Bassassin

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='788722' date='Mar 28 2010, 06:22 PM']aye cos you've got them all![/quote] I'm working on it! J.

Never under the influence of anything! Don't do any substances any more, but any time I tried writing when high the results were utter, utter crap in the cold light of sobriety! A composition will usually develop from a guitar idea (I've never found composing on bass to be productive - it's much easier for me to put a bass part to a guitar riff than vice-versa) and as the structure comes together, so the arrangement will come together in my head. I get to the point where I can "hear" a full song & play it through in my head, so recording it basically becomes a matter of trying to replicate that with instruments. I'm not much of a lyricist (preferring to leave that to the literate!) and as I work with an incredibly talented vocalist I try not to have too much influence on vocal melody & arrangements. Sometimes I'll be given a lyric or vocal idea, & suggestions for style, tempo, feel etc & that can be a very symbiotic process. The most recent project we've worked on (and to be honest, it's taken a few years to come together coherently) ended up with numerous recurring melodic, rhythmic & lyrical themes over the course of 9 songs/50-odd minutes of music. Jon.

[quote name='spongebob' post='788558' date='Mar 28 2010, 03:18 PM']I'd save a few £££ and buy a 2nd hand real one. When it comes to a Ric, and re-sale value, it's your best bet. Believe me, when you've played a real one, anything else is just, I'm sorry, not worth bothering with.[/quote] You haven't played a good Japanese copy. J.

There was a Lincoln similar to this - these were Japanese-made (Kawai, I think) and had proper "Hippy Sandwich" bodies as well as the through necks. Those turn up with a million other names too. A few more names from Memory Lane: Shaftesbury CMI Kimbara Eros Sakai CSL Satellite Arbiter Jedson Grant Bloody loads of 'em! J.

This is my old one: [attachment=45901:front.jpg] J.

[quote name='witterth' post='788518' date='Mar 28 2010, 02:13 PM']A Vantage? possibly? still means a Kay Though.[/quote] No - not a Vantage - all the through-necks were Japanese, made by Matsumoku. Vantage was actually a Canadian brand, some of which got exported, which is why a few turn up in the UK. No connection with the Kay brand. J.

It's a Cort, made in Korea late 70s/early 80s, and sold in the UK as Kay, and a million other names around the globe. I think if you unscrew the TRC on this, it will probably have a Kay logo on the other side! There's one on the Bay right now: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330415794177"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=330415794177[/url] Cort did dozens of variations on this particular neckthrough template, all of which are identifiable by the rather sexy triple brass dot inlays - I've seen Alembic-shaped basses, flying V guitars, the "Cort 45" travel guitar & bass, Washburn Wing series ripoffs. Anyway I've had the bass version the same as this, very nicely-made instrument, actually had great-sounding pups in mine - in fact the sticker on this one is telling you it has "Powersound" pickups! . The only real problem (which is common on budget through-necks) was an unadjustably high action - saddles won't go low enough & obviously you can't shim the neck. I've seen some of these where the bridge has been sunk into the body to get it low enough. Jon.

[quote name='firstkingofleon' post='788246' date='Mar 27 2010, 10:18 PM']Weird question, but has anyone near suffolk got a Rickenbacker/Rickenbacker copy i could test out? i'm in the midst of possibly buying a copy and just want to make sure i get along with the body shape/neck and everything else. any help would be greatly appriciated cheers, Adam[/quote] What are you buying? If it's one of the modern copies (Rockinbetter, Jayro, Shine, Indie etc) they have more conventionally-shaped necks than Ricks or 70s MIJ copies. Rickenbacker necks are more or less parallel - they're not a whole lot wider at the body-end than the nut, and this makes string spacing pretty tight. Modern copies have a more normal neck shape with standard string spacing. Jon.

Very nice example and £400 is a fair price for a neckthrough in this condition. Unless they've been swapped, pickups won't be real Rick ones, just good copies. The hi-gain style neck pup suggests your bass is a probably 75 - onwards, earlier ones had toasters. If the pups have a big ink-stamped serial/model number underneath, they'll probably be from Nisshin Onpa, who made the Maxon & Super 70s pups that JapCrap nerds wet themselves over. The loose wire might be for the bridge pup capacitor - just like real Ricks, the 70s MIJ copies had an extra .047 cap in the bridge pup circuit, which cuts a lot of the low-end output from the pup. Lots of people simply disconnect it to liberate the full output of the bridge unit, possibly if your bass all works properly, this is what's been done. Current Ricks have a push-pull tone pot switch to turn the circuit on & off. Anyway check out [url="http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/default.htm"]Joey's Bass Notes[/url] for everything you want to know about Rick wiring. Be warned though - Joey don't like Rickenfakers! Don't know if you know but CMI was Cleartone Musical Instruments - a brand used by Marshall Amplification in the 70s to broaden their product range - and to sidestep a dodgy distribution deal that Marshall was tied up in at the time... So no swapping your TRC for a fakey Rick one - CMI's much more interesting! Jon.

