Bassassin

[quote name='JTUK' post='1037455' date='Nov 26 2010, 09:46 AM']I would add that the flip side of this is that this is a good place to buy...and so therefore attractive to both parties. All the deals..( buys) I have done have worked out well so I hope the ethos stays pretty much as is, personally.[/quote] +1 to this - I have been very happy with everything I've bought through BC, and I hope those who have bought from me feel the same. J.

Same guy was trying to punt these a few days ago at £475. That got pulled. J.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1037196' date='Nov 26 2010, 12:25 AM']I'd like to think if we get a good deal here, we can keep it "in the family", so to speak. I got hold of my Alembic Epic 5 string for £600 off the boards. I sold it on for the same price, to a buyer who had indicated interest to me early on when I was offering it for trade. I had offers that were higher than the asking price when I sold it, but not monumentally so. Suffice to say, I could have put a little bit of cash back in my pocket, but I didn't. I kept my word to the buyer and sold it for what I paid for it. Whats a few quid at the end of the day when this forum has given me so many good deals and so many awesome basses I would never buy new? It's all about karma...[/quote] Absolutely - just a couple of weeks back I got a GK700RB 1x15 combo for an absolute steal, considering how much the heads alone go for. In the unlikely event I go off it & want to sell it, it will be offered at what I paid. If it doesn't sell for that, I'll accept a good offer. However, my theoretical MIJ P - if I sold it here for the £25 I paid for it, it would be sort of hard to shrug off when it turned up on Ebay - or back here - for £400. A couple of years back, I spotted a lovely Ibanez ATK on Ebay - one of the early versions, not a reissue - up for £99 BIN. Would have liked to go for it myself but for various reasons I couldn't, so I flagged it up on here & unsurprisingly a BCer nabbed it. He thanked me for pointing it out & told me if he decided to sell, I'd get first shout. He was as good as his word, and a couple of weeks later I got an invitation to buy it. For £300. Well what the f@ck exactly do you say? J.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1036916' date='Nov 25 2010, 08:51 PM']i would never sell a bass for profit anywhere...i just dont think its right..im not a sales man and dont really care for money...[/quote] A direct question for you - and anyone else who feels like answering it then. You find a ridiculous, ludicrous bargain - say, an MIJ Precision on Gumtree for £25. Would you feel that, if you decided it wasn't for you, you should sell it on for what you paid, or would you be OK selling it to a BCer for a fair approximation of the going rate? Would any BC members actually expect a bargain like that to be passed on? I wouldn't buy a bass on here and then attempt to resell it on here for more than I paid - simply put, I feel that would make me look like a c@nt. If I'd done repair or restoration work to significantly improve it from how I got it then I think it would be reasonable to ask a little more, to reflect the time & expense. That is theoretical (I've never yet resold anything I bought on BC) but I have sold a number of items here that I obtained elsewhere, the prices I've asked here have been less than I would expect on Ebay, but in line with the going rate for similar gear here. I've also ended several Ebay auctions to sell to BC members, at a mutually agreed price - and it's fair to say I have made a profit on most of my sales here. Jon.

Eric - you're scaring me... J.

Best tip? If it's a bass, bass amp/effects or bass parts, sell them here. Jon.

[quote name='umph' post='1036142' date='Nov 25 2010, 11:52 AM']woah 500 pounds, do people know these are made outta ply and are terrible?[/quote] Shilled, got to be. Considering there are two other Hondos on at the moment - one with a ludicrous and desevedly ignored £500 BIN, and the other at £180 and running out this afternoon, this looks proper dodgy. You're hard-pushed to get 500 sovs for an Ibanez 2388B - just ask Tino. There's a decent bolt-neck Matsumoku project here: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rickenbacker-Bass-Japanese-Copy-/150524395000"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rickenbacker-Bass-Ja...y-/150524395000[/url] Looks OK, the guy seems to believe what any random idiot tells him about it, though. Me, I told him what it actually is. Wonder if he'll believe me? J.

[url="http://www.playawayguitars.com/play_away_guitars_shop.php?itemID=915"]Being a Bottom Specialist costs less than you might think.[/url] Jon.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1033603' date='Nov 23 2010, 10:07 AM']Musicman truss rod wheel of fortune.[/quote] You'll find this on any number of bum-end cheapo Jap & Korean guitars going back to the 60s [quote name='Chris2112' post='1034154' date='Nov 23 2010, 05:49 PM']When thinking of this I usually think of Kubicki first, I'll elaborate on a few points: The neck is 34 laminates of maple, chosen by Phil because he wanted a super stiff neck but without the high cost of graphite. It's ultra stiff and stable and doesn't suffer from dead spots![/quote] You'll also find this on oriental cheapos from the 60s onward - known to JapCrapologists as strip ply or strip mahogany, realistically they probably used it for its cheapness rather than stiffness - but they don't tend to twist & warp. Anyway - I'll suggest CNC machines for guitar manufacture - that'll be Matsumoku, 1974, iirc. Jon.

