Bassassin

[quote name='Paul_C' post='655492' date='Nov 15 2009, 10:20 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270485168732&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp3907.m38.l1313%26_nkw%3D270485168732%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...%3D1&_rdc=1[/url][/quote] Now that is somehow just dreadfully, dreadfully wrong... :ph34r:

Might be time to start properly updating this thread again. J.

[quote name='SteveK' post='654455' date='Nov 14 2009, 01:43 PM']You mean, rather like this...[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPKDS5QP0Tc"]TOTP[/url] That's one devilishly handsome bass player, don't you think? Still got the bass. Anyone know where I can get the electrics looked at?[/quote] Wonderful song - to the extent my band recorded a cover of it a few years ago - and it's actually [url="http://www.myspace.com/maya29band"]up on our Myspace[/url], if anyone's interested. You'll be glad to know the tragically ugly bassist didn't abscond with your bass part though! Also met Hazel a few years back when she was performing at the Edinburgh Fringe. Lovely lady. Jon.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='654965' date='Nov 15 2009, 02:21 AM']Oh, I hate seeing that catalogue page. To the left of the 2350, the 2345B, I had one of those. I sold it when I bought a Japanese Epi Elitist EB3 and then wished I hadn't. That Ibanez was the nicest shortscale I've played. I'd really like to find another one.[/quote] The nice MIJ EB copies do come up, Kasuga & Matsumoku definitely are worth a look as well as Fujigen. I'll flag 'em if I spot 'em. J.

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='655085' date='Nov 15 2009, 11:39 AM']...just sounded a bit too thin through the Marshall superlead head I was using at the time (oh how I wish I had kept that!) But I reckon you got yourself a bargain. Do it up and keep it as a spare.[/quote] Well, if we knew them what we know now... Including why your Hondo sounded thin - like all 70s Rick copies, it will have had a bass cut capacitor wired into the bridge pup circuit, just like the real ones. Bypass that for loads more low-end. J.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='654292' date='Nov 14 2009, 10:16 AM']He told me that it's not all covers bands... so you might not have to plumb such depths [/quote] Even better! Set One will be the 45-minute concept piece then! J.

I've never actually owned a Hondo Rick copy, but there's a few folk on here who have & do. However I know a bit about 'em. This is mid - late 70s, Korean-made (Samick factory) and probably has a plywood body. Beyond that, they're pretty much identical to bolt-neck Japanese copies, and if you get one with a good neck (which you presumably have), you're onto a winner. Unlike the current crop of Rick copies, hardware & electronics on most of the vintage ones were pretty much identical to genuine Rickenbacker stuff. What's wrong with the electrics, exactly? If everything (pups, pots, switches) works it might just need a bit of a squirt with switch cleaner & a few dry joints soldered. There are Rick 4001 wiring diagrams suitable for a stereo copy at the [url="http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/Rick%20maint.htm"]Joey's Bass Notes[/url] site, which is an excellent resource for both real Ricks and copies. The latter unintentionally - Mr. Vasco is a bit of a curmudgeon about Rickenfakers... If you decide it's not worth the effort, I'll happily give you double what you paid for it, dodgy electrics & all! Jon.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='654640' date='Nov 14 2009, 04:46 PM']I did do, it got to the point where I didn't want more basses in my house. All about the messaging pick up only ones and saying " will you unbolt the neck and post it for £20?" now.[/quote] I still look but I can't remember the last time I bought anything off Ebay. Good local indoor car boot ftw. J.

Mad as a badger. What's it for? Jon.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='654584' date='Nov 14 2009, 03:52 PM']I spotted that. MAybe its a cunning plan to catch people that search 'giuter' and such...[/quote] So you do that too, Oli? "Base", "Japnese" and "copie" as well... :blush: Jon.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='654180' date='Nov 14 2009, 12:55 AM']Just web search, so take it with a pinch of whatever you have to hand and wait for Jon to tell us how much is likely to be true. Bradley was the house brand of Veneman's Music Emporium in Rockville, Maryland, replacing the Kapa brand, when the factory in Hyattsville closed down. The Veneman family lived near Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda and Koob Veneman liked the name. Bradleys were made by Fuji Gen Gakki and probably also Matsumoko, Aria and other builders around the Nagoya, Japan area. Bradleys ranged in quality from starter instruments to very high quality, depending on when and where made. In the 70s and early 80s Bradleys were imported from Japan. Later on in the 90s, the guitars were made in Korea. The company and store's inventory was purchased by the Guitar Center chain in 2000, who then converted the Rockville store into a Guitar Center. There may have been more than one phase of Bradleys - earliest were Matsumoko sourced with pearloid script logo, later from unknown source with black decal script logo, including Fender copies with plastic saddles, then in the 80s either black or gold decal, and fret markers were stick-on dots. [url="http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Bass/product/Bradley/Jazz+Clone/10/1"]Reviews of Bradley Jazz Bass on Harmony Central[/url] [url="http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Bradley"]Bradley Guitar Reviews[/url] [url="http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Bass/brand/Bradley"]Other Bradley Bass Reviews[/url] [url="http://www.jvguitars.com/showproduct.pl?id=1112988402"]And here's the inevitable one made in the Ibanez factory[/url] Sources [url="http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=152280"]http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=152280[/url] [url="http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-649/f/Bradley-Rickenbacker-4003-Bass.htm"]http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-...r-4003-Bass.htm[/url] [url="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2000_April_24/ai_61614362/"]http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EI...24/ai_61614362/[/url] [url="http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-649/f/bradley-electric-guitar.htm"]http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-...tric-guitar.htm[/url][/quote] Could all be gospel - why not? All Bradley is/was is another of the thousands and thousands of generic importer rebrands there were in the 70s. We certainly had enough here in the UK - Avon, Columbus, Grant, CMI, Shaftesbury, Arbiter, Jedson, Eros, Sumbro, Saxon, Grantson... The list goes on, and that's not including the likes of CSL & Antoria which during the 70s actually [i]were[/i] "from the Ibanez factory" - these were built by Fujigen, sourced through Ibanez brand owner Hoshino, and often identical to their Ibanez counterparts - apart from the name & the price tag. And by contrast, the big giveaway of the ordinariness of the Bradley brand is the one "made by Ibanez". It's not - it's a generic plywood EB-0 copy, from the same source as the low-end tat labelled Avon & Columbus over here. I had the same bass labelled Grantson, cost me £25 from a car boot. It wasn't very good. As for the £600 Jazz, I stick by my earlier assessment - looks OK, maybe worth a couple of hundred, can't positively ID the factory - but it doesn't have typical Fujigen or Matsumoku traits, which would be odd considering it's a generic mid-70s Jazz bass copy. I'd be more inclined to think it's from one of the 30-odd other known factories which were making Fender copies at the time. Anyway - enough of that. Norman's Antoria LP is much nicer & more interesting - I've never encountered the bass version before with an Antoria brand (it's the same bass as the [url="http://www.ibanez.ru/info/catalog/1973-3/15.jpg"]Ibanez 2350B/DX[/url] - except this one has the later "post-lawsuit" headstock design. Thinking about it, I don't think I've seen a Fujigen LP bass with this headstock before. Of course it reminds me of my second-ever bass - an unbranded medium-scale black LP-alike, which I bought as a wreck off a school mate. Hope someone from BC gets this one. Jon.

