Bassassin

[quote name='OldGit' post='428439' date='Mar 8 2009, 10:36 AM']An offer eh? How about £6 to cover the dettol?[/quote] If you don't mind me pulling the classic Ebay £65 postage stunt, we might have a deal! Neepheid - I'll get back to you on your £5 "thing" - it does look familiar but I've had 4hrs sleep after last night's gig & am not focussing well... J.

[quote name='Protium' post='428081' date='Mar 7 2009, 04:17 PM']Don't refinish it, looks "good" as it is [/quote] [quote name='OldGit' post='428085' date='Mar 7 2009, 04:26 PM']+1 I like that[/quote] Make us an offer, then... J.

[quote name='OldGit' post='428012' date='Mar 7 2009, 02:08 PM']The jam session I go to has a Marlin PJ like that as the beater bass - er well not exactly like that I think that's the custom version - and it's a fine instrument and sounds really good in some hands. Cherish and treasure it Anyway I think this should competition should really be for the "cheapest functional bass"[/quote] This was it after a hose down with Dettol & a set of strings: Plays OK, sounds pretty decent too. Really nice shaped neck on this, when I get a minute or two I'm going to experiment with a bit of fret levelling/crowning & then spray it matt black. RatBass! J.

A couple of schoolboy errors with the Geddy & Jaco "replicas". I don't think whoever's doing this is a bassist. Jon.

[quote name='WarPig' post='427975' date='Mar 7 2009, 01:05 PM']is that a marlin sidewinder Jon?[/quote] At one point it was - the smell of fish is a dead giveaway. J.

I paid five quid for this. I freely admit I was robbed: Jon.

[quote name='Clarky' post='427214' date='Mar 6 2009, 02:11 PM']I like the fact that in the Q&A its pointed out to the seller that it is indeed a Korean-made instrument from Cort stable (presume the comment is from Bassassin) and he says he will change the advert .... yet no change, still describing it as US made [/quote] In fairness, he says he'll post it on the listing - which he has. I messaged him before it had any bids, so he did have the chance - however once a bid's placed you can't edit the original listing - only add bits at the end. Shame he didn't change it - that blew my chance of grabbing it for £50! :ph34r: It's a bit ruff & ready finish-wise for a Cort - but I'm not arguing with the inlays, trc, hardware & general construction. This is only the second one of these I've seen, that was on Ebay a few years ago so there's a strong likelihood it's the same one. J.

It's old & it's purty, but who's gonna tell me what this [b]really[/b] is? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280318065147"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=280318065147[/url] No cheating, just look closely at the pics... Jon.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='427137' date='Mar 6 2009, 01:02 PM']...and Tales From The Riverbank.[/quote] Spooky - I've been practising that this morning. Used to do it years ago as a little jokey solo/intro & thinking about reviving it for a gig tomorrow. +1 to Grange Hill - or Chicken Man, to give it it's proper title. Great fun bass part & near-obligatory when it was current! Jon.

A lot of Shafty LP copies were Matsumoku - you can spot these by the "Steel Adjustable Neck" plate, arrowhead trc, 3-screw pickup adjustment & the like. The Rick copies are definitely not Mats, but haven't yet been matched to anything with a positive manufacturer ID. He's sort-of right about Shaftesbury - if a little confused! Rose-Morris' retail shop was in Shaftesbury Ave at the time & clearly that's where the brand name comes from. As a youth I spent many an hour in there & the various other emporia around Denmark St & Charing Cross Rd, drooling over the unattainable! Jon.

Very tidy-looking Shafty, £375 BIN: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150330555882"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=150330555882[/url] Almost seems reasonable compared to what some have gone for recently. And Glen's wrong. J.

Always loved Copeland's playing, he's been in my top 5 tub-thumpers for decades. Sting however just seemed to play the bare minimum required for the song, which is fair enough, but feels like a wasted opportunity with such an inventive & dextrous drummer to work with. Still a big Police fan though, so yes. Jon.

[quote name='sixshooter' post='423637' date='Mar 2 2009, 08:41 PM']Here is the Guitar version [attachment=21342:Yasuki.jpg] [attachment=21343:Headstock_1.jpg] This one is branded Yasuki![/quote] Cheers for that, although this is arguably even more of a mystery! Yasuki's a new one on me, it smacks of an importer's idea of a "Japanese-y" sounding name, like Kimbara & Sakai were. However this is clearly from the same source as the Asama bass & LP. A full autopsy might reveal some clues as to a manufacturer, but there are a lot of instruments out there that are destined to go unidentified, it seems. We can assume that many less recognisable guitars came from the Matsumoto Musical Instrument Manufacturers Association, a collective of smaller builders & suppliers in the region, which excluded the bigger & better known factories like Matsumoku & Fujigen. J.

Vaguely interested if they're reasonably priced, but I'm not holding my breath. Slightly put off by the recent quality of RS66 sets, which I used for years but gave up on after a succession of dead A strings & arbitrarily snapping Gs. They'll have to be a lot cheaper than Elixirs, as well as blacker. Jon.

I'm only using a pick about 1/3 of the time these days - but Dunlop nylons have a textured gripping area, been using them for years & never dropped one yet. It helps to hang on like grim death, too. Jon.

Possibly - I'm just assuming it's a de-fret because of the lines, never seen a lined fretless Matsumoku as far as I can remember. J.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='422057' date='Feb 28 2009, 10:54 PM']I've got filler so filling won't be a problem, I have to postpone though I have to go to work tomorrow now [/quote] Don't use filler - a bunch of cocktail sticks & some epoxy, tap them in & trim them flush with a Stanley knife blade once the epoxy's set. This is a good way of making a rock-solid plug for any size hole, & can be re-drilled if necessary - also ideal if the bridge needs to be moved for intonation or alignment. Jon.

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='421802' date='Feb 28 2009, 05:15 PM']Cash Converters sell them for £4.[/quote] Didn't know that - I'll try a set. Cheers! Jon.

[quote name='pete.young' post='421681' date='Feb 28 2009, 01:51 PM']Aria Pro II RSB special fretless [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aria-Pro-II-Fretless-Bass-Guitar_W0QQitemZ140304022437QQihZ004QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aria-Pro-II-Fretless...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url] I used to have one just like this in black, and sold it to Silverfoxnik after I got my Bass Collection.[/quote] Nice, that. Shame it's had the frets ripped out. J.

[quote name='AREA' post='421625' date='Feb 28 2009, 12:31 PM']Yes, this is exactly my Bass, because on "Guitarmaniacs" I´m registered as "Rumms".[/quote] That's what I get for not paying attention! Makes more sense knowing you're in Germany, the Asama brand seems more common on the Continent. Anyway, while "Asama" may translate as "Big Bottom", it's actually more likely the name comes from Mt. Asama in Nagano prefecture - which is traditionally home to much of Japan's guitar making industry. I am talking about mountains (a common theme in JapCrap brand names - Fujigen, Rokkomann, Maya...) because there's not much info out there about Asama. Anyway, it appears to be a brand rather than a factory & there was a range of Asama FX guitars of which this bass is but one - here's an LP with the same module: [url="http://www.geocities.com/stompbox2001/asama.htm"]http://www.geocities.com/stompbox2001/asama.htm[/url] I'm sure there used to be a [i]Vintage Guitar[/i] mag article about these knocking around on the web - maybe I'm thinking of Fresher, who also had a range of FX guitars. All the [i]Guru's Guitar Guide[/i] book has to say about Asama is this: [quote]Instruments previously built in Japan during the early 1980s. Guitars with this trademark are generally medium to good quality copies of American design as well as some original designs[/quote] And the only other Asama bass I've seen is this one: [url="http://www.guitardir.com/specs.php?NodeId=11812&Context=3"]http://www.guitardir.com/specs.php?NodeId=...2&Context=3[/url] Owned by a Dutch gentleman called Kees, whose knowledge of JapCrap makes me feel positively intellectually stunted - and he doesn't have a clue who made them. These appear under numerous brands - the best known being Fernandes. Which doesn't help since Fernandes is only a brand name & has been made in various different factories. Anyway to get back to the point - while I can't find much concrete info, I have seen a bass like AREA's before, and needless to say it was on Ebay & somewhere in Europe. I can't swear it was branded Asama, but it had the same FX and black blocks. I have absolutely no recollection of how much it sold for - but obviously more than my £50 Ebay Pikey ceiling! Jon.

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='421595' date='Feb 28 2009, 11:43 AM']What's the story Mr 'Japcrap Wiki' Bassassin?[/quote] Asama is Japanese for "Big Bottom". Area - if you consider selling, let me know. BTW I take it the pics aren't actually your bass, since they're from the www.guitarmaniacs.de site? I'll go & do a bit of digging, see what I can find out... Jon.

[quote name='Telebass' post='418858' date='Feb 24 2009, 10:46 PM']As they probably built my 51RI Precision, how can I say nay?[/quote] [b][pedant][/b] They didn't. They couldn't have, it's only ever been a brand name. [b][/pedant][/b] However if your P's an MIJ it will be from Fujigen Gakki - the same factory that built 70s and a lot of 80s Ibbys. These days Ibbys come from all over the place - but the quality control's generally excellent regardless of factory & price range. The only downside in my experience is that the "out of the box" setup is often rotten. Jon.

[quote name='zbigniew' post='419209' date='Feb 25 2009, 01:04 PM']Oops! It was my first time for puttin in a link so my fault for not trying it after posting here's take II: [url="http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Early-70s-Greco-Bass-guitar-Made-in-Japan_W0QQitemZ250378684564QQihZ015QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Early-70s-Grec...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url] Z[/quote] Cheers for that. Very interesting - but I'm 99% sure this isn't a 70s "lawsuit" era bass - the serial suffix appears to be A83 - which, if it is a Greco, would mean January 1983. This is perfectly probable because Greco is a domestic Japanese brand, and copies like this were made & sold in Japan long after they stopped being exported in the mid/late 70s. The same type of serial number appears on other brands too. The details aren't consistent with any of the manufacturers I mentioned, but with dozens of factories making copies for the Japanese home market, it could be anything. Looks nice though, just a shame the pics are so small. J.

[quote name='zbigniew' post='419075' date='Feb 25 2009, 10:19 AM']I like the looks of that one, JetGlo with checkered binding - it's in Japan though. What do you think of it? [post="0"]Greco??[/post] Z[/quote] Linky not working! Checker binding will probably be an early Fujigen or a Kasuga. I've seen one Matsumoku-built Electra Corsair with checks but that's unlikely. Early Grecos were both Matsumoku & Fujigen, so we'll see... J.

[quote name='tauzero' post='418954' date='Feb 25 2009, 01:40 AM']Don't like the apparent separation between fretboard and neck...[/quote] Might glue & clamp up OK, I wouldn't pay more than a ton for it with a problem like that, though. There's this: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150328451747"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=150328451747[/url] Seems to be genuinely being sold by someone with no idea, I think it's probably a Hondo. And look - this is familiar, isn't it? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270345551704"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=270345551704[/url] Specifically: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=40419"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=40419[/url] Glad to see it's got its proper TRC back but still - Jon.