Bassassin

I played pretty much exclusively with a pick for about 20 years - my fingerstyle was rudimentary at best & never got used live. I decided a few years ago to make an effort to develop good dexterity with my fingers, and have now got to the point where I don't touch the pick at home and when gigging it's about 80% fingers. At practice last week I got inexplicable right-hand pains & had to resort to the pick for a lot of songs I wouldn't normally, and on Friday we were playing a long set so I made the decision to play a 100% plectrum gig, for the first time in about 4 years. What I realised was that about half of my band's songs sound better with plectrum bass, and despite having developed a pretty solid fingerstyle, I still play more confidently & accurately with a pick. There were a few songs where my parts simply don't work with the pick but on the whole it was an eye-opening & somewhat liberating experience. I'm going to be reintroducing the pick for a lot of songs from now on - & I think this is a clear demonstration of the validity of all techniques. Learn 'em all. Jon.

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='539687' date='Jul 13 2009, 08:43 PM']I think the funny thing here is that someone once paid £120 for it [/quote] In the trade that's what they call "a pack of lies". I'd like a pink bass, but not that one... Jon.

[quote name='Musky' post='538485' date='Jul 12 2009, 01:49 PM']I love the description of "sound calibration holes". [/quote] That's what's been wrong with my basses for all these years - incorrectly calibrated sound, because I can't find the holes! I wonder what on earth they mean? Couldn't possibly be making stuff up just to sound clever, could they? I might message them and ask for more details about these "sound calibration holes", how they work, and if the bass is supplied with all the necessary tools & calibration charts to, er, calibrate it. J.

I've been musing over the idea of a fretted/fretless double neck for a couple of years - I knocked up a rough idea of how such a beast might work: Theoretically it wouldn't be physically that much bigger than a conventional bass - my idea would be to make the body myself & everything else should be pretty easy to source. My band does have a song or two which would benefit from some slidiness - and the pose value is incalculable... Jon.

Better off grabbing this [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-MAYA-Precision-bass-neck-tuners-Japan-70s_W0QQitemZ320395966471"]Maya P neck[/url] & finding a body that hasn't been refinished with phlegm. Obviously a week for Mayas - just spotted this [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/70s-LEFT-HANDED-MAYA-JAZZ-BASS-in-TRI-COLOUR-SUNBURST_W0QQitemZ250458553308"]southpaw J[/url] ending in a few hours, currently at £122. Recession? J.

Here's a couple of under-the-radar 70s copies which might be of interest: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=140332609892"]Hohner P copy - £75 BIN[/url] This is apparently MIJ which means it's a Moridaira, not top-drawer JapCrap but pretty damn good. Might be a ply body or maybe a top/back veneer on butcher block. Collection only. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=320396472967"]CMI Jazz copy - 3-day stealth listing[/url] Unsure of the maker here but CMI is quite collectable. Zero-feedback seller, collection only, 3-day list & invisible description means someone will get this for buttons. If I was near Milton Keynes it would be me. Jon.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' post='538103' date='Jul 11 2009, 07:47 PM']That crack in the back of the Ibanez will be the neck slowly creeping forwards due to the pickup cavity being too close to the end of the fingerboard. As it creeps, the neck angle will be changing and the action getting higher and higher. It happened to one I used to own - there just isn't much gluing surface with that huge pickup rout there. And the pickup on mine was a skinny little single coil under the cover anyway - what were they thinking when they chose that pickup for this bass?[/quote] Real Ricks were prone to this - possibly why the pickup was moved on later ones - and my Matsumoku copy has flexed at this point (no cracks) & has a very high action. All just symptomatic of 35-odd years of string tension, and other than filing down saddles & sinking bridges into bodies, there's not a lot can be done about it. Ironically the bolt-neck Ibanez has a sensible-sized neck pup, the same as the bridge unit on this bass. ChrisAngryman - got any pics of your CMI? Jon.

[quote name='guzzibass' post='537259' date='Jul 10 2009, 03:13 PM']'won' this Ibby Roadstar 11 today, - looking forward to collecting and checkin it out!! [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140331333460&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fitems%2F%3F_nkw%3D140331333460%26_sacat%3D0%26_trksid%3Dp3286.m270.l1313%26_odkw%3D14033133346%26_osacat%3D0%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...%3D1&_rdc=1[/url][/quote] Great score for £120! Very surprised it went as low as that. J.

