Bassassin

These do pop up from time to time - it's basically a Warwick Fortress Flashback knockoff - and their pedigree/origin is very, very questionable: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3046"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3046[/url] J.

[quote name='noirpunk' post='305689' date='Oct 13 2008, 06:25 PM']That mapleglo Ibanez is the perfect sorta Rickenfaker for me and my pumpy punk basslines. Not liking the price tho hah![/quote] Might be worth making an offer - he'd probably let it go for £350 or maybe a bit less. J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='305196' date='Oct 13 2008, 08:18 AM']£175 for a couple of pieces of wood that used to be in the shape of a Ricky copy? And there was me thinking that we were in the grip of a financial crisis![/quote] [quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='305393' date='Oct 13 2008, 12:19 PM']I was all copied ready to paste into this thread before I noticed a familiar name.[/quote] Like I said, I'm absolutely gobsmacked - I thought I'd be lucky to get £30 for it... I bought it for the parts - mostly the pickups - for my long delayed Matsumoku Faker revival, and really just wanted the sad remains out of the way. It was way too far gone for me to even consider offering it here! As far as the financial crisis is concerned, there's weird stuff afoot, IMO. I think there's more of a feeding frenzy for budget basses & guitars, particularly old JapCrap - and I wonder if that's not because people are less able to buy newer or more prestigious stuff - but they've still got to feed their GAS! Strange, strange days... J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='305112' date='Oct 12 2008, 11:01 PM']Lots turning up all of a sudden. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ibanez-Vintage-Bass-Guitar-70s-Lawsuit-Era-MIJ_W0QQitemZ140274709289QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item140274709289&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ibanez-Vintage-Bass-...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url] A re-build by Ashdigits. And 10 minutes later: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/shaftesbury-bass-sunburst-1970s-vintage-japan_W0QQitemZ260299429704QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260299429704&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/shaftesbury-bass-sun...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url][/quote] Oh, I do like that mock 4000 that Ash is selling. That's probably about the only way you could make a Fujigen Faker look halfway convincing! And here's one y'all missed, just finished today and my jaw is still on the floor... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120312992469"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=120312992469[/url] Just goes to show what a feeding frenzy there is for anything remotely Rick shaped. Or maybe it's the way "he" sells 'em... J.

Hey 4000 - where do you live? Because in that photo, right next to the 4000, there's a Fireglo 4001 with checker binding, split tailpiece, full-width sparklies, toaster and, I'd be prepared to guess, wavy Grovers. What you need to know is that that's my dream Rickenbacker and I shall be around to steal it shortly! Seriously - what a stunning collection of very desirable Ricks you have! The 4000 looks great, very minimalist, don't think I've ever seen a Jetglo 4000 with black guard before - have you ever thought about black hardware for it? J.

"I can't be bothered..." - brilliant sales pitch, must try that one myself. God I love Ebay. Jon.

It's a Rickenbacker 4000 - the single pickup version of the 4001/4003 - with a P pickup and a big scratchplate to cover the extra routing. It would have looked like this: The one bnt showed is the original Ricky 4000 bass from the late 50s. Jon.

Oh, that's not off topic at all! Lovely bass, and not far from me either. Doubt it'll stay at £50 - it's only been listed a couple of days & it started at 99p, but it's on my watch list. Just in case... J.

Yep, that was a Korean-made Satellite before somebody sanded the logo off it. Still very nice, if it had had frets I would've been a little more intertested. J.

Hmm - must admit I'm always a bit wary of those budget necks with really obvious scarf-jointed headstock. Bit like having a "snap here" line... :ph34r: J.

On my watch list already - as if I didn't already have more parts than I know what to do with! J.

Just received an amazing-looking transparent acrylic P body & hardware from Matt, many thanks for an excellent deal & putting up with my months of prevarication! Jon.

[quote name='Musky' post='299659' date='Oct 4 2008, 11:24 PM']These things were designed by Alan Entwistle. I seem to remember quite a favourable review for these things in Making Music, though it has to be said I can't remember whether it was for the guitar or bass version. Nice looking things I thought, and deserving of more attention than they garnered. I'll see if I can find the review if you're interested Kev.[/quote] Bit more complicated than that - Entwistle & David White designed & built the ATX pickups on the original Hohner Revelation guitars, back in 1990. These are sometimes known as "Eurofighter" guitars - because components were sourced from all over Europe (body from Germany, neck from Czech Republic, pickups & trem from the UK, etc) and as far as I know they were assembled in Wales! I don't think the original Hohner Revelation range actually included any basses (I don't remember ever seeing one) but the guitars were basically designed to be Ibanez-beating shred machines, with skinny necks, ultra-flat fingerboards & incomprehensible electronics. I'm not quite sure why, but I've got one - it's only allowed out on the rare occasion that something I write requires a g*it*r solo! Here's my Rev RTX: [attachment=14400:Rev1.jpg] OK, OK, I'm not proud... Anyway, the bass is a bit more tasteful & restrained! I really don't know if these bear much relation to 90s Hohners, tbh (Made In Indonesia on the back of the head) but it's a bit of a shame they're not imported to the UK any more, as far as I know. I'd certainly have a look at one. Jon.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='299922' date='Oct 5 2008, 03:08 PM']Gorgeous through neck fretless > [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Precision-Thro-Neck-FRETLESS-Bass-Guitar-60s-70s_W0QQitemZ180294630119QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item180294630119&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]link[/url][/quote] These are nice, been GASing for a fretted one for a while. Although, it's not "a Matsumoku Japanese bass" despite what [s]his mate down the pub[/s] other "helpful Ebayers" might tell him. Korean, probably Cort, from about 1980. J.

