Bassassin

[quote name='thedarxide' post='175294' date='Apr 12 2008, 05:15 PM']Someone's having a clearout... [url="http://musical-instruments.search.ebay.co.uk/_Guitars_W0QQcatrefZC12QQsacatZ3858QQsassZanonyQ5f500"]http://musical-instruments.search.ebay.co....assZanonyQ5f500[/url][/quote] ...Or a dealer who's been car bootin' & picking stuff up off Gumtree . He's got some not bad stuff, some definitely worth a watch, IMO. Too bad about his £10 markup on the postage though. J.

You'll find a good S/H one for loads less, if you don't mind (possibly) a bump or two & having to clean someone else's sweat off the fretboard! Jon.

It'll be back, with a vengeance... Enjoy the respite - while you can! Jon.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='175060' date='Apr 12 2008, 10:48 AM']Hmmm so the action can't be sorted out by traditional set-up methods so you grind down the offending frets... not a great confidence boost for the playability and adjustability of the bass [/quote] Well, there's not a lot of scope for fine-tuning & tweaking with that bridge, let's face it! Although if the action was the problem, why not just shim the neck pocket? Antorias were made by Fujigen (same factory as Ibanez) and on the whole were the better end of 70s JapCrap - I've honestly never seen one with a poor fret job. Chances are this has been mucked about with by somebody who was ignorant of the black arts of truss rod adjustment & neck shimming. I'd be worried about what else it might have suffered, tbh. J.

Balcony Bar, Dundee, last night - on a bill with 3 full-on extreme metal bands. Been a while since we played with that sort of band - [i]really[/i] makes you work hard! Jon.

It wouldn't have been made like that - it looks to me like the frets have been filed very low. They're not ground flush with the board - if they were, just the tang would be visible rather than the full fret width. Jon.

Didn't you see this one, Paul? Post no. 241. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220214885649"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=220214885649[/url] Same (Matsumoku) bass with a Shaftesbury badge - went for a song, the guy who bought it's a dealer who''ll probably just re-list at twice what he paid. It's been a bit quiet on the JapCrap front lately. Maybe I've bought them all.... J.

Here's an "Ibanez": [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120245297006"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=120245297006[/url] Or not. J.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='173681' date='Apr 10 2008, 09:29 AM']The best bit is where he says it's based on the Ibanez destroyer.....[/quote] Yep - that "icon of 80s guitar design". Jon.

What - nowt yet by Rush? Just for starters: [i]YYZ Xanadu Cygnus X-1 Free Will Digital Man Vital Signs Distant Early Warning [/i] Jon.

Always. I really don't think I could play many of my lines without it, tbh. Jon.

Hi - there's not much out there about Riverhead/Headway - although what you've found out is right, their best-known bass was the early 80s Unicorn series headless, with a body shape that was a knockoff of the old Burns Flyte. I've never seen their MM copy before (in fact, I've never seen [i]any[/i] vintage MIJ MM copy before!) but there's no reason to believe it's not what it claims to be - many Japanese copies & interesting oddities were never exported, and this could be one such. Value is really difficult - the Ebay hordes will pay good coin for old Japanese stuff with the right name on the pointy end & be a bit distant about stuff they're not too familiar with, regardless of quality. I'd probably be inclined to hedge my bets & say £200 - £300 might be the ballpark - but with something as obscure as this it's pure guesswork anyway. Although I may be well off the mark - just did a little searching & found this: [url="http://www.musicsolutionsstore.com/product_info.php?cPath=870&products_id=3805&sid=11409f4c75ed4dad40afe158753a65f4"]http://www.musicsolutionsstore.com/product...0afe158753a65f4[/url] Obviously it's not the same bass, but it's clearly a close relative - yours might not be an 80s instrument. I wonder if trawling Japanese dealers might be of more use to find an approximate value & ID. Jon.

If you can ask that, you don't have it. You lucky, lucky swine. Jon.

The Maya Wreckenbacker's "no longer for sale". Someone made him an offer he couldn't refuse, then. J.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='170380' date='Apr 5 2008, 06:50 PM']Chuckle. Surely you mean Brit School [/quote] I was speaking in general & non-specific terms, but yes, that's precisely what I mean. J.

