Bassassin

It's Crackmonkey Tuesday! Jon.

Dennis Dunaway (original Alice Cooper Group) - to my ears simply the god of pick users: [i]Gutter Cat vs The Jets, Blue Turk, Halo Of Flies, Billion Dollar Babies[/i] etc etc. Outrageously good. Other plectrum deities (in addition to those already mentioned): JJ Burnel, Steven Severin, Tony Butler, Peter Steele, Russell Webb, Hooky, Jason Newsted. It's probably fair to say most of my favourite players are pick users. Edit: And Lemmy - fufuxake, how the hell did I forget Lemmy? Jon.

What - for 27 years? J.

[quote name='sgt-pluck' post='508603' date='Jun 8 2009, 09:43 PM']Collection only! Brave! I like Supergrass - quality live band. His main bass is that natural Ibby - pretty sure I read somewhere that it's Roadstar II. Pluck[/quote] It's a Blazer - I think I read it was his first bass & he saw no reason to "upgrade". Cool that he chose another elderly cheapo as a stand-in while his back was injured. Jon.

[quote name='"Honest" Ged Dixon of Ebay']Wow!!! I can't believe we found this again... Languishing in an attic since at least 1982...[/quote] [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=140324776699"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=140324776699[/url] Actually a nice & very old Antoria Jazz, probably 1971. I fully expect this to get quite silly in its last few hours. Jon.

For anyone smitten by vintage Korean plywood GAS, this is the same bass, different colour: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hondo-bass-guitar_W0QQitemZ330335867321"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hondo-bass-guitar_W0...emZ330335867321[/url] That's probably a DiMarzio in this one, they were standard on a lot of Hondos from this era. Jon.

[quote name='swlaschin' post='507292' date='Jun 6 2009, 10:56 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/csl-vintage-precision-bass-made-in-japan_W0QQitemZ140325407370QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item20ac0bca8a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1688|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A2|294%3A50"]Defretted CSL P Bass[/url] from Ibanez factory? Don't like the defret job much...[/quote] I'm fairly sure the neck & body of this bass don't belong together but it's interesting all the same. Shame about the defret, these are lovely necks - my no.1 Jazz is a somewhat modified 1980 CSL with the same neck: [attachment=26634:CSL2008.jpg] For the new-to-JapCrap I'll point out that this wasn't made at the Ibanez Factory because it doesn't exist, as Ibanez is just a brand name. However it was made at Fujigen Gakki, the same factory as most 70s & 80s Ibbys - and subsequently MIJ Fenders, so there is a connection. The headstock shape here is the same as the older Ibby Blazers - although you won't find any of them with black blocks... J.

[quote name='Mrs Tinman' post='507307' date='Jun 6 2009, 11:53 PM']I'm sorry - I haven't seen this - I never venture outside off topic don'cha know? PS: you know full well that in a certain light and with the wind behind you (and beer steins in front of you) you look just like JBJ [/quote] Beer goggles! And I assume you're an impostor then - what have you done with the real Terri? J.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='507162' date='Jun 6 2009, 07:04 PM']What does Bruce Dickinson know about the great plec/fingers debate?[/quote] Clearly I am his evil ginger twin & we share common thought patterns. Can't see the resemblance myself (and you obviously haven't heard me sing!) but it's better than being likened to Jon Bon Jovi - yes Mrs T I am talking to you! J.

[quote name='jonsmith' post='506870' date='Jun 6 2009, 11:28 AM']It's OK, we can rebuild her. Believe it or not, this is the same instrument.[/quote] That is outrageously lovely - the sweetest 4080 I've ever seen. Would that be Mr. Wilczynski's handiwork? I've seen some stunning restorations he's done on RickResource. Edit: I'm guessing that the 12 neck's a replacement? Jon.

[quote name='Clarky' post='506948' date='Jun 6 2009, 01:31 PM']I play with a plectrum because I am sh*te at playing with my fingers .... fact Discuss that[/quote] J.

