Bassassin

Epic - also available in blue & red, I'm quite tempted by red for my see-through backbreaker/wallhanger! Jon.

[quote name='Soloshchenko' post='989476' date='Oct 15 2010, 05:44 PM']Yeah my tuners are the smaller ones like on Eds. In fact the more I look at Ed's before he changed the neck and everything the more I think they are really, really similar, possibly the same year? Sure Jon could help there.[/quote] Yours & Ed's (and my old one) are the same - rosewood board, little tuners, chrome truss cover & Gibson-type nut. The maple neck's more accurate which probably made it a slightly more expensive model, although everything else looks the same. J.

[quote name='StevieD_FenderP2009' post='991745' date='Oct 17 2010, 10:44 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ibanez-Bass-1974-Vintage-/180575663977?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2a0b25f769"]Ibanez Rickenfaker - Quite nice[/url] dunno if this has been posted already[/quote] It certainly has. One day, Tino, one day... J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='991143' date='Oct 17 2010, 02:37 PM']Ebay listing claims that this is a "Cimar branded Ibanez Blazer". Not sure if that's true, but the headstock seems to check out. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ibanez-Roadstar-Bass-Cimar-Branded-1984-Precision-/120634713996?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item1c1663a78c"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ibanez-Roadstar-Bass...=item1c1663a78c[/url][/quote] Nah, it's not. It is of the "Cimar By Ibanez" era so Cimar was a Hoshino brand at this point - according to various bits & pieces on the ICW forum, it definitely wasn't when they were making full-on copies. Blazer/Roadster shape headstocks appear on all of the Fender-derived Cimars of the post-copy era, and these do appear to be Fujigens, unlike the older copies. However there are a lot of detail differences between this bass & a Blazer - body shape, scratchplate, tuners, bridge etc. Interestingly though, the [url="http://www.ibanez.co.jp/anniversary/52/1.jpg"]Cimar Stinger[/url] is exactly the same as the early Ibby Blazer. J.

I think I kind of am in my perfect 'riginals band - although things would be improved massively by a drummer who would play what the songs need, add their own touches of flamboyance & brilliance - and actually be available to play a bloody gig or two! But you can't have everything... Jon.

[quote name='tauzero' post='990821' date='Oct 17 2010, 01:42 AM']Which would you find more frustrating - playing in a covers band, or playing in an originals band that played original music written by another member of the band but not original music (of at least as high a standard) written by you?[/quote] It's a very subjective question and I can really only speculate - I haven't been in an originals band where I wasn't involved in composition since I was 19! Anyway it would depend on the songs. I can think of one band that I know which I'd happily play with - the 2 co-writers have a unique style which I absolutely love, & I feel my own writing would be incompatible and would compromise what they do, so I doubt I'd want to contribute. I'm sure there are others too, but on the other hand there are plenty of bands whose material doesn't inspire me, & that would bore me rigid. Obviously I'm only talking about originals bands on a similar level to mine, where money doesn't enter into it & the music is its own reward - realistically I'd have to love the music or I might as well play covers & be paid. A paying gig with an originals band would probably be another matter altogether. I've never been in that position so I can't say whether I'd feel any additional personal kudos or sense of self-worth/importance, or if I'd find particular value in the idea that the audience had made the effort to be there specifically to see "my" band, irrespective of whether I'd participated in the creation of the music. But I somehow doubt it. J.

[quote name='tino' post='990310' date='Oct 16 2010, 03:53 PM']well heres my Ebay pileapants for this week,modded and not in the best of condition ,I paid to much ...BUT IT..Sings Like an Angel abeit a dirty nasty tart of one Will I ever learn[/quote] I do hope not! So what's this then - Ibby Artist, AS series? Don't know my semis too well... And the ICW purists would have kittens over all those switches! Anyway what the hell am I on about - GTFO with that bloody g*it*r, Quisling! J.

Bring back :brow: - the GAS one is rubbish. Jon.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='989713' date='Oct 15 2010, 10:14 PM']And at the higher end (of price anyway), I just wish I could think of a reason to buy this ... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Teisco-Audition-Japan-Double-Neck-six-and-bass-/300480274729"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Teisco-Audit...s-/300480274729[/url][/quote] Absolute piece of nasty, cheapo crap. £500? Surely no-one would be retarded enough to pay that for this pile of arse. And it's [b]not[/b] a f@cking Teisco - it's sh!tty Korean rubbish. J.

Just to draw a conclusion from Bass Doc Howard's astute observations - this is a 70s copy, almost certainly Korean, or to be more specific a Hondo, made in the Samick factory. Expect to find lovely splintery plywood under all that black paint - these were not particularly good quality copies. Hondos don't sell very well on Ebay - if this still had its original logo and wasn't being sold by either a retard or a liar, it would be lucky to make half the £122 it's currently sitting at. Jon.

I have sold loads and don't really, really regret any - possibly though my Washburn B20 Stage, my first quality bass, which I sold to a mate in the mid 80s so I could buy an Aria RSB Deluxe II. I wanted to learn to slap, and the Washboard was a vaguely Explorer-shaped effort, with the P pup jammed up against the end of the fingerboard, and was (at least for me at the time) unslappable. I did love the Aria & it was my main bass for about 15 years, until the neck developed an uncorrectable twist. Anyway if I still had the Washburn I'd probably just sell it now because they can get some quite daft money these days & I'm a total gyppo... Things I feel vague pangs about that I've sold recently would be an SQ series Squier Precision, gorgeous thing and the nicest P I've played, I doubt I'll see its like again; a very accurate no-name JapCrap Gibson Grabber copy, in lovely condition, and my Ibanez SR800LE. I bought the Ibby to replace the Aria, it got a lot of use for a few years but I hadn't touched it for 4 or 5 - so I swapped with a BCer for a Peavey T-40, which is a lumpy, backbreaking boat-anchor compared to the featherweight, ergonomic sleekness of the SR800. JapCrap FTW, I'm afraid. A couple of months ago I found myself in an unforseen financial black hole and [i]nearly[/i] sold my Tokai Talbo - fortunately I saw sense at the last minute & weathered the crisis. I would have been gutted if I'd parted with it, as it turned it would have been for nothing anyway. Jon.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160492466299"]Decent-ish looking P project, £35 BIN[/url] You'll have to be quick - it runs out in about 35 mins! Not a Marlin, more likely an Italian-made Melody, although with no pics of the back I can't be too sure. If I didn't have a basement full of crap projects & little time (or inclination, if I'm honest) to sort them, I'd grab this myself - probably wouldn't take much to sort. J.

