Bassassin

I've just lowballed a very interesting guitar, just to stop him changing the title if someone tells him what it is! Be cool if I got it for £56.67 - but I won't. J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='775416' date='Mar 15 2010, 05:12 PM']£180!!!! Did you ever get to see what happened to it after you sold it? Did it get restored? Not serious here, but perhaps the buyer thought it more valuable as with the modifications it no longer infringes on anyone's intellectual property. Edit: "Tokia" (sic) Rockinbetter, also from Bolton. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/tokia-rockinbetter-riki-style-bass_W0QQitemZ320502303133QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item4a9f6d099d"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/tokia-rockinbetter-r...=item4a9f6d099d[/url][/quote] He actually sold it on (for a few quid less) a month or so later - I guess he must have realised it was a lost cause & pretty much unrestoreable. Cheeky sod even used my photos! J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='774909' date='Mar 15 2010, 07:56 AM']Is that really a good price? It's all scratched up, missing much of the electronics and various bits and pieces, and is a bolt-on rather than a set neck. And if you add on the postage, it's more expensive than my Cimar was. This is a direct rather than rhetorical question, as I don't know prices.[/quote] I'd say yes - from the point of view of a collector - or some gyppo out to make a killing - despite all the missing bits, this still has the most important part - the Ibanez truss cover. A through-neck Ibby can go for £500 - £600, while the bolt-neck counterpart can get maybe £100 less. The Ibanez brand commands a premium that other JapCrap names don't. That said, Rick copies, regardless of condition, can bring out the Ebay hordes and silly money can change hands - check this out: [attachment=44838:bodyF.jpg] [attachment=44839:headfront.jpg] Top horn hacked off, frets ripped out & badly filled, neck binding gone, Ronseal refin, plywood scratchplate, no hardware etc. I sold that for £180. And bear in mind you got a [i]spectacularly[/i] good deal on your Cimar. J.

Someone shut that window - the light's attracting them! Black through-neck no-idea-what-it-is: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190380752650"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=190380752650[/url] Ibanez 2388B bolt neck project: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1970s-Ibanez-Rickenbacker-style-bass-guitar-Japan_W0QQitemZ190380711117"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1970s-Ibanez-Rickenb...emZ190380711117[/url] £229 BIN - if I had the parts to finish it (bridge, scratchplate, neck pup, electronics) I might well go for this one. Nice early Ibby copy - check out the massive square-hole tailpiece & full-width sparklies. Jon.

Usually it's the string adjacent to the one I'm playing (or the pup when I'm playing the E) but sometimes I rest my forearm on the body & my thumb floats around like a floaty thing. I always tend to find my thumb's on or above the neck pup - doesn't feel right over the bridge pup on J or P/J type basses. I've only been playing predominantly fingerstyle for about 6 or 7 years, having spent the previous 20 or so with a pick, so my technique (if you can call it that) is unschooled and doubtless very poor! Jon.

[quote name='Soloshchenko' post='774151' date='Mar 14 2010, 10:34 AM']Nice looking copy. I actually have serious GAS for something similiar. I must say, looking at it, it seemed surprising it was an Ibanez. Are you sure itisn't a Greco?[/quote] Theoretically it could be a Greco, as the same bass was sold under that brand. However Greco was technically a Japan-only brand & never officially imported to the UK, so it's quite unlikely. J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='774036' date='Mar 14 2010, 01:07 AM']A bolt-on from Bolton, no less.[/quote] J.

[quote name='Stacker' post='773408' date='Mar 13 2010, 09:31 AM']Interesting tug-bar holes on the 'guard. I'd bet it is one of the later Ibanez copies, judgin by those elephant-ears keys and size/diameter of the tuning capstans themselves. One of the better copies and with full-width inlays, too![/quote] I think this is a strange sort of transitional one - Ibby 4001 copies all had full-size tuners from the earliest ones in about 1971 and the date explains the full width inlays & checked binding. However for the first 4 years or so they had big chrome Gibson Mudbucker style pickups, which were actually single coils in big cases: [attachment=44769:edf9_3.JPG] Around 75/76, the model was updated with more accurate hardware and smaller pearloid inlays, however one or two "transitional" examples turn up with features from both "eras" and I think that's what Stevie's is - I've only ever seen FWIs with mudbuckers before. All Ibby 4001s seem to have checked binding regardless of when they were made, and the very earliest have a very heavy cast tailpiece which can't tail-lift, a bit like the old Rick gap-tooth ones. I'm of the opinion the Ibanez 4001 copy was the first (along with early Greco, which was the same bass with a different badge) which is why it has a lot of early 70s features, and perhaps why the factory used and EB3 type pickup set - it was what they had lying around! Stevie - is there a serial number? It'll be stamped on the back of the head if there is. J.

Aria Diamond - Matsumoku bolt neck: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320498460896"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=320498460896[/url] Horrid-looking replacement pups which are probably those cheap single coil copies of the old Hofner Staple things. J.