Accommodation? Food? Money? Cheers for that, Mr Blob - definitely worth a look, and would give us a chance to exercise our seldom-used covers set! Jon.

I go downstairs to the basement. That's 26 paces including the steps. A few years ago in a previous band I was doing the 110-mile weekly roundtrip. I have happy memories of sitting on my own in the practice room, watching the money tick away for an hour or more, waiting for the lazy bastard guitarist & drummer to struggle their half-mile marathon from their squalid hovels. These days though, it often seems to be too much effort for a different pair of lazy bastards to manage to make a weekly free rehearsal. What's wrong with these people? Jon.

Summat small, loud, black & yellow, & with "Markbass" written on it would be nice. Jon.

If I'd have seen them I would've gone frit. My dream rig back in 1986, that was. Jon.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='651608' date='Nov 11 2009, 01:55 PM']Ask at [url="http://bassoutpost.com"]The Last Bass Outpost[/url]. A lot of the Gibson/Epi experts hang out there.[/quote] These are JapCrap - built by Matsumoku in the early/mid 70s. Might be some info to be had from the Matsumoku forum: [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/index.php"]http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/index.php[/url] J.

[quote name='zbigniew' post='651696' date='Nov 11 2009, 03:27 PM']Thanks a bunch for your expert input !!! Forgive my ingnorance but what's the best way to tell the difference between plywood and solid wood on a painted body like this? z[/quote] Really the only way to make sure will be to look inside the body - the electronics routing under the scratchplate or the neck pocket. Ply will have visible splintery-looking lines where the edges of the layers are visible, solid timber will appear smooth. Hopefully the seller will agree to an examination like this. If there's any damage to the paint on the edges of the body, the wood might be visible there too. J.

[quote name='zbigniew' post='651674' date='Nov 11 2009, 02:56 PM']When I started playing bass in 1987 Morris was considered a really cheap and low quality brand - has that opinion changed now ?[/quote] Morris is the house-brand of Moridaira, who were (and still are) better-known for acoustic guitars. They jumped on the copy bandwagon in the 70s, like many Japanese guitar makers & woodworking businesses, and like pretty much all the rest, made instruments at a variety of different quality levels. In the late 70s & early 80s Moridaira built Hohner guitars & basses, generally these are pretty good. In fact I bought a Moridaira Hohner guitar in 1983 and it was the only guitar I used for about 20 years. I only retired it because it desperately needs a refret & I need to repair some modifications I did when I was young & stupid! Great guitar & I'd love to get it playing again. I can't tell too much from the pic, but get your friend to try & establish whether the body's solid timber or plywood - with an old MIJ P copy that's the easiest way to tell whether it's a cheapo or not. Jon.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='651307' date='Nov 11 2009, 08:33 AM']This is very nice: [url="http://cgi.ebay.it/1973-Bradley-Jazz-Bass-Vintage-HQ-Fender-Copy-beauty_W0QQitemZ310180950024QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBassi?hash=item483839b008"]http://cgi.ebay.it/1973-Bradley-Jazz-Bass-...=item483839b008[/url] I've never heard of Bradley but this looks like a very competent Jazz copy. The sunburst is a bit iffy, especially on the back, but the bass certainly looks the part. I've dealt with the vendor (Bambibau) and he's straight.[/quote] Very pretty bass but that's a [b]lot[/b] of money (nearly 600 quid!) for any Japanese copy - particularly an inaccurate one from an unspecified manufacturer, with an anonymous importer brand. It's worth £200 at a push, imo. I really can't guess who made this - I've never seen that sort of trc on a JapCrap Jazz, body is either ply or block, neck appears to be one piece with separate fretboard. Everything else looks pretty generic. Not sure why he's comparing it to a "real" Jazz - the only thing that's better is the bridge alignment. And it's still out. Jon.