Bassassin

You don't see many of them. Or Ebay dealers who can't spell "Ibanez"!! Way to get the hits! J.

For the seriously Westone-curious there's an excellent & comprehensive website: [url="http://www.westone.info/"]http://www.westone.info/[/url] It's a strange to think they didn't have a particularly great reputation back in the day - simply because they were cheap. I don't think anyone realised (I certainly didn't) that they were coming off the same production line as the Aria Pro SB series - which had plenty of professional endorsement & was priced accordingly. The fact that there are still so many of them around is testament to how solid & popular they were. J.

Washburn Wing series - more Matsumoku magic. Jon.

Sounds like a stunner Jack, hope you'll furnish us with some pics soon! J.

To echo everyone else, Westones are top-quality but mostly cheap & cheerful JapCrap, built by Matsumoku, which was rightly regarded as one of the best Japanese manufacturers in the 70s & 80s. 200 sovs is somewhat OTT for a Spectrum - they go for a lot less than that on Ebay, often under a ton. If you fancy a Westy, have a look at the basses for sale board here, there were a couple of Thunders up recently for very good money, don't know if they sold or not. Jon.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='555210' date='Jul 29 2009, 03:28 PM']Do I hear any competition? [/quote] No chance. J.

[quote name='WHUFC BASS' post='554833' date='Jul 29 2009, 10:18 AM']Apparently it was to do with all the space travel and rockets that was going at the time. Gibson reasoned that they should make guitars in outlandish shapes to resemble rockets and stuff like that. There's also a reverse Flying V guitar... and a reverse Explorer... [/quote] And don't forget the Moderne: Designed in 1957, but never manufactured until 1982. Details like that didn't stop Ibanez/Antoria/Greco/whoever copying it in the early 70s: Note they didn't know what the headstock should look like! If it's a copy of a guitar that didn't exist, is it still a copy? And couldn't they have sued Gibson in 1982? J.

[quote name='obbm' post='529813' date='Jul 1 2009, 05:53 PM']Sometimes you might still find those old value ceramic disc capacitors however the closest modern equivalents are 0.047uF and 0.033uF. The difference in values will have a minimal effect. You can get 0.047 and 0.033 Sprague Orange Drop caps from Watford Valves.[/quote] A bit cheaper at Axesrus: [url="http://www.axesrus.com/axeElectronicsCaps.htm"]http://www.axesrus.com/axeElectronicsCaps.htm[/url] Watford Valves have a minimum parts order of £10 and minimum £4 postage, excluding VAT. Jon.

[quote name='BarnacleBob' post='554257' date='Jul 28 2009, 06:25 PM']Amazed to discover the Flying V guitar was built as early 1956!!! Examples are contenders for the fabled $1,000,000 guitar title.[/quote] Same with the Explorer - strange to think that those iconic "metal" guitars date from the era of Chuck Berry & Elvis! J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='554184' date='Jul 28 2009, 05:19 PM']Got no brief to ride to the rescue of JapCrap under attack, but it ain't necessarily so that all Jedsons were rubbish. I had a 70's Jedson LP, a Black Beauty copy. Not being much of a guitarist I asked a couple of friends to try it for me and they both thought it was really rather good. On a whim, I took it into Vintage & Rare (Denmark Street) to A/B it with a genuine 1973 Gibson. I couldn't tell the difference, and the guys in the shop were struggling too. Not making that up. I'm sure there were loads of crap Jedsons, but some good ones made it through, too.[/quote] Later Jedsons were predominantly Matsumoku-made, & some of them are stunning - I keep seeing lovely natural LPs with bookmatched flamed tops selling for silly money on Fleabay. The acoustics are getting quite collectable and can sometimes sell for eye-watering amounts. If you're sad like me check out the Jedson fan/collectors' site: [url="http://jedsonguitars.net/"]http://jedsonguitars.net/[/url] Jedson was only around until the early 70s when J.E. Dallas & Sons merged with Arbiter to form the recently demised Dallas-Arbiter. And the subsequent JapCrap was branded Arbiter, still sourced from Uncle Mat. FWIW I was outbid on a rather pretty (and accurate) Jedson Strat copy on Sunday night. Had to go & play a gig so I got pipped at the last second. Bugger. J.