[quote name='jakesbass' post='170261' date='Apr 5 2008, 02:19 PM']Surely you agree that specialists are entitled to discuss specifics, on a site for specialists, its not like we are asking the public to read through reams of basschattery. The only other thing I would say is that the playing [i]is[/i] the music.[/quote] Well, of course - that's why I said it's understandable. As far as your second point's concerned - that's an interesting discussion in itself. I think my perspective would be that the [i]song[/i] is the music, and it's the playing which makes or breaks the song. Using the show's examples, the Only Ones performed their own material badly - reducing songs which are regarded by some as classics of their era to cringeworthy rubbish. Estelle's bassist arguably compromised his singer & band's performance with unnecessary & inappropriate showboating. I could be bitchy & suggest that Adele's performance demonstrated the idea that technical ability & tasteful playing cannot raise production-line stage school me-too blandness above what it actually is. But I won't. J.

Very cool - I knew there was a double neck but never seen one before. Too bad he'll be keeping it at that price. Jon.

[quote name='tauzero' post='170085' date='Apr 5 2008, 12:35 AM']What I don't understand with all this going on about his chops is that no-one seems to have noticed that the songs were utter, utter sh*te. What f***ing depressingly bad music there was for almost the entirety of the Friday night programme. James Taylor - great. Mike Trovey (?) - didn't know when to stop developing a theme and move on to the next one. Only Ones - crap performance of pretty decent material (the guitarist was particularly bad). Black Kids were like Waterboys colliding with Human League rather messily. Adele - Vicki Pollard. Estelle - anonymous formulaic crap.[/quote] I agree wholeheartedly. Generic, manufactured tripe and embarassing, tragic old sods. Wish I'd watched the Tuesday show, it would have been over quicker (but I was rehearsing! ). It's funny, but I suppose understandable, that on a muso forum like this one, the interest & debate concerns the [i]playing[/i] rather than the [i]music[/i] - which to my ears was slop-shovelling tedium from all concerned. Most of the last series of [i]Later[/i] struck me this way, & it's sad that this seems to be the series' blueprint - a few flavour-of-the-moment chart botherers & NME darlings, a "heritage" act & one of Jools' R&B mates for him to jam with. I expect I'll still watch it every week anyway, tho. Jon.

James Hetfield from Metallica previously played bass & sang in a band called Syrinx - a Rush tribute, believe it or not. Classic rock midget Ronnie James Dio played bass in his first band, The Vegas Kings. In 1957! Star Trek actor Michael Dorn is a bassist when he's not being a Klingon! Jon.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='167948' date='Apr 1 2008, 09:14 PM']*sob* [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-El-Maya-bass-guitar-spares-or-repair-Japan_W0QQitemZ190211503237QQihZ009QQcategoryZ41439QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-El-Maya-bass...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url][/quote] Wreckenbacker! Wtf happened to that? They got the wrong bass - it would have been less tragic if it happened to this one: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=35004326409"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...tem=35004326409[/url] J.

A 70s copy brand which was unusual in not being Japanese - Ghersons were in fact Italian: [url="http://www.fetishguitars.com/index/gherson.html"]http://www.fetishguitars.com/index/gherson.html[/url] I've seen a couple of Gherson J copies go through the bay, but never seen one in the flesh. Any danger of posting some pics of your dad's old bass? Jon.

[quote name='budget bassist' post='166653' date='Mar 31 2008, 12:01 AM']also i like the colour name of that ric [/quote]There's a stock Rick colour called Montezuma Brown - it's not their most popular finish & is frequently referred to as "Sh!tGlo" - maybe that's what the seller meant... Jon.

Does it absolutely have to say "Fender" on it? If not: [url="http://www.ariaguitars.com/int/03_products/pro_eb_stb_exo_4.html"]http://www.ariaguitars.com/int/03_products..._stb_exo_4.html[/url] [url="http://www.ariaguitars.com/int/03_products/pro_eb_stb_gt_4.html"]http://www.ariaguitars.com/int/03_products...b_stb_gt_4.html[/url] Jon.

Interesting, that. Westone's only a brand name, & according to the Westone.info site has been used on "guitars and basses made under the Westone name in China or Korea since the late 1990s, which all seem to be copies of other makes". So I'm guessing that's what this thing is. The listing's a cock-up, and the title & description pertain to an Eko MM copy, elsewhere in the seller's listings, which fits the above description pretty well too. I think you'll find a half-decent MM copy for a bit less than 200 sovs - and it's worth bearing in mind that there were, as far as I know, no JapCrap Ray copies - the Ray was launched at the point when the Jap builders were moving towards original designs - and getting legal grief from pissed-off American corporations. The seller's other listings are faintly interesting to anyone with a soft spot for the obscure & oriental - but the definition of "Japanese" here seems to be anywhere east of Berlin... And yes - Thunders are very good. Jon.

I think he's being quite upfront about this tbh - that's why it's "spares or repair". Bet it's got no MOT, either. J.