit tumescent over this: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=118571"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=118571[/url] I certainly like it, rather a lot. Pretty sure this will be at the rarefied end of the range (if it ever makes it to the UK) and I'm looking forward to getting a proper look at one. Jon.

That's so comprehensively butchered there's no remaining evidence that it ever was a real Rick! The funniest thing - or perhaps the only funny thing - is the price. Amazes me how these Ebay special-needs cases always imagine that their inept hack-jobs actually [b]increase[/b] the value of the poor bass they've been raping. Jon.

[quote name='tino' post='1149722' date='Mar 4 2011, 05:55 PM']Your not an orrid C**t at all [/quote] You wouldn't say that if I blagged your El Maya for a tenner! Now, that green thing's very interesting, looks in lovely nick too. You might well be right about Teisco/Kawai as a manufacturer, certainly looks related in a lot of ways. Never seen one of these before, so what exactly is it then? Ross - like you say, Global is one of millions of rebrands - most of the names on JapCrap are. This one is, I'd say Korean rather than MIJ, I'm basing that on the plain, narrow neckplate & the slightly odd-shaped truss rod cover. These are very Hondo-esque, as is the finish, which unashamedly displays its edge laminations - the Japanese at least tried to hide the plywood! I'd bet you'd find plastic buttons rather than metal on the tuners, too. For what it's worth I think that Columbus J posted earlier is Korean too. Still looks nice, though J.

[quote name='tino' post='1148709' date='Mar 3 2011, 06:31 PM']Cheers 99p tiz den[/quote] If you're gonna go that route - lots of very detailed, clear pics, an accurate & honest description - and a title stuffed with keywords to get the hits. And don't forget, there are no certainties - it could still sell for three quid to an 'orrible c*** like me... J.