[quote name='Musky' post='537321' date='Jul 10 2009, 04:54 PM']Any idea when the Grecos were being built by both FujiGen and Mat, Jon? Come to that, do you have any idea when Mat were using their different neck plate (Accurate Bolt On System, Adjustable Steel Neck and the ones saying just Made in Japan)?[/quote] It's hard to be completely certain about Grecos because these were predominantly copies, which tended to look quite similar! My inferences come from the catalogue scans on [url="http://psyco.jp/greco/cata.html"]this site[/url] & my worrying ability to ID certain JapCrap Rick copies from 100 metres. The very early catalogues show both Fujigen & Aria logos in their credits - fortunately in English! Kanda Shokai owns Greco & presumably contracted Fujigen directly & Matsumoku through Shiro Arai Co for the early 70s instruments. The catalogues show both Mat & Fujigen versions of 4001 basses up until 1976. The Mat copies were much more accurate, but the more ornate Fujigens sold at a higher price, presumably due to the extra bling! By around '76 the Fujigen design had been revised to be less inaccurate so it appears they dropped the cheaper Mat version because there was little distinction between the two by then. Beyond that point I'm unsure, although I've seen a Greco PB750 (P/J copy with unusual 16-pole J-sized pup in the bridge pos) with a '78 Mat plate. Mat plates themselves are confusing - it does appear they used various different styles & combinations of details at the same time. The classic pre '75 plate is the Steel Adjustable Neck/MIJ/Serial style - these go back to the late 60s (as far as I can tell) and early ones can sometimes read "Steel Reinforced", and one or other of the other bits can be missing. The serials are generally assumed to be random (twin-necks with completely unrelated numbers seem to bear this out) but of course might not be - maybe no-one's found the right enchantment yet... Anyway, to confuse things more, proper sequential serialisation seems to have appeared around 1975, along with Matsumoku-stamped plates. Original model Arias seem to have got Accurate Bolt Ons - but the different permutations still crop up. I've seen Westone Thunders with Steel Adjustable + sequential serial - and also with Mat plates & 2 different sorts of serial. It's horribly confusing & my head hurts and I'd like to claim my prize for Dull & Confused BC Post Of The Year. J.

Spartacus is probably right about the numbering - there was an odd period of Matsumoku using several different serial formats & this type appears to be the same as used by Fujigen, & therefore Ibanez. This is possibly due to the fact that Grecos were being built by Mat & Fujigen simultaneously, & both factories were producing some of the same models, so they kept the serial numbers consistent. Looks like some of the same plates ended up on other brands too. Simple, innit? I couldn't really guess at value but I'd have that for £70, no sweat! Jon.

You're expected to understand gibberish like "walnut blem-blem". You're expected to believe these aren't ten-for fifty-quid Taiwanese cheapos with zero quality control. Other than that it's a pretty nice-looking bass and probably great if you either have a massive lucky streak or get off on the element of risk. Jon.

[quote name='karlfer' post='536988' date='Jul 10 2009, 07:13 AM']THATS a challenge I shall look forward to![/quote] Look forward to it! Here's another Hondo, with a black refin that would probably scratch off in half an hour: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=390066883099"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=390066883099[/url] This one uses the "R" word so will probably get pulled, contacting the seller to get their username is probably a good idea for interested parties. J.

[quote name='karlfer' post='535491' date='Jul 8 2009, 10:26 AM']Thanks J, in the process. So jealous of you, having a Kasuga. Still have photo on wall from 1980, brandishing mine at a 5000+ outdoor gig in Darlington. Had 3 real R's since, all long gone, but the Kasuga is still remembered as the best. Cost £110 on HP she did. Sold her in 85 to buy Gibbo Explorer bass. Happy days.[/quote] You missed a lovely Fireglo Kasuga a couple of weeks back - for some reason the listing's gone now but there are pics of it here: [url="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=78514186083&ref=mf"]http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=78514186083&ref=mf[/url] You should put your pic from 1980 on there. Jon.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='536271' date='Jul 9 2009, 10:49 AM']Welcome back to the pick brotherhood.[/quote] You [b]never[/b] leave... :ph34r: J.

You can post pics if you save them on your pc and then upload them to BC as attachments. If the neck repair's good, the price is good too - a nice one of these can go for upwards of £500. The fact it has a repair probably means you have a bit of haggle-space too, you might get it for £250, in fact if it's a private sale, that's what the seller's probably expecting to get. Thumb rests weren't standard on these! Jon.

That's foul, even by Warwick standards. Jon.