I co-write with our singer, up until now (that's 9 years) the guitarist & drummer have chosen to have no creative input as far as composition is concerned. This has worked fine, although some more collaborative input would be interesting - although the band started as a writing/recording project with me & the singer, so we're used to working this way. I'm very happy for the other guys to interpret and embellish the guitar parts & drum patterns I create, as I'm an average guitarist and no drummer at all. The vast majority of the lyrics & melodies come from the singer, although she has used the occasional idea or line I've come up with. Things are changing a little, as we're working with a different drummer on our most recent material (it's a strange situation - we seem to have ended up with two drummers, each playing a different set of songs!) and he's composing his own parts from the ground up, and also adding some keyboard parts to our current bass/guitar/drums/voice compositions. He writes & records himself so I'm hopeful there will be some more collaborative composition in the future. Jon.

[quote name='TransistorBassMan' post='988137' date='Oct 14 2010, 03:35 PM']Does it really matter? I've played music that I've written and I've played music that someone else has written.[/quote] Like I said several (hundred) pages back - if you're a bassist in an originals band, nine times out of ten you'll be playing music that someone else has written anyway. It makes no difference beyond what you personally want & enjoy. J.

[quote name='lanark' post='987838' date='Oct 14 2010, 11:10 AM']Ok - you're in a moderately successful band playing their own music.[/quote] I have a question for Twigman regarding this. The band you play with, as far as I can see, recorded & toured presumably on a pro or semi-pro basis predominantly in the 80s, and recorded (according to the band website's discog) sporadically between 1990 & 2003. Are you still writing, recording, releasing and (most importantly) performing new material now? If you're not (and forgive me for making something of an assumption here) and you're gigging your best-known material for an audience of old fans from the 80s who want to hear the classics - in what way is that manifestly & functionally any different to playing covers or even being a tribute band? My 80s & 90s originals bands didn't reach anything like the level of success that yours did, but if someone were to offer me money to get back with the guys from those bands for a few gigs - yes, I'd do it. But those bands & the songs I wrote & played back then have nothing to do with me as a musician now, and while I would probably enjoy the experience, it wouldn't have anything to do with why those bands existed in the first place - and from that perspective I doubt I'd feel particularly satisfied with it. Jon.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='987389' date='Oct 13 2010, 08:45 PM']Look out for one of the fretless Westone Thunders, they come up and don't get bid so high due to the specialist nature.[/quote] These are great basses - but I think the factory fretless was unlined, also the Thunder 1 (most common & cheapest) has a single P pup, so not really a Jazz style. Personally I've been tempted for a while by the Squier VM fretless, not heard a bad word about them & they sell on here for £150 or less. Jon.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='985585' date='Oct 12 2010, 12:11 PM']Isn't 300 (+ P&P) a bit too much for this?[/quote] Just a bit! It's both wrecked and erm, "specialist". Jon.

There's no one method that works for me - although usually it will start with a guitar part and build from there. Usually an interesting & memorable riff or chord sequence will suggest other directions it can go off in, I don't force the process and just play around with ideas, and an arrangement will tend to come together organically. I write with a singer and sometimes she'll give me completed lyrics & melody and some ideas of style, tempo & feel. To be honest that's easier for me, or at least, more immediate - composing an arrangement around a lyric/melody is simply fleshing out something that already exists. The downside is that it's easier to end up with a more generic end result - which considering my band's somewhat proggy inclination, isn't necessarily desirable. Jon.

[quote name='Jerry_B' post='985558' date='Oct 12 2010, 11:48 AM']Unless I'm seeing things, there are holes in your scratchplate ahead of the tone/volume knobs. My T-40 doesn't have those.[/quote] Right - I'm with you now, sorry! Just had a look through the T-40 Porn thread & it looks like earlier toaster pup models all seem to have these holes, drilled as position markers next to the controls. It looks like it was discontinued on later models - one pic of a rail pup example has them & the rest don't. As far as I can see the ones with markers are all like mine - just a hole drilled in the plate, with the inside of the foil showing through. These are clearly visible on one pic of Eric's toaster tanburst, & look just the same as mine. I assume there was never an insert or inlay in these - just a bit of sticky foil! Is yours a later bass? J. Edit: Ha - cross post! Edit v.2 - Eric's right, it doesn't go all the way through. I didn't get much sleep last night.....

Arrived safe & sound - I'll get it scanned, traced, PDF'd and otherwise archived & then send it on to Mr Umph. J.

[quote name='Jerry_B' post='985450' date='Oct 12 2010, 10:23 AM']Mine doesn't have any extra ones.[/quote] What extra holes are you talking about? What do you mean by "extra"? Genuinely confused here! J.

[quote name='Jerry_B' post='985406' date='Oct 12 2010, 09:56 AM']Is there a reason for the extra holes in bassassin's scratchplate?[/quote] I think mine's standard - don't they all have far too many holes? Eric? J.