Never seen a Hoyer like yours before - it's a bit of a beast! I'd speculate that it's a 70s bass, based on the fact it shares a bridge with Hoyer's strangely erotic Rickenbacker copy: If you don't mind shelling out for a subscription to month's worth of guitar porn, it might be in one of the catalogues on the Vintaxe site: [url="http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_european_hoyer.htm"]http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_european_hoyer.htm[/url] Otherwise, sign up to the forum there & post some pics - the guy that runs the site is a genuine enthusiast & will probably ID it for you if it's in one of his catalogues. Jon.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='786445' date='Mar 25 2010, 10:54 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GRANTSON-JAZZ-BASS-GUITAR-COPY_W0QQitemZ220578293021QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item335b7da51d"]Grantson J[/url] - block and bound, '70s position pup and (wait for it) "Gigged only once" [/quote] If anyone's interested, reserve's a ton on that. Can't tell too much from the pics but from what I can see & what I know of the brand, it'll be the same as the Columbus J copies - decent neck, OK hardware & a ply body. Nice early Ibanez Blazer here, being advertised by the one living soul who has never seen a Precision: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260574311883"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=260574311883[/url] And not a JapCrap (and not a "vintige 1970 ts merlin marlin" either, whatever that's meant to mean) but an Italian Melody M5000: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290418006777"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=290418006777[/url] - which is what [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UNUSUAL-VINTAGE-BASS-GUITAR-HOME-MADE-PROJECT_W0QQitemZ320499932030"]this[/url] would once have looked like, before some drooling maniac mutilated it with a bandsaw. J.

[quote name='theosd' post='786492' date='Mar 25 2010, 11:42 PM']I had to change to bridge too though, weird curved thing it was![/quote] That'll be because the originals seem to be made from chewing gum & bend under string tension. This was mine when I got it: [attachment=45688:trackbridge.jpg] I've seen quite a few which have done this, seems to be a rare quality oversight from Matsumoku. I managed to find an older, more solid base/body fro mine, from Howard Bass Doc. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=56477"]Anyway read all about it here.[/url]. J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='785976' date='Mar 25 2010, 04:07 PM']I'm sure it was last year I first spotted that the German guy was trying to sell one of the Ibanez Artist Basses. Not quite the same model, [b]I think[/b] mine had four knobs. He's still trying to sell it. At £865. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1978-IBANEZ-ARTIST-BASS-made-in-JAPAN_W0QQitemZ120542534148QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item1c10e51a04"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1978-IBANEZ-ARTIST-B...=item1c10e51a04[/url] Edit: Would these instruments have been made in the Fujigen factory?[/quote] Yep - it's reckoned all 70s & early 80s Ibanez electrics were from there. Fujigen was used for Ibanez up to the 90s but I think they came from other factories as well later on. There are some pics of control / pickup variations on 2626B basses here: [url="http://www.ibanezregister.com/Gallery/basses/artist/gal-2626b.htm"]http://www.ibanezregister.com/Gallery/bass...t/gal-2626b.htm[/url] These all have 3 knobs but clearly specs changed from time to time so there's no reason why yours couldn't have had 4. J.

[quote name='Musicman69' post='785397' date='Mar 25 2010, 01:27 AM']Just wondering.. is any of this fine-crafted firewood worth anything? I know yis love it but any monetary value?[/quote] Depends what you mean by worth anything. With very few exceptions there's nothing that makes it into pre-CBS Fender value territory, but as the esteemed Mr Twit says, most JapCrap commonly sells in the £100 - £400 (ish) bracket. Where it becomes interesting is when this stuff (still commonly regarded as old, cheap & throwaway junk by the people who find it in their lofts & garages) turns up at car boots, charity shops, on Gumtree etc for buttons, which allows 'orrible gyppos like me the opportunity to buy (for example) 2 old guitars for £35, run them under the tap & then collectively Ebay them for £320. There aren't too many bargains on Ebay any more because it's overrun by the sort of people who will pay pretty decent money for JapCrap, and plenty of people with their grimy car boot Avon Les Pauls, insisting they're "Lawsuit Ibanez with a different name". Fun & games. Wanna buy a Matsumoku L6S copy? J.

[quote name='tazza1' post='785367' date='Mar 25 2010, 12:13 AM']I had a Kasuga EB3 copy (made in the same factory as Tokais were I believe)[/quote] Sort of - it seems that when Tokai started exporting to the US in the early 70s, initially they couldn't meet demand with their own production facility & outsourced to Kasuga Gakki, who were able to manufacture to the necessary replica-level standard. Lots of Ebay spin stories about Kasuga being "made in the Tokai factory" have evolved from this! J.

