Bassassin

The pics are rubbish - can't really work out what's going on. Is the acrylic bit the neck/fretboard & tuner assembly, and the body's a strip of aluminium bent to the vague shape of an ugly guitar? Looks like an interesting concept that's unattractively & shoddily executed. Speaking as someone who's typically drawn inexorably towards see-through things that light up in the dark, I will make an exception for this.

Oh no, not him again! FWIW it is - or was - an MC824. 24 frets.

Atilla Balogh was a Canadian luthier & part of Odyssey Guitars. His basses & guitars were made in the late 70s/early 80s, in fairly small quantities, but had international distribution. http://jedistar.com/odyssey/ The fact that Grant's in Edinburgh sold them (which I didn't know) helps explain how a tatty example of an Odyssey guitar turned up on Edinburgh Gumtree a few years ago, for £25. The seller thought it was "some cheap Japanese thing". I missed it. The MIJ Odyssey copy was made by Moridaira Gakki, a manufacturer whose house-brand was the fairly well known Morris brand, but who also built 70s/early 80s Hohners, Lotus (in the US) and HS Anderson, amongst others. They're best known for making Prince's Hohner-branded MadCat Telecaster copy. I suspect the Odyssey copies are rarer than the real things.

Absolutely loved Blood Sugar and it was a massive part of the soundtrack of my life in the mid 90s. As someone who was quite fixated with slap in the 80s, and tried to incorporate it into the rock bands I played in at the time, to hear Flea doing what I'd tried to accomplish so incredibly well was quite inspirational. Never really connected with anything the Chilis did after Blood Sugar, they seem to meander between over-commercialised and self-parody these days. Was going to say exactly that - phenomenal playing and a great contribution to a mind-meltingly creative concept album. Really miss The Mars Volta.

Actually no - the GOBs would have been Fujigen, same factory that did Ibanez & later, MIJ Fenders. The GOBs always struck me as being a variation on the Ibanez Musician design. Crossover between 70s & 80s Greco & Ibanez models & designs was quite common, as they shared the same manufacturer. Fight you for it! I've only ever seen these pics, which turned up on a FB group devoted to Moridaira instruments. There are also pics of a guitar version - both of them sold under Moridaira's high-end HS Anderson sub-brand: The bass has a model number - HS-OSBii - on its 24th fret inlay.

Couldn't agree more - I recently came down with midlife crisis GAS for a Tele. Always had a soft spot for thinlines, and found a pretty-looking example by J&D, for £115: Lovely little thing, immaculately put together, plays near-perfectly out of the box, sounds the part, solid hardware. Sure it could be improved with better pickups & electronics, maybe a 6-saddle or compensated bridge - but you'd probably end up spending nearly what it already cost for pretty negligible improvements. Quite incredible that an instrument of this quality can be so inexpensive - in 1978, when I bought my awful Grant, according to the Inflation Calculator site, £115 would be equivalent to £28.67. And my £59 Grant, in today's money, is £236.

Calling @FlatEric - Eric has two Odysseys, no idea if one of 'em's your old one but I bet he wouldn't sell it! Been trying for years to persuade him to part with one... Back (almost) on topic - did anyone else know there was a Japanese copy of the Odyssey, made by Moridaira?

Nope - it was made by Fujigen Gakki - as were all MIJ - labelled Fenders & Squiers. Interestingly the (much) later CIJs were made by Dyna Gakki & Tokai. You'll have to content yourself with it being made by the same factory that made Ibanez & most Grecos. Greco being the brand that made Fender go "Oh sh!t, the Japanese do this better than us!"

These look quite decent compared to mine! Note - that's not my actual bass - mine died a deservingly horrible death many years ago. The two on Ebay at the moment are the same thing as the Columbus Js that regularly turn up. I've had a couple of Columbuses & they're half-decent after a proper setup. The idea of asking more than £150 for something like these is bloody ridiculous though.

Got a link? Wondered if it was my first bass - a Grant shortscale, also cheapest bass in the shop (Unisound, Chatham High Street, 1978) which was £59 and an utterly functionless piece of unplayable junk! In fairness Grants imported a pretty big range at several different price points & they weren't all rubbish. There's a Grant FB group who would argue that none of them were - but they never played mine!

Modded. Balalaikas (Balalaikae?) are supposed to be 3-string, ain't they? At least you wouldn't need to take a stand to the gig.

These look really nice. Can't help wondering if they're actually related to, or just inspired by the Sire V7s. Would not be remotely surprised if the same factory made both... Interesting detail you don't see on too many modern basses - zero fret.

Snodland??? Talk about incongruous. I saw "American Guitar Centre" and thought, well - America.

Hmmm...

Don't think £112 is a BIN, just the start price.

Unfortