Bassassin

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='362827' date='Dec 24 2008, 02:28 PM']Thanks to everyone for taking such an interest in this thread and for all the great feedback.[/quote] I didn't even clock your build thread until you posted on my JapCrap restoration one. That is an outrageously stunning piece of work - How long did it take you? The initial readthrough gave me the impression you'd knocked it up over Christmas - although clearly that's not what happened! Did you leave the back/neck natural & just go for a black top? Going off to check out the TB thread now! Jon.

[b]*End-Of-Year Update*[/b] Which is that having salvaged some parts from a tragically butchered 'Faker, I have put this back together, and it looks laaarvly! But. There's always a downside. Unfortunately, this one suffers from the scourge of earlyish neck-through JapCrap, which is Unadjustably High Action Syndrome. Gah. It is playable as it is, and there are a couple of things I can do to make it a little better, but I do like a low string-height & I doubt that this will ever be as playable as I would like. What I can do is to first lower the nut slots - these are really very high and serve to nearly double the effect of an overly high bridge. Secondly I can take the base of the bridge unit down by about 1.5mm, and lastly attack the saddles with a file. The problem will be that I'm then limited in how low I can have the string height by the rest of the hardware - the strings will be hitting the pickup ring and the bottoms of the channels the mute sits in. The other thing that occurs to me is that I'm using a genuine Rick tailpiece here - it may be that the casting's deeper/differently proportioned and that a proper JapCrap one will work better. Anyway I'll try & take a few pics soon, before I start hacking stuff up. I'm sure you'll agree it'll look great on the wall... J.

Send 'em back & buy a pair of Carillon AM-05s, similar spec & currently being practically given away for £50 a pair in the [url="http://www.reverb-store.co.uk/product-detail.asp?prod=194"]Reverb sale[/url]. I got a pair of these at Music Live (£60 then) to use with my desktop PC and have been blown away by them. I have a pair of Spirit Absolute 2s for my studio setup & the Carillons are easily as good, if not better. Jon.

Samick's originally Korean and one of the biggest musical instrument manufacturers in the world. Guitars made there have been common in the UK for best part of 40 years - Samick made the vast majority of Hondo guitars from the late 60s onwards. Not a fantastic recommendation, but they've long since transcended their cheapo plywood origins. As Essential Tension said, they made many MIK Squiers, and the bulk of Korean Epiphones up until 2002, when Samick moved guitar production to Indonesia. It's probably a decent-enough budget spec bass, but £199 seems quite dear for a probably second-hand no-particular-brand MM copy. And if it's the same as [url="http://norwich.gumtree.com/norwich/70/28299870.html"]this one[/url], it definitely is. Jon.

I think that's a lot for what would basically amount to a secondhand P copy body once you swap neck & pups. I think you'd probably pick up a project P body for a lot less than that, either on here or Fleabay. Jon.

[quote name='Rich' post='361672' date='Dec 23 2008, 08:06 AM']The alternative would be to decide on your bridge, position it accurately and then get a friendly chippie/luthier to rout out a rebate for it to sit in, thus lowering the saddle height by 3mm or so (or however thick the bridge baseplate is). Obviously this is more work, but worth it I reckon. Seven-fifty! Ye gods, what an utter bargain![/quote] That's a good plan considering it's string-through, which mine wasn't. Oscar, have you had all that masking tape off the neck yet? You'll find rather sexy triple-dot brass inlays underneath it... :brow: J.

That's a Cort, probably sold branded as Kay in the UK, made in Korea in about 1980. [url="http://www.axesrus.com"]http://www.axesrus.com[/url] will probably do you pretty much everything it needs - which would originally have been generic P/J pups, 2xV, 2xT, 3-way selector, sealed Schaller M4 - type tuners, Fender-type bridge, plus output jack, strap buttons, scratchplate plastic for the control cover & brass nut. And when it's finished it'll probably look quite a bit like this: [attachment=17685:front.jpg] Yes - I did have one. Cost me a little bit more than £7.50 - and cost the person I sold it to a [b]lot[/b] more than £7.50... The one issue it did have was a very shallow fingerboard height above the body - this meant that it wasn't possible to achieve a particularly low action - the original bridge was fairly chunky with fat barrel saddles, so that didn't help - I'd recommend going for something low-profile for this, ie - [b]not[/b] a Badass. Unfortunately de-fretting will only make this worse, don't do this before you find out how playable it is with frets. Jon.

Wire wool is good for cleaning heavily tarnished frets but there is one precaution you [b]absolutely must[/b] take. Keep it away from your pickups - wire wool disintegrates as you use it, shedding thousands of metal particles which want nothing more than to make a home on - and in - your pickups & anything else remotely magnetic. If this happens there's every likelihood of irreparable damage, so take off the neck & do the work well away from the electronics. If you have a set/through neck bass carefully tape over & around the pups so nothing can get in. I wouldn't be too concerned about masking off the fretboard unless it's lacquered or otherwise finished - rosewood is very hard and if you use fine grade wool you'll see very little or no discernible marking on the wood. Treat it with lemming oil afterwards & it'll look good as new. An alternative to wire wool when the frets aren't particularly tarnished is a cloth or cotton-wool pad with a touch of metal polish, T-cut or similar abrasive compound. We're talking very small amounts here, so the cloth's barely damp with it. Excessive amounts will stain the grain, and probably isn't something you want flowing around the glue holding your neck together! This method's particularly good on lacquered boards, and will also have the effect of making the varnished wood between the frets very glossy & new-looking. Jon.