It is a bit of an old chestnut, this. The answer is simple. "Bassists" who use plectrums are not true bassists - they are failed guitarist scum and it is the duty of every right-thinking real bassist to seek them out and smash their hands with a hammer, so they do not cheapen & degrade the purity & skill of proper bass playing with this abominable perversion of theirs. Praise The Lord. Easy, really. Jon.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='480716' date='May 6 2009, 10:15 AM']It should get a gig on Saturday so we'll see how it plays sounds for real.[/quote] I've been pretty much exclusively gigging the Frankenbugger for the last month - It is f@cking great! Loads of compliments about my sound, and it's a real head-turner, people keep wanting to know what it is! Jon.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='506560' date='Jun 5 2009, 06:59 PM']Apologies, from an ill-informed bigot.[/quote] Graciously accepted, sir! J.

[quote name='noirpunk' post='506361' date='Jun 5 2009, 02:07 PM']Well, British Music Strings which was based in Cardiff. The instruments were imported from Korea, inspected and sold. The operation went belly up long ago. They're not uncommon, you see quite a few in cash generators and car boots around the South Wales area. Not particularly well made guitars, but a lot better than the old 'Axe' brand they used to seel in the back pages of Kerrang years ago.[/quote] Marlins were ewe-biquitous in the 80s & early 90s, most of them were Korean but I have seen examples that were made in the former East Germany. Not sure how they got over the Berlin Wool. I suspect BMS were also associated with the Hohner RTX "Eurofighter" g*it*r, assembled in Wales from components sourced from all over Yurp. Jon.

It actually works OK - wonder what happened though? This is basically a Rick crossbred with a Hohner B2A - looks like the Hohner's donated pickups & possibly active circuit, as well as bridge & string retainer. I'd like to think the Rick suffered a disastrous headstock break, rather than somebody just thought this was a great idea! J.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='506159' date='Jun 5 2009, 10:23 AM']The deep mellow tones of plywood, you can't beat them, probably best to set it on fire and be done with it.[/quote] It's not plywood. These have a sandwich body construction, probably basswood, with ash veneers front & back. The dark oversprays are to conceal the laminate joins but it ain't ply. Such a lot of ill-informed bigotry in this thread. Anyway, this is pretty much the same bass branded Antoria: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=140324776699"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=140324776699[/url] Slight differences in the hardware & neck construction - this one's very early, with the chrome trc & black button tuners, probably around 1971. J.

There's going to be some amount of wailing, gnashing of teeth, hair-pulling & self flagellation about that over at RickResource. We should form a support group. Jon.

Well overpriced but not crap. Not authentic by any stretch of the imagination but of interest to JapCrapologists. Elger was the original US importer of Ibanez & later became Hoshino US after being taken over by Ibanez's Japanese parent company. This bass is an early (pre '75) Fujigen jazz copy & is identical to the Ibanez 2365B. Those pickups are designed to be hidden under the ashtrays this would have originally had, & despite the appearance are very powerful & punchy - that's one in the fireglo Rick copy in my avatar. The tuners were pretty much standard on every early 70s Jap bass. They do look horrid but are not too bad - you'll find them used on 70s Shergolds, interestingly. Not sure where the idea that they're only held on by only 2 screws comes from - they have four, none of which are "dummies". To me the most odd thing about this ad is the seller's failure to play the Ibanez card, like they usually do. Down to ignorance, I suppose, but for once it would nearly be justified! Jon.

Sean PM'd me about this - I was inclined to think about £400 - £500 but then I did an Ebay search. Hope you're sitting down: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aria-Pro-II-SB1000-Bass-Guitar_W0QQitemZ200345921383"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aria-Pro-II-SB1000-B...emZ200345921383[/url] I doubt this is typical & maybe these are really rare Down Under - but it's still a shocker! I have to admit I'm not a huge Aria expert, but there are some Aria geeks on here who might know better - I'm pretty sure Bloodaxe has got one or ten. Sean - maybe you should edit the title to reflect vintage Aria content. Jon.

