Bassassin

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='642411' date='Nov 1 2009, 11:23 AM']..and if you ever want to sell it on, it will look better with the original on it.[/quote] It'll also sell better - JapCrap's getting more & more collectable & keeping things original is wise if you're ever going to sell. Are these a standard Fender type? If so a BA2 or Gotoh should just bolt straight on & you can swap back if you want to sell it. JOn.

Heavier gauges will exert a higher tension so you'll have to tweak your truss rod to keep the neck profile the same. Don't do this against string tension - slacken them off first. Different gauges & tensions, plus adjusting the truss, will inevitably mean some action/intonation tweaks will be needed. It's a quick job if you have the right tools, and a good idea to get into the habit of doing it anyway. Jon.

[quote name='Lew-Bass' post='640891' date='Oct 30 2009, 11:17 AM']I got this bass online from purpleturtle music in Manchester around 6 months ago, and I haven't been able to find any information on it atall apart from this: [url="http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/guitars/electric/bass-guitars/fretless-bass/sb-405-fl-19851/review"]http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/guitars...fl-19851/review[/url] No-where sells it and the one I have is the only one I've ever actually heard about, it's left-handed aswell Any info would be great thankyou, it's abit of a puzzle currently[/quote] 'Ere we go: [url="http://www.ariaguitars.com/int/03_products/pro_eb_sb_40.html"]http://www.ariaguitars.com/int/03_products/pro_eb_sb_40.html[/url] This is the 4-string fretted version but yours will have broadly the same spec & materials - you'll find a lot more references & info if you Google for the basic SB-40 model. It's no longer in Aria's current model list, I remember looking at the SB reissues 5 or 6 years ago, because I always wanted an original Aria Pro SB when I was too young & poor to afford one! I'd guess that's about when yours originates from, if you bought it new then it was probably old stock. Jon.

The more I look at this, the more faked it looks. You can see the real wear - eg the little dark patch in the middle of the bare wood on the back shot & the rubbed & grimy-looking areas on the front. The rest's been scratched & flaked off by the looks of it. And someone should tell him that "plenty of fret wear" [u]isn't[/u] a desirable sign of relic'ing! J.

[quote name='Beedster' post='640743' date='Oct 30 2009, 08:59 AM']...you shouldn't take a sander to your already slightly mojo'd bass. It could be the sweetetst Precision ever, it could be a dog, but the wear looks unusual to me?[/quote] Exactly what I thought. 35 years of wear & tear to expose all that fairly clean, pale wood underneath? Go back to Relic School, pal. For whatever reason, people do seem to be prepared to pay fairly silly money for once-derided CBS-era Fenders, but why would anyone think that 20 minutes with the wet & dry will make them pay even more? Jon.

I doubt RIC will bother having that removed for trademark infringement - they'll be laughing too hard. Jon.

[quote name='retroman' post='639682' date='Oct 29 2009, 06:58 AM']I bet Ric never put Lemmy's rather unique truss rod cover on the signature bass.........If you look very carefully, it actually says "Rickenbastard" [/quote] Funnily enough that was my inspiration to call my 70s Kasuga copy the Rickenbugger! J.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='640544' date='Oct 29 2009, 10:08 PM']The Dennis Dunaway sig model would do me! [/quote] Fantastic idea but would it be this: [attachment=35367:dunaway_jazz.jpg] Or this? [attachment=35368:dunaway_frogbass.jpg] Quite tempted to get a Squier VMJ and stick mirrors & sequins all over it, which kind of gives away which one I'd prefer. Jon.

[quote name='absolutpepper' post='639822' date='Oct 29 2009, 10:31 AM']So most importantly how do they sound in comparison to an actual rick. I've got a 4003 from 2008 and its the best sounding (and loudest) instrument ive ever owned (or played, or heard...you get the idea). Do the shsftesburys really cut it in this dept?[/quote] On the whole I'd have to say - despite being a Jap copy geek - no. That's speaking generally, I've never played a Shaftesbury, but the pickups & electrics used in Jap fakers are often generic, the same parts appearing on copies from different factories. They don't have the character of a real Rick, in my experience, there's some of the "clankiness" (which probably derives from the way the bridge pup's mounted) but they're more generic-sounding. It's worth mentioning that since Japanese Rick copies are mostly derived from early/mid70s 4001 design, they usually feature the bridge pickup cap, which cuts a lot of low-end. Doing the [url="http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/Rick%20maint.htm#cmod"]capacitor bypass mod[/url] does help wake 'em up a bit. J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='639542' date='Oct 28 2009, 10:39 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Late-1950s-Prototype-Bass-Guitar-5-String_W0QQitemZ130340569105QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item1e58e74011"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Late-1950s-Prototype...=item1e58e74011[/url] Bwahaha. Bwahahahahahahahahaha. OMG, LOL, somebody burn it.[/quote] Unbelievable. "It's a Burns", "it might be a Guyatone", "oh, we heard about something called a Fenton-Weill - it must be one of them". They wrote the label wrong. POS, obviously. Jon.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' post='639562' date='Oct 28 2009, 10:57 PM']Not too much in common with an Alembic either... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1970s-KAWAI-F-1-B-Bass-Guitar-Alembic-similar-MIJ_W0QQitemZ170378927516QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item27ab601d9c"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1970s-KAWAI-F-1-B-Ba...=item27ab601d9c[/url][/quote] Somewhat. They are well-made & quite rare but probably worth about half that. There were some far more exotic versions available anyway. Jon.

