Bassassin

[quote name='budget bassist' post='246906' date='Jul 24 2008, 02:39 PM']Looks like something they knocked out of a chinese factory for a tenner.[/quote] The only thing that stops it looking [i]exactly[/i] like that is the multi-part neck. I'll go for "knocked out of a Chinese factory for £12.50". Anyone else think this has a distinct whiff of the DC Montanas about it? :ph34r: Jon.

Different monster, imo - it's a Frankenstein, not a Godzilla. The headstock shape is similar to Harmony, the body/scratchplate/switches are some sort of OrientalCrap - seen it before but can't put my finger on it, and the pickups & bridge are from a bass bits shop. Sort of cool for a shortscale bitsa - but you could buy this & do your own: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Short-Scale-Bass-vintage-kay-teisco-style-60-70s_W0QQitemZ370073216853"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Short-Scale-Bass-vin...emZ370073216853[/url] And oh - isn't that the same body shape & main scratchplate? J.

I've seen the ply ones, in fact you can still buy the damn things now: [url="http://www.kayguitar.com/products/bass.htm"]http://www.kayguitar.com/products/bass.htm[/url] Most of the ones that turn up on Ebay & at the car boots are like this: [attachment=11341:body_f.jpg] I think these are mid-70s, and like I said, I've had two of these - not quite sure why, the fact I don't have either any more must say something... By god these are heavy, though - & realistically that's why they went - I have enough back problems already! J.

[quote name='andy67' post='249029' date='Jul 27 2008, 06:22 PM']hey kev! that's a lot of neck to put on a plywood body! andy[/quote] If it's the same as the two I've had (natural finish) it's not ply - these are made of unidentified, heavy-as-lead solid timber, "sandwich" construction like 60s Les Pauls & lots of JapCrap. I've always thought one of these bodies would make a good basis for a project - but I doubt the Fender neck would be a straight fit. The Kay pocket is squarer at the back than a Fender, and will probably have metric dimensions. I think a Fender heel's 2.5" at its widest, I'm guessing some widening or shimming of the pocket would be necessary. I would not modify the neck - you might want to use that in something else one day. The Kay body will be drilled for a 6-hole neckplate too - you'll have to fill & re-drill if you don't have the original plate. Jon.

Stunner. :wub: Twice that price would still have been a bargain. WD 40 should do the trick with the stickers. The guy had it on Gumtree too - [url="http://aberdeen.gumtree.com/aberdeen/78/26683778.html"]http://aberdeen.gumtree.com/aberdeen/78/26683778.html[/url] - I think snagging that means you've used up all your luck for the next 27 years, though... Enjoy it! Jon.

[quote name='16Again' post='249458' date='Jul 28 2008, 11:23 AM']weldone Mr Bassassin, and thanks for your help as well. [/quote] You're welcome - and I'm looking forward to seeing some piccies of your new toy! /off to check the "porn" section... J.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='249075' date='Jul 27 2008, 07:38 PM']Today should be declared 'Bargain BassChat Day'![/quote] Agreed - today I went to my local car boot & came home with a Westone Thunder 1 (just the g*it*r, unfortunately) and two Shure mics - an SM58 and a Unidyne 545, all for the princely sum of £14! Not quite a Rick for £300 (lucky sod! ) but just goes to show there are deals to be had, & people with no idea - or who just don't care - what they've got. J.

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='248596' date='Jul 26 2008, 07:43 PM']“I don’t like Ricks” is generally the party line…but if ever there was one to turn me it would be a natural with black hardware just like yours, possibly a 4003 though. Very nice indeed [/quote] That is a 4003. The 4001 was long gone by '86. Anyway the black hardware & binding is :brow: :brow: :brow: Jon.

[quote name='Geddys nose' post='248653' date='Jul 26 2008, 09:33 PM']Rics necks are very easy to bugger up in some peoples hands. It looks real to me but even if its a copy £300 is not a bad price [/quote] Not so much of a problem with 4003s & reissue 4001s - they have truss rods which adjust in a conventional fashion, and are designed for high-tension strings. The old 4001 neck had to be bent by hand to the correct relief & the truss rods tightened to hold it there, and was designed to be used with low-tension flats - which was all there was back in the 50s when it first appeared. A lot of people popped the boards off the necks by bunging Swing Bass on them, or bent/broke/stripped the truss rods. Or both. Anyway, the lack of a skunk stripe on this bass indicates it has the redesigned neck & is a 4003 or reissue 4001 - and I'm sticking my neck out here & saying it [b]is[/b] real. J.