[quote name='wizbat' post='299097' date='Oct 4 2008, 05:02 AM']Aria stb series jazz copy [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ARIA-STB-series-Bass-Guitar_W0QQitemZ200259919228QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item200259919228&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ARIA-STB-series-Bass...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url][/quote] Don't want to get too pedantic - but this is a modern Aria, they haven't been Japanese-made since 1986. These days they come out of the same Chinese/Taiwanese factories that make a lot of current budget instruments. Probably a decent enough bass - I have 2 recent Arias (one's a g*it*r) and they're excellent for the money. J.

A guitarist I was in a band with many, many years ago had one of these - bloody thing never worked properly, if at all! I seem to remember he once tuned up with an ancient Binson delay, huge green thing which I think used some sort of magnetic disc instead of tape. That was no better, but we were young & skint and back then digital delays - our Holy Grail - cost a fortune. The alarming thing is how much all that old junk would be worth now...

He lived/worked just a few miles away from me when I lived in Kent. Sadly I never met him, even though he built a guitar for a bandmate of mine back in the 80s. J.

[quote name='Clarky' post='298410' date='Oct 3 2008, 10:45 AM']I did own the first Big Country album back in 1982/3? as I was a big Stuart Adamson (RIP) fan from his time in the Skids*. While I was being slightly flippant in my earlier comment, they did tend to sound very samey IMHO. * Bass intro to "Into the Valley" is a good'un, while on subject[/quote] That'll be Bill Simpson added to the list, then. He played on The Skids' first 2 albums. You have a point about the bulk of the BC material, but I suppose constantly trying to write another [i]In A Big Country[/i] was a symptom of commercial success. I discovered The Skids "properly" with [i]The Absolute Game[/i], and the first BC stuff was very much a continuation of Adamson's writing & playing style from that album. The first time I saw BC they'd only released 2 singles ([i]Harvest Home[/i] & [i]Fields Of Fire[/i]) and I'm sure half the set they played never made it onto [i]The Crossing[/i] - including the "title track"! Adamson was a f@cking genius. J.

[quote name='Clarky' post='298340' date='Oct 3 2008, 09:45 AM']But they only had one song [/quote] Just the one [i]you[/i] heard, obviously! Tony Butler's pre BC background was apparently prog, likely that was influential on the fact that a lot of Big Country's earlier songs, like [i]Porrohman[/i] & [i]The Crossing[/i] were 10 minute, multi-part epics. My first-ever bass riff was [i]Peaches[/i]. Bloody hell - that was 30 years ago! Anyway from this era JJ, Foxton, Severin, Hooky, Russell Webb (Skids/Armoury Show) Jah Wobble, Tina Weymouth were among my formative listening. Jon.

[quote name='Prosebass' post='298101' date='Oct 2 2008, 10:39 PM']...and before anyone says anything it was a tenner at a car boot sale.[/quote] A tenner's good. I paid £28 for a very similar one at a car boot a year or so back. Sold it for about £140. So - what is it? Not a Kay or a Jedson - Kay EB0-ish copies had a big scratchplate & two single coils, they didn't try to be too accurate, and Jedsons were bright metallic red, with twin humbuckers & a very odd German carve around the body. This might say Avon, Columbus, Grant, Grantson, Shaftesbury, CMI, CSL, Arbiter, Eros, Antoria or even nothing at all on the headstock - but it's even harder to work out who actually made it - since all of the aforementioned were UK importers' rebrands. Being copies, they do all tend to look alike, but sometimes there are some details which help them apart. For starters, this one has a squared-off fingerboard end, most of these tend to be round. There's also a dot on the 19th position, often they stop at the 17th. That doesn't provide a specific ID, although I have seen these features on Columbus copies. Other things which are helpful include body construction - solid or ply, if solid, is it a "sandwich", single piece or other combination. Neck - single piece or laminate, does it have a volute, is the headstock scarf-jointed? Is there a headstock ornament? Hardware sometimes offers some clues, but not too much - many factories used the same stuff, but neckplates are often peculiar to or associated with particular builders, so a pic of that would help. I can't help as far as new replacement pickups are concerned - but there is this on Ebay: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ibanez-Bass-Guitar-Pickups-EB34000-Type-Vintage-MIJ_W0QQitemZ140271724860"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ibanez-Bass-Guitar-P...emZ140271724860[/url] If he wants a new one because the existing one's kaput, then this would likely be a drop-straight-in replacement. Chances are it's a single-coil, despite appearances, the smaller one with the twin rows of pole pieces is a single. J.