Bassassin

£85? If that was five quid at a car boot, I'd think twice about offering three.

It's an RS924, all that's missing are pickups & electronics. Finish doesn't look awful to me, and it's an nearly 40-year old bass, so some scars are (almost) mandatory. All the irreplacable parts are there - the Hercules tuners & Accu-cast bridge are proper hen's teeth items. I would be inclined to stick a cream-cover DiMarzio DP126 set in it (original pickups were DiMarzio clones) and wire it passive v/v/t/t with selector. That way it magically becomes an RS824, the 924's passive sibling, and quite a lot like this one: https://reverb.com/uk/item/6200616-ibanez-rs824-roadster Stick a phase switch in the remaining hole in the body - that's where the active/passive switch was. Fwiw I have an RS924 and always use it in passive mode, I've even idly thought about removing the (very limited) active circuit & wiring it like an 824 so I can blend the pickups. The fact I can't is one of the reasons I don't play it as much as I should - it's otherwise an incredibly nice bass. The only other missing part appears to be the brass trc - you won't find an original so get one of these: https://reproguitarparts.com/#!/Ibanez-Roadster-Bass-Truss-Rod-Cover-Brass/p/5678959/category=1370956 These are great quality cold-cast resin/brass powder repros. I had one for a Musician resto & they're pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing. Broadly I'd say if it was mine, I'd do a sympathetic resto to RS824 spec, I wouldn't refin it, certainly not if I was considering I might sell it - these are pretty sought after & do command increasingly decent money, and removing the original finish will devalue it significantly.

I absolutely loved that classic Lemmy/Fast Eddie/Philthy line-up. Never quite the same after Eddie left.

Never mind all this swapping instruments malarky - Del Amitri & its current line-up leaves me musing about what a small musical world it can be. I live just outside Edinburgh these days but I'm originally from Kent. A band I was in in the early/mid 80s supported Del Amitiri when they played locally, on what might have been their first UK tour. A bit later another band I was in gigged a few times with two bands Kris Dollimore played with at the time, and fast-forwarding a few years after I relocated to Scotland, my Glasgow-based band's guitarist knew Iain Harvie well, having played with him pre-Del Amitri, & we'd often run into him & the Dels at the old Berkley 2 rehearsal room. Didn't know Kris Dollimore played with them these days. Apropos of nothing. As you were.

I have a maple board V7 and it is lacquered, from the video the rosewood (or whatever post-CITES alternative it is) is too. I'd think if you prefer the feel of untreated wood, rubbing it over with a mild abrasive (fine grade sandpaper or wire wool, maybe) would remove the shine easily.

I'll be the first to say Westone Thunder I. Five of 'em, with that budget. 😎

Much better - but much rarer and dearer too! And far, far fewer vulgar colours! 😎

Couldn't have put it better! On the other hand, I'd quite like to see a Thinline Tele batwing scratchplate (designed by Roger Rosmeisl) on a Rick or Faker - that might right the decades-long wrong of that hideous afterthought Rick scratchplate 'design'. It was much, much worse than that - Hooky started with a cheap Korean plywood Hondo. If he'd had a Shafty (one of the best Fakers) he'd probably still be playing it!

As has been said, the 70s Japanese copies (also Brazilian Gianninis & Italian Ghersons) are the closest to 'replica' standard. None of the more recent basses do much more than copy the overall look - scale length, neck proportions, hardware & pickups are all quite different to the real thing. The BC Rick ban also extends to Fakers (they're the reason why there's a ban!) so posting Ebay links here is probably a bad idea. The best place to look for Fakers - or to comission a build from a specialist luthier - is the FB Fakers group. Here are some to be going on with.

If it doesn't have to be pointy, just weird - Ibby EDA905? Pretty light, very well-balanced, and a 5er. Also - plastic ('Luthite') body, piezo bridges and it's bright metallic orange. Or silver. Or blue.

Eh?

Wait - what - he has non-ridiculous items?

Would've gone straight to CheesyGuitars myself but @BigRedX beat me to it - and nailed it. I'd probably hand over the £15 any self-respecting car booter would want for that, but £154?

Struggling & failing to think of a suitable pun - but I don't like cricket. Oh no.

Seen it, liked it! Can't beat a 70s Fujigen build!

Blimey, the things you miss when you're not paying attention! That looks like it's in amazing condition. So to do my duty - RB620NT, from August 1983, made by Fujigen Gakki. I could reel off a spec list but to save the copy-typing, here's the official blurb: Crazy bargain for £180, especially in that condition.

Still trying to understand how this works as a front for people trafficking or selling crystal meth, or whatever his real business is.

Because obviously those stupid people at Fendre can't spell!

For some reason the 90s MIJs go for a fair bit less than any of the 80s Squiers, including the later E & A serials. Would think quality-wise they're exactly the same, maybe the 80s were just 'special'. Would still think £350 for a Fujigen Jazz is pretty good. They won't lose value.

I have very scant knowledge of 60s era MIJ guitars other than what I've picked up peripherally, or from Frank Meyers' excellent History Of Japanese Electric Guitars book. However I know enough to be very confident it's not a Teisco - apart from in the sense that somehow every wonky little 60s/70s starter guitar's somehow a Teisco... Norma maybe, Teisco, nah. A bit of digging uncovered this, apparently from 1972: The 'National' bass second from the right is a Sakai - and after consulting the aforementioned Big Frank's Useful Book, so, it would seem, is the wonky little guitar next to it. So yes - despite knowing borderline bugger-all about old tat like this, a bit of detectiving estabishes the guitar in question appears to be a Sakai. Norma's a US brand name & as it's unbranded, it seems reasonable to call it a Sakai EG300, as Sakai Mokko was a manufacturer. Unless... Curiously, there are several versions of the Sakai bass design, some of which are Korean, not Japanese. It's not unrealistic to assume versions of the guitar were also made in Korea or elsewhere - there are minor differences (the pickup being one) from the one in the catalogue. This type of guitar continued to be made in Korean & Taiwanese factories through the 70s & into the 80s.

That & weapons-grade incompetence.

As it happens, I quite like 'em, apart from that scratchplate which is an ugly, design-free, afterthought botch. Would never own a real one, mind.

As I understand it, John Hall's been wheeled off to a quiet little room with soft walls where he can't hurt himself (or anyone else) and I think a younger Hall (a son? I dunno) is now running the show. This can be seen in almost-sane product developments such as a bridge that intonates mounted on a tailpiece that doesn't bend in half, and the adoption of those weird, crazy & radical single truss rods used by those rule-breaking futurists at Fender, Gibson and everywhere else in the world circa 1955. It's also quite possible that they no longer have the same dementedly litiginous attitudes to people trying to sell on 45 year old Rick-shaped Japanese basses. Although I'd continue to support the ban on sales of Rick copies and real Ricks here, because they're still a bunch of tw@ts..

Looks like a decent spec bitsa with a sticker. €300 would be a bit more realistic though. Tuners look like the ones used on Italia basses.