Definitely a "what were they thinking?" moment. But it comes with a certificate of authenticity and everything! And it's signed! By, err... Noz. Who had it since before it was made. Noz, eh? What a guy. Jon.

That's one of the recent-ish RS/RSB series reissues, looks like it'll be a bolt-neck. On the whole modern Arias are damn good & very underrated basses. Jon.

These are right common, basses & guitars like this, the proud output of J.E Dallas & Sons (see what they did there) from the late 60s/early 70s, and there are usually one or two floating around on Ebay. I have no personal experience of them, neither do I want any, but if one turned up at my local car boot I would of course feel duty-bound to buy it & flip it on Fleabay for a negligible profit. Jon.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='553471' date='Jul 28 2009, 04:04 AM']The timing of that last line was meant as an homage to [url="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/123-LEGO-Indy"]"STICKLE BRICKS BABYLON FIVE?"[/url] but I don't think it worked.[/quote] Gah. I watch Zero Punctuation religiously every Wednesday & still missed the reference , for shame. Major thread derailment coming if we start discussing the comedy genius of Mr Croshaw. J.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='553416' date='Jul 28 2009, 12:10 AM']Er... Geddy Lee Jazz? Steve Harris Precision? Er... Marcus Miller Jazz? Hmm... ... MIKE DIRNT PRECISION?[/quote] Revolutionary, each & every one!! J.

You need a category for both. And what's wrong with plastic, or metal? My Tokai Talbo looks great next to my P's & J's & Rickenbuggers! Jon.

I'm guessing shill bidding gone mad. Used to be easy to spot before Ebay decided dodgy bidders should have their identities protected. Jon.

Gibson Victory Artist or Custom Rickenbacker 4001 pre '73 Westbury Track II or IV Epiphone Scroll Bass Warwick Fortress Flashback Vester Argus Hopefully will achieve the last on the list as soon as I can shift a few stragglers. The rest - who knows? Jon.

I picked up a nice old Mk III head off a BCer a couple of months ago as a stop-gap, but have been happily gigging & rehearsing with it, & can't think of a valid reason to stop. Works an absolute treat with my Peavey 1x15 BW cab, which I've had since there were dinosaurs, & as Mr Foxen says - "brute force simplicity". Jon.

[quote name='beerdragon' post='551044' date='Jul 25 2009, 12:45 PM']This one even has the Rick logo on. those damn Chinese! [url="http://www.tradetang.com/for-sale/Ricke-cker-black-gibson-Electric-Guitar-free-shipping/115971-1366164.html"]http://www.tradetang.com/for-sale/Ricke-ck...71-1366164.html[/url][/quote] Oh, the "Rickenbacker black Gibson electric guitar"? ] Really though, that is disappointingly rubbish - they're not even trying. J.

[quote name='pete.young' post='550908' date='Jul 25 2009, 10:00 AM']Here's a really interesting looking Ibanez 2366 fretless P . 200 quid seems a bit steep though, what do you reckon? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IBANEZ-2366FLB-FRETLESS-BASS-VINTAGE-70s_W0QQitemZ260450795469QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item3ca413bfcd&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A1|66%3A2|39%3A1|293%3A2|294%3A50"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IBANEZ-2366FLB-FRETL...93%3A2|294%3A50[/url][/quote] £200 is a bit of a steal for this - that logo means silly money. If I had a spare £200 and he'd post it, I'd be tempted to grab it for that, it would make a nice pair with my fretted '72/'73 2366B, which I happily paid £200 for off a BCer a few years back: And might be a bit of an investment, too - you practically never see these in the UK and when they appear over the water, where these things are much cheaper & more common, this happens: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360169494594"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=360169494594[/url] And that isn't even original - plus the fretless is a lot more rare. J.