A naughty direct link should work: There's a Rickenfakers FB group, set up by our very own Hooky6stringbass: [url="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=78514186083"]http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=78514186083[/url] Big gallery of pics there & I'm starting to be convinced Hooky6string's owned all of them at one point or another... J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='773581' date='Mar 13 2010, 01:20 PM']Is this "Yoshi" bass Matsumoku? Is neck through and seems to have mystery switches. Doesn't look worth £280 to me, unless it's something special that I haven't recognised. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/YOSHI-Bass-Made-in-Japan_W0QQitemZ180478595750QQcategoryZ4713QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BIEW%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D8%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8465310829701741283"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/YOSHI-Bass-Made-in-J...310829701741283[/url][/quote] I quite like that. Nothing says "Matsumoku" about it to me, never heard of Yoshi before (outside of Nintendo games) and I'm pretty sure I've not seen that same bass with a different brand. Them there mystery switches will probably be series/parallel for each pup like on passive Arias. The same seller had this up a couple of months ago for a lot more so maybe he'll keep dropping it if it doesn't shift. OK - some wild speculation based on JapCrap geek trivia. There's an Aria sub-brand called Shiro which takes its name from Shiro Arai, president of Aria guitars. Yoshi just happens to be the first name of Yoshi Hoshino, president of Hoshino Gakki, owners of the Ibanez brand. Hoshino also have a brand called Starfield - which is a literal translation of Hoshino. Makes you think. Or makes you want to smother me whilst I'm sleeping, for being sad enough to know this stuff. J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='773406' date='Mar 13 2010, 09:26 AM']How the something can a bass have eight bids, but still be on at £26? I mean, I make a lot of lowball bids, so far none of which have won. But, I'm lowballing something worth £200 with a £100 bid or so. What are people thinking when they lowball a Fender bass in good nick with a bid of £8.27 or so? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FENDER-JAGUAR-BASS_W0QQitemZ290412932886QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item439df5af16"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FENDER-JAGUAR-BASS_W...=item439df5af16[/url][/quote] I honestly think its a "I might get really lucky & blag this for a tenner" mentality. I've currently got a guitar on and it's had 6 bids since Thursday (excluding one I cancelled) and it's currently at the heady heights of £7. I've been known to lowball something that I see with a really bad/inaccurate/misspelled title, because those parts of a listing can't be edited once an item has bids, and a hard-to-find listing's a good listing if you're a gyppo like me. It's worked a few times too. Jon.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='773060' date='Mar 12 2010, 06:56 PM']I thought those old motorcycles were collectable.[/quote] Damn right: J.

Where are these pics then, Mr Falcon? J.

Ah well, it's still unsigned & off to BassKS now anyway. J.

If that's the one you've had a punt on, you've got nowt to moan about if you end up getting it for £64! And if you do, I guarantee I'll buy it off you for what you paid for it. J.

[quote name='throwoff' post='772976' date='Mar 12 2010, 05:23 PM']rubbish! I'm sorry but this is not a 'sum of parts' instrument its a cheap instrument with a cheap mod. The sum of its parts = 2 and both are low cost and of poor quality[/quote] Agreed. I know this, you know this & chances are 99% of people who'd scoured Ebay for basses at any point would know very well what this thing is and what he was up to. However the world is full of gullible, easily impressed and let's be honest, downright dim people who go through life seeing and believing what they choose to see & believe. I for one feel absolutely no duty or obligation to try & protect them from themselves. J.

It's lovely - you really don't see too much TallyCrap, in fact this is only the second Gherson Jazz I remember seeing in many years of daily Ebay-scouring. I'd strongly encourage you to go for it - you won't see another for a long time. Jon.

I say good luck to him, nothing fundamentally wrong with trying to turn a profit. To be honest if anyone goes for this, more fool them - [i]caveat emptor[/i] and that. J.

With the exception of Rickenfakers & Aria SBs it's really looking like JapCrap basses aren't shifting very quickly at present. The Westy (not the £375 one!) & Vantage are quite perplexing - both of those brands, with their Matsumoku heritage usually do very well. The same thing doesn't seem to be true of guitars though - a Westbury Standard will easily fetch £200 - £250, which is well up on what they were getting a little while ago. Good if you're looking for Jap bass bargains & makes me glad I'm only selling guitars at the moment... J.

[quote name='steviedee' post='772765' date='Mar 12 2010, 01:42 PM']Hey Jon those pick TRCs look great really well done I dunno if you make them for other folk but I'd certainly buy one! On the Baltic prog front go for it, I've had not real dealings with them but apparently the folk are really nice , no money in it of course but apparently cheap flights are just about to be available from Edinburgh.[/quote] That was the idea - I'd be happy to knock one up for you. How about a straight swap for the Rick one... I'll run the Baltic fest idea past the guys - I know 3 out of 4 of us will be well up for it. We've only played outside of the UK once before, which was Prague in 2006, it was an absolute blast & two of the best gigs we've done. I'd love to do the same sort of thing again, particularly in front of an audience who might actually appreciate what we do. J.

[quote name='bartelby' post='772727' date='Mar 12 2010, 01:14 PM']It was advertised here too: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=80211&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=80211&hl=[/url][/quote] Ah - I missed that while I was off double-ending on holiday! J.

Take one £70 Wesley acrylic 5er, four or five blue LEDs, a battery pack & a micro-switch... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250593393393"][i]...et voila![/i][/url] Jon.