Just read your post properly & it isn't the same thing at all! that'll teach me to jump to conclusions! It might be a nut-height issue, or maybe the break-angle over the nut. Are your strings wound top-to-bottom around the posts? Jon.

[quote name='12stringbassist' post='504581' date='Jun 3 2009, 12:12 PM'] A Google search shows one for sale here - clearly labelled 'Rockinbetter by Tokai', as per The Bass Centre. [url="http://www.basscentre.com/4-string-bass-guitars/tokai-rockinbetter.html"]http://www.basscentre.com/4-string-bass-gu...ckinbetter.html[/url][/quote] Exactly what I said - these references appear on [b]retailers' sites[/b], not Tokai's! It's interesting to look at that side-by side pic - apart from having a conventional bridge & a Fender-type bridge pup cover rather than copied Rick hardware, you can clearly see the neck shape & dimensions are very different. The "Tokai" has what looks like a standard scale length & taper meaning the string spacing is much wider at the dusty end & up to the bridge - I doubt it would feel very much like a Rick to play. I think the bridge pup on these sits in a conventional rout & this might be to do with why they don't sound right - some people reckon the Rick "clank" is to do with the bridge pup being suspended by big bits of metal & springs in a huge cavity in the body - lots of resonance! [quote name='12stringbassist' post='504581' date='Jun 3 2009, 12:12 PM']I'm absolutely certain that I have seen more than one branded 'Tokai' and have tried a couple before I got my own Rics.[/quote] I'd be quite surprised if they didn't make one back in the day - however I've never seen one - I have a near-obsessive interest in Rick copies & I would definitely remember! [quote name='12stringbassist' post='504581' date='Jun 3 2009, 12:12 PM']Obviously this one is from a Tokai Ric guitar copy: [/quote] That will be probably the same as the 325 copy I mentioned in my earlier post - an RG40 from around 2001 which appears in this Japanese-market catalogue: [url="http://www.tokairegistry.com/images/catalogs/tokai20013.jpg"]http://www.tokairegistry.com/images/catalogs/tokai20013.jpg[/url] J.

[quote name='12stringbassist' post='503854' date='Jun 2 2009, 02:54 PM']Possibly that Tokai actually make them. I have seen both types of copy and all that appears to have changed is the name on the TRC.[/quote] What do you mean "both types"? I've never seen the exact same bass as this with a different brand - and thinking about it, I have never seen a Tokai-branded Rick bass copy, old or current. They did do a copy of the Rick 325 guitar in the 80s, so it's possible bass models existed, but I've never encountered one. It does look like the only connection between the Tokai brand & the Rockinbetter bass seems to be anecdotal; just discussions like this and retailers' sites - it doesn't appear on any of Tokai's own listings & literature as far as I can tell. It would seem strange that Tokai would want to disassociate themselves from it - if it was anything to do with them - considering they were audacious enough to actually call their original Gibson copies "Les Paul Reborn"! And that's the other thing: Tokai have always made replica-standard copies, & that's what their reputation's based upon, but Rockinbetters are pretty ordinary modern basses that just look a bit like Ricks in terms of shape & finish. They are not accurate in terms of construction, hardware, or, by the looks of them, dimensions. J.

[quote name='Soloshchenko' post='503381' date='Jun 1 2009, 10:44 PM']Do you mean the tokai ones? I saw one recently too. [url="http://www.rockfactory.co.uk/prodimages/IMG_0221.jpg"]http://www.rockfactory.co.uk/prodimages/IMG_0221.jpg[/url][/quote] What do these Rockinbetters have to do with Tokai? I can't find a connection. J.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=130310148668"]I am lost for words.[/url] [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=170335622798"]This[/url] for contrast/reality check. J.