They do look loads better - the bridge pickup & the vast crater it sits in ain't designed to be seen. Alternatively, there's [url="http://www.pickguardian.com/pickguardian/RICBridgePUPlate.html"]Pickguardian[/url]. J.

Excellent spot, Nick, never seen those before. That would be a great replacement for a neck unit, it won't be a direct swap for the bridge, although could easily be adapted to fit using the old bridge unit base plate. It's worth bearing in mind that Rickenbacker have always used the exact same 6-pole "toaster" unit on basses and guitars - I think on recent reissues the only difference is the size of the mounting holes. J.

Sadly not quite as easy as that - you need to remove the strings, then unscrew the pickup surround from the bass & remove the pickup from that. The cover is assembled from underneath the surround & the screws & springs hold the lot together. Fortunately for those not brought up on Meccano & building go-karts from old prams & rusty tin cans, Rickenbacker have a handy-dandy diagram on their website: [url="http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/bpickups.pdf"]http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/bpickups.pdf[/url] Hope this makes more sense than my garbled explanation. Jon.

[quote name='hookys6stringbass' post='360611' date='Dec 21 2008, 11:43 PM']Can anyone suggest replacement pick ups, pots and 3 way switch for a Hondo II rick copy??? thankss[/quote] Pots & switch should be no problem, these are standard parts, the pot rating will be on the back (either 250 or 500, can't remember off the top of my head) and anywhere that sells bits & bobs will do you OK - I usually use [url="http://www.axesrus.com"]http://www.axesrus.com[/url] - good prices, very quick delivery, free postage. However - before you bin the old 'uns, get down your local Maplin & pick up a can of switch cleaner spray - if the pots & switch are just crackly this should sort it for a lot less money & soldering! Rick copy pups are quite hard to come by - as are real Rick parts, and those are cripplingly expensive, if you can find them. Old copy parts do come up on Ebay from time to time so that's the best place to look. There aren't very many aftermarket Rickenbacker components manufactured, due mostly to Rickenbacker's litigious enforcement of their design trademarks. However, there are compatible sets from Seymour Duncan & Bartolini available, these are pretty expensive - and both are humbuckers so will likely sound less Rick-ish than you'd probably want. Dangerboy on here had an SD bridge unit I nearly bought from him (for a good price, if I remember) for my Matsumoku restoration, but I managed to snag a cheap but ruined 4001 copy for the parts, so ended up not going for it. He might still have it available. Probably an idea to stick a post in the "Items Wanted" board, someone might have something. Jon.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='360410' date='Dec 21 2008, 07:05 PM']My cousin bought one of these in the 80's and the fingerboard fell off. [/quote] Just like a real 4001, then. They get tail-lift too... J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='360159' date='Dec 21 2008, 12:16 PM']I thought the general idea was that the strings went over the pole-pieces ...[/quote] It would be useful if they were over the frets, up the dusty end! Then again that "Ibenez" wasn't born with that bridge... J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='360362' date='Dec 21 2008, 05:52 PM']Is '6' your lucky number? [/quote] Well - plainly not! J.

[quote name='andre' post='360387' date='Dec 21 2008, 06:28 PM']If you have never tried a Streamline then you don't know what you're missing !!![/quote] I'd very much like to know what I'm missing! However, in the 2-ish years these have been around, I've only ever seen the couple of pics that have been posted on here. I'm actually still awaiting any empirical evidence that they actually exist. I rather like a funny-looking bass, me, and this is stunning, and I want one. However like the similarly incredible looking Lace Helix, I'm not entirely convinced it isn't just an internet hoax! Jon.

[quote name='budget bassist' post='360197' date='Dec 21 2008, 01:10 PM']Aren't these plywood?[/quote] Indeed they are. And Korean, not Japanese. And not even from a particularly good Korean factory. More on this in the Rickenfakers thread - although my comments are rendered a bit obsolete by the fact he's added some pics now. Jon.

Well, I'm outbid already, doubt if I'll seriously pursue it any further. But at least now he can't change the title. J.

I like that - very nicely carved for the most part, & I'd happily play a P or J modded like that. In fact if I ever come across a suitably ratty no-namer body I might have a go... I suppose it's a shame it's a 60s P it's been done to - but that would have meant arse-all to whoever did it in 1970-whatever. Jon.

[quote name='Geddys nose' post='359967' date='Dec 20 2008, 11:10 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Elmayer-4001-electric-bass-made-in-Japan_W0QQitemZ190275371858QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item190275371858&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Elmayer-4001...A1%7C240%3A1318[/url] Looks a real nice bass I'd imagine if it gets to the end without getting pulled it will go for a fair wedge with Christmas money around and a 10 day auction .[/quote] "Elmayer". That's been preserved, at least until it gets tugged off... J.

Fair point Luke, our guitarist lives in Leith - 'nuff said! J.

Why do you ask? My band played a gig with them (and the very excellent & demented Runt Hornet) at The Brickyard in Carlisle, about 3 years ago. Musically I suppose they were OK in a generic juvenile rock sort of way, but my lasting impression was of a bunch of boys pretending to be rockstars in front of their mates & girlfriends. Admittedly this was a few years ago, bands can come a long way in that sort of time frame. Are you their bassist? Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear but you asked and I'm drunk. Jon.