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='785264' date='Mar 24 2010, 10:29 PM']Those machine heads remind me of Yahamas - budget range from one of their factories perhaps? Mention is made of them being slack and that's the usual complaint until you discover how to adjust the tension - Yamaha used to supply a special tool for this.[/quote] Good spot sir - the Yam ones are identical apart from having nice cast keys. I doubt they were made in-house, Gotoh supplied a lot of hardware to Jap factories, as did other light-engineering concerns like Chushin. I've never had the adjusting tool for mine (I also have a Cimar P/J thing with the same ones) but finger-tight seems to hold 'em OK. I think it looks like it would be straightforward enough to improvise/bodge a tool though. Might have a go tomorrow. J.

Not encountered "Yasuki" before but it'll probably be some random importer's own brand. This being the case, it's unlikely that it'll be possible to nail this one to a specific manufacturer. Although we can have a go. The neckplate with the MIJ stamp on the lower half appears on basses from Fujigen Gakki - it also appears randomly on a few other JapCraps but not with the same consistency. However a few circumstantial things are pointing me that way. I have CSL-branded Fujigen J copy, mine's a few years later than this and has the early Ibanez Blazer shape headstock. My CSL has the same tuners (if they're slack, the tension's adjustable using the collars on the shafts), same round-end pickups, plus I've seen another CSL Jazz with those same very white inlays. All just circumstantial but there might be more - on mine, the control cavity route is longer than usual & extends under the scratchplate by a couple of cm - pop off your scratchplate & see if it's the same. All the other routing is normal on mine - close routes for the pups & wiring drilled between the cavities rather than a channel. Also mine's a one-piece mahogany body, it'd be interesting to find out what's under the paint. Do you think the finish is original? Not sure I remember seeing a white 70s JapCrap J before. Anyway, it's a fine looking beast. Was this on Ebay a couple of weeks back? Jon.

[quote name='Bassistclem' post='784984' date='Mar 24 2010, 06:48 PM']I was lucky enough to find a Westone Thunder 1A at a car boot for only £12. The guy was asking £15 but I still felt the need to barter him down. Not a bad bass either.[/quote] It's your duty! My Westy Thunder 1 guitar (bit of a project, admittedly) was £7 - I got him down from a tenner. As you do. Jon.

[quote name='silddx' post='784510' date='Mar 24 2010, 11:12 AM'][/quote] Afraid I can't take credit for that - I think that's courtesy of Mr Foxen. However: Badly Engineered Hopeless Ripoffs Involving No German Electronic Reliability. J.

I won't touch anything with a neck twist - unless it's cheap enough to just have it for parts. Most neck profile issues are just badly-adjusted truss rods and I've so far only encountered one that wouldn't correct out of probably a hundred or more guitars & basses I've worked on. Frets that are too worn to be levelled are a no-no as well. Pretty much anything else can be sorted out, and it's surprising how restoreable dirty & corroded hardware can be. I don't mind honest wear & tear, in fact I quite like it on the 30+ year-old JapCrap I tend to play. Neglect , abuse and "relicing" aren't the same though. Don't really mind a bit of grime - when I get a new-to-me bass or guitar, the first thing I do is strip it, thoroughly clean it, spray pots & switches, level frets if necessary & set it up anyway. Sorry about the guitar content - but it can't be said I don't like a challenge: [attachment=45519:l6sorigcond.jpg] Beautiful! Several gallons of acetone & 1000 cubic meters of toxic fumes later: [attachment=45520:l6sstripped.jpg] Of course I could've left it as it was & Ebayed it as Noel Gallagher's first guitar. Jon.

Let's not forget: Horrible American Rubbish That Keeps Exploding. Jon.

Pile of badly cobbled-together trash. So what - did Gibson get so hacked off at all those bloody Jap copies that they thought they'd best 'em at their own game - & make a crude ripoff of this: And after scratching their collective heads, decided the best way to achieve end this was to bodge an old Guild neck onto some sort of Rickenbacker copy body, which had been modified (by Gibson's bandsaw-operating blind chimp, evidently) presumably in order to avoid legal action! Are we honestly expected to believe that the neck & body are in any way related? [quote name='Ebay bloke flogging junk bass']This one was never made other than this one. So similar to a Gibson Moderne only this is much rarer.[/quote] I'm no Gibbo expert but as far as I know there was never a Moderne "prototype" built so that would hardly make this rarer, in the wildly unlikely event that it wasn't a bodged-together travesty . The Moderne was part of a planned trio of bizarre guitars from the 50s - the other two were the Flying V & Explorer. For whatever reason only a design blueprint for the Moderne ever existed from that era - the guitar itself wasn't actually built until the 80s. At least, not by Gibson. There were Ibanez & Greco examples (can't really call them copies!) built in the mid 70s based on pics of the body shape from the old 50s blueprint, which had been published in music mags - for this reason the Moderne copies had conventional 3-a-side headstocks instead of the rather rubbish-looking paddle of the "original". Jon.