From what I can see it looks like a real one - most of the copies were designed in the early 70s & don't have "modern" Rick features like one-piece neck (no skunk stripe) and the 1" spacing of the neck pickup. That looks like a recent design real Hi-Gain in the bridge position. Although selling for £300? A guitar shop would probably give him 6 or 7 and still make a tidy profit. My one concern about this is that its owner might be missing it. :ph34r: Jon.

[quote name='noirpunk' post='247544' date='Jul 25 2008, 09:28 AM']I was actually thinking about making a TRC myself... not a Rickenbacker one. a NICKenbacker one, since I'm a Nicky Wire fan haha That Fresher is a Nickenbacker in Wireglo[/quote] Should be pretty easy if you go the paper under perspex route - all you'd have to do is Photoshop an N onto a Rick logo. J.

[quote name='noirpunk' post='247053' date='Jul 24 2008, 05:15 PM']How difficult is it to obtain a convincing looking truss rod cover?[/quote] I'm pretty convinced by the one that's on it. It's JapCrap. Get over it. J.

[quote name='noirpunk' post='246939' date='Jul 24 2008, 03:16 PM']I got that Fresher off ebay... *braces self for shooting down*[/quote] Why?? Fresher stuff: [url="http://www.sk.aitai.ne.jp/~luesan/AI13.htm"]http://www.sk.aitai.ne.jp/~luesan/AI13.htm[/url] Too bad the pics are so small & it's in Japanese, but well... Was that the one with the slightly lifted fretboard? If so, it looks like it should be an easy fix, and the price was pretty good too. J.

What did you get? Of my two, the Matsumoku is a replica of the real thing, incredibly thin & delicate and weighs next to nothing, while the Kasuga has a bolt-neck, thick "sandwich" type body and is so dense it has developed its own gravity well and sucks light into it. Admittedly I didn't help matters by bunging a brass Hipshot on it - still at least I can have good intonation with my spinal damage. J.

Interesting, both of them. The first one's a late 60s Teisco, these do come up occasionally, they were probably sold in the UK under the Woolies "Top 20" brand or somesuch. Anyhow, there's a pic & not much else on the Teisco site - bottom row, left: [url="http://www.mark-cole.co.uk/teisco/bass.htm"]http://www.mark-cole.co.uk/teisco/bass.htm[/url] The other one's very curious - it's got a Made In Korea sticker on it, but it's otherwise identical to this Japanese-made Aria A-100, from the early 70s: [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/bass/a-100_200.html"]http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/bass/a-100_200.html[/url] Quite a lot of these turn up unbranded, it's always been assumed they had the same origin as the Aria - seems that's not necessarily the case. J.

[quote name='bassman2790' post='244091' date='Jul 20 2008, 10:20 PM']I see he's added some more photos since my original post. At least we know it has a neck. [/quote] I strongly suspect that what it has is a "kneck". :ph34r: Jon.

It looks OK - I really don't know anything about the brand, the [i]Guru's Guitar Guide[/i] (geek bible) just says good quality mid-80s Fender copies, so no idea who made them - or where, to be honest. Most Japanese factories weren't exporting copies in the mid 80s. J.

Ten quid for a cardboard box? Music shops fling thousands of these things in the bin every day - go to a different shop. And how, in any sane world, are you competition to them? In what way has your private sale on BC demonstrably deprived them of a customer? In my experience guitar boxes are usually pretty flimsy, when I've used these I've always felt I needed to add more reinforcement anyway. Go to your local Lidl & grab 4 of the flat, open boxes they have fruit & veg in, get a hot-melt glue gun & stick them together to make a bomb-proof bass/guitar box. Pack it out with newspaper & cover the holes with gaffa tape, bubble-wrap the bass, neck removed if it's bolt-on. Jon.