Interesting pair! The Corley looks innocuous at first but gets weirder the closer you look! I love the way the logo's a shonky knock-off of the old Peavey design! I would say it's probably Korean or Taiwanese - it's a bit too strange for JapCrap, by the time the Japanese started making copies they tended to be a bit more accurate. If the J pup's a DiMarzio it should be 4-wire, coloured green, white, black & red. I doubt the Schaller bridge is original. The LP bass is much more up my street, and I'd agree, early 70s. I've seen unbranded basses like this which have that big, horizontally-split headstock diamond a good few times - in fact I owned one back in nthe mists of time. Looks like then tuners aren't original on this. Got any pics of the back? Unfortunately, I don't know who made these, but I'm fairly confident that they weren't from any of the "big name" Japanese factories. I've not seen this particular model with a brand name but the plain Les Paul bass version (which is what I had) appears with several different names, including Jedson. Jon.

Arse. If he'd been posting that I would've just pulled the trigger & thought about it later. J.

[quote name='Paul S' post='1032709' date='Nov 22 2010, 03:01 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Westone-Thunder-II-R-H-electric-bass-padded-gig-bag-/260696812325?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cb2bdab25"]Really nice passive Westone Thunder II[/url] just been listed - BIN £100.[/quote] A hundred quid? Ridiculous, ludicrous bargain for a through-neck Thunder! Someone in Oxford get it bought! J.

Some black-as-the-ace-of-spades JapCrap - Westbury Track 2: [attachment=64631:track2full.jpg] And now, some close-formation aerobatics from the Westbury Synchro Pair: [attachment=64632:Westbury...hro_Pair.jpg] Jon.

[quote name='Musky' post='1032174' date='Nov 22 2010, 07:13 AM']Whoa, that's pretty gross! I didn't think it was possible to make one of those Kay 'fakers look worse than they already were. [/quote] It's amazing what can happen when misguidedness & hamfistedness come together! It's very easy to improve the appearance of one of these, with fire. J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='1031372' date='Nov 21 2010, 01:34 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nice-Rickenbacker-4003-copy-/260695969433?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cb2b0ce99"]Not quite so good value at £475[/url][/quote] Curious! The same guy has one of these on at £50 start/no reserve - that's probably a bit more interesting: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-Rickenbacker-bass-copy-Bruce-Foxton-/260696408955"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-Rickenbacker-b...n-/260696408955[/url] Right tempted by a red one at £249, though. J.

[quote name='hookys6stringbass' post='1031084' date='Nov 21 2010, 12:49 AM']That red faker will look nice with a Black hipshot ricky bridge.....[/quote] Exactly what I thought. Black tuners too. J.

Now gorn like a caribou. Anyone on here? Jon.

Indeed - Kay "Kelvinator" style, US-made & rare as rocking-horse poo. Not a lot to do with the plywood Taiwanese tat from the 70s that many of us shudder at the thought of. Jon.

So is a luthier building the bass for the OP, using the Jap Faker he got here? Just trying to clarify what's going on, having missed this when the first post was up. Although I don't know why he doesn't just come on the thread & tell us! J.

Anecdotally, most of Geddy's best-known stuff - from Permanent Waves up until he started using a Wal in the studio - was apparently recorded using his Jazz. I think his problems with the Rick were size/shape/weight related. He's only little! J.

[quote name='chris_b' post='1030289' date='Nov 20 2010, 11:53 AM']I saw VW earlier this year and he really is an amazing player, but even so, I prefer his playing in a band context.[/quote] My feelings exactly - having seen him with The Flecktones I loved his playing as part an excellent virtuoso band. While the stunt-bass stuff is blindingly impressive when he's actually doing it 15 feet away from you, it's questionable (to me, at least) how musical most of it is. Unfortunately I can't help getting the feeling it's the pyrotechnics, rather than his ability & taste as a consummate ensemble player which have people bandying around words like "best". I take exception to "best" in the context of music. It implies a creative art is some kind of competition. Jon.

[quote name='danbowskill' post='1030180' date='Nov 20 2010, 09:56 AM']oh dear that looks proper sh.te(prob sound wonderful)...but what was he thinking?? ..[/quote] He was bassist in the original Alice Cooper band back in the 70s - it probably went with the rest of the look! I'm guessing you've never seen his EB-3? [attachment=64450:dunaway_frogbass.jpg] J.

[quote name='SS73' post='1030230' date='Nov 20 2010, 10:54 AM']oh hang on my mistake, he modified his with non Ric parts, a proper bridge and decent tuners, silly me. [/quote] There is that! Also it would require his endorsement & he's always said he never actually enjoyed playing Ricks, it was only ever about the sound. Not the best publicity for RIC. J.

If it plays well & you like it, then why not make it sound better? What are you considering upgrading? Unless the tuners & bridge don't actually work properly, changing these would probably be a waste of money, but if the existing pickups don't sound great, then replacing these (& possibly the pots & cap) is a worthwhile upgrade if you want to hang on to the bass. There's plenty of choice of decent, well-priced Jazz pups out there, you'll probably find some decent, well-priced sets for sale on here if you're patient. Jon.

Dennis Dunaway tribute project? [attachment=64438:dunaway_jazz.jpg] I've had worse ideas... Jon.