Not a fan of the LK - although I really like the checked binding & star position markers - in fact everything except the carving! It looks like it belongs on the front of your nan's sideboard. If you can neither find nor afford the now staggeringly rare original, those devious Chinese (or wherever) copyists have had a go: [attachment=35315:Lemmy_1.JPG][attachment=35316:Lemmy_2.JPG] Unfortunately they left off the best bit (the binding) & replaced it with what looks queasily like a knotted scroll of dog faeces. :wacko: J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='639349' date='Oct 28 2009, 06:56 PM']You don't suppose that belt might scratch the back of his Ricky's ... [/quote] You're right! For pity's sake man, untuck that shirt!! J.

Lemmy's been seen with a good few interesting Ricks & Rick-shaped things - check this out: No idea if this has ever been within 10000 miles of Santa Ana, but it's way cooler than those LK4004 monstrosities, and I want it. Jon.

Any helpful mods want to merge this thread with [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=64691"]this one[/url]? J.

"With great power...." etc. Fact is, I'm on their side, and the RickResource folks know it. [i]Obersturmbannführer [/i]Hall isn't so sure, though. Regarding the Shaftesbury, I really don't know which Japanese factory made these, and I'll try & explain as comprehensively as possible. Since Shaftesbury is a brand name owned by a British importer, it doesn't actually provide many clues to the manufacturer, since with very few exceptions, importers would source instruments from whatever Japanese manufacturer/exporter gave the best deal at the time. What this means is that instruments from various sources were sold with the same brand name, model number & at the same price. So in order to identify what factory made a particular "off brand" instrument, like your Shaftesbury, we need to find an identical bass which is either under a factory's own brand, or from an importer who only sourced from one known factory. So far I've not done this with Shaftesbury - and neither has anyone else in the tiny online community of Jap guitar obsessives! There are a couple of small clues but so far they're not conclusive at all. The main identifying feature on your bass which doesn't appear on any positively ID'd Rick copy is the tuners. All Shaftesbury Rick copies have the same closed-back, cast button medium-size tuners that yours has. These are very common on many MIJ basses throughout the 70s & early 80s, but appear on only a handful of Rickalikes. Two of these brands, Cimar & El Maya, are interesting but don't give us a concrete answer. Cimar, first of all, was associated with Hoshino Gakki, the trading company which owns the Ibanez brand, and was later marketed as a sub-brand of Ibanez. However 70s copy-era Cimars didn't come from the same factory which built Ibanez - and we don't yet know where they did come from. Anyway [url="http://www.ibanez.co.jp/anniversary/14/7.jpg"]here's Cimar's Rickencopy[/url]. El Maya's potentially more helpful - this brand was owned by a trading company called Rokkomann, based in Kobe. Anecdotally, Rokkomann owned its own factory, which was apparently destroyed in the Hanshin earthquake in 1995. It's often assumed then, that El Maya & Maya branded instruments were built in Rokkomann's own factory, but this is unverified. [url="http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs/thumb_1976elmaya.jpg"]This is the only example of a Maya/El Maya copy with these tuners[/url] - others are different, but more common. These basses appear to be similar but neither is identical to your Shafty. To complicate this even more, there are at least two distinctly different but unidentified MIJ Rickenbacker copies which were fitted with these tuners. I've owned two - the fireglo one in my avatar, and a highly-modified (read ruined) parts donor bass, which would have originally looked similar, but had completely different dimensions & construction, and probably hardware & finish too. There are numerous problems with this sort of JapCrap detective-work. In the early/mid 70s, the Japanese guitar industry was both in its infancy and booming, there were dozens of different factories we know about, and any number of ones we don't, all jumping on the highly lucrative copy bandwagon, many of them not even from a musical instrument manufacturing background. Matsumoku, for example, was a traditional Japanese cabinet maker, whose main business was building sewing machine cabinets. Very few records were kept of manufacture, imports or exports, and most of the factories are long-gone and pretty much forgotten. There are very few instruments left, in real terms - older players will remember that at the time Japanese copies were regarded as cheap, low quality, disposable junk and were treated as such. Most of the catalogues & brochures were thrown out decades ago. All that's left is what we have in our hands. You will find clues on the web but very few answers - it's easy to jump to any number of wrong conclusions, so it's easy to be an "expert" on the internet. Me - I know sod-all & I'm happy to admit it. Anyway you have a Shaftesbury Rick copy & I don't - so a few questions: Is the fingerboard lacquered or bare wood? Are the inlays real Mother Of Pearl, plastic pearloid or plain silver/grey plastic? Does the red part of the fireglo go all around the edges of the body or are there uncoloured parts? Does the truss rod adjuster have an allen key or a brass hex nut? Are the body wings single pieces of wood or a "sandwich" split around the edges? Jon.

Stephen bought my lovely black 80s MIJ Squier P, very pleasant & easy transaction! Hope he enjoys the bass as much as I miss it! It's been business doing pleasure with you! Or something like that... Jon.

I had one of these in 1981, when I joined my first proper band. As I remember it was this one: [url="http://www.ampaholics.org.uk/basmaster%20FNT.jpg"]http://www.ampaholics.org.uk/basmaster%20FNT.jpg[/url] Only with ordinary black Tolex-y covering. I also had a matching 2x12 cab, I think I paid about £30 for both from a charity shop! It seemed pretty loud to me at the time but I probably didn't know much better... I can't exactly remember what happened to it - I have an idea that the basement where we practised got flooded & it was ruined, along with a bass bin I made with my Dad. Wish I still had that. Jon.