Bassassin

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='265970' date='Aug 19 2008, 11:20 PM']Flashback...I grew up reading these when I should have been buying Razzle.[/quote] Heh - same here, I had every issue from about 1982 until it folded in (I think) the late 80s. Had some utterly vicious demo reviews from them too! I think I've still got about 6000 copies of the old [i]Making Music[/i] freesheet from the 80s & 90s - or [i]Mark King Music[/i], as it became known, since he seemed to be on the cover of every second issue! Jon

[quote name='rohan' post='265912' date='Aug 19 2008, 09:50 PM']I want this so bad [/quote] I think we're all too late. Sold, according to [url="http://freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=7668436"]Hiperion's site.[/url] J.

[quote name='TGEvans' post='265629' date='Aug 19 2008, 04:19 PM']do not have the original pickups sorry, but they aint too hard to get hold of, if you give me your email i will sort some pics for you,tim[/quote] No need mate, did some digging & found a pic from an earlier thread: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7494"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7494[/url] Looks great for a player guitar, but would be hard going for a collector. I think it's an [url="http://www.ibanez.co.jp/anniversary/expansion.php?cat_id=89&now=10"]Ibanez AR100[/url], from about 1983 - the first two numbers in the serial are the year. Judging from the lack of screwholes from the original tailpiece plate, it's had a refin. Shame, the only original hardware appears to be the pickup rings, and they've been modified. Realistically to source & replace all the original hardware would cost more than what you're asking for the guitar - even the original Sure-Grip control knobs go for about £30 a pop. The pickups would have been Ibanez Super 58s - if you know where you can find these, there are a few hundred people on the Ibanez Collectors World forum who'd bite your arm off to share that info! Still, I think it's a fair price for its non-original condition, I think it would easily get that or more on Ebay, some people go mental over anything vintage with an Ibby badge! Jon.

Hi Tim, could you post some pics please? Also do you have the original hardware & pups, etc? Jon.

Well - it went through Ebay, with lots of interest / watchers (on a BIN - why? ) but no commitment. Same as here, really. If anyone wants to make a [i]sensible[/i] offer in the ballpark of what I was originally looking for (£260 + £15 post) let me know. Otherwise it'll be back on Fleabay come Thursday. Meh. J.

JapCrap? Bright pink??? Once my Ibby SR800 shifts, I'm going to find it very, very hard to say no. Consider me highly interested... Jon.

I might do that - although realistically I can do without buying any more basses - particularly Ricky copies, as I already have two! I think they're like Pokemon, though - gotta catch 'em all... J.

Not a Matsumoku or Fujigen, and probably not a Fresher, because the brand is virtually unknown in the UK. The wiring is probably a modification (on both basses mentioned) - it's unlikely it would come out of the factory like that. And I'm sorry but it's absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Ibanez - apart from in the sense that pretty much anyone trying to sell an unbranded 70s Japanese copy will swear blind it's an Ibanez. It's not. It was probably born wearing a Shaftesbury logo, and was - [i]possibly[/i] - made at the Maya/Rokkomann factory in Kobe. Maya is the only brand with a known provenance that I've seen with this hardware configuration & neck-through construction - but there were almost certainly others the same that aren't identified yet - all the hardware is very generic (and accurate, apart from the tuners) & appears on various brands. The tuners are a style that turn up on all sorts of Japanese basses from the very early 70s to the mid 80s, and later even appear on some Korean instruments. These were even used on UK-made Shergolds! The scratchplate's not original (neither are the speed knobs!) the original would have been solid or translucent white - but this does look great in my opinion, in fact all in all it's a great looking bass, that's a stunning bit of birdseye in the neck. I'd guess that your G-string vibration is down to a couple of things - the saddle slots have been filed out to get the action low (being a through-neck, you can't do any shimming on these) and the back of the tailpiece - in very authentic Rickenbacker style - has lifted under years of string tension, meaning there's going to be very little break angle over the bridge. Probably the best all round fix would be a replacement bridge - a Hipshot might even allow the action to go lower. Overall, a very nice bass at a reasonable price - which unfortunately I can't afford! Any chance you'd do a straight swap for this? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=23341"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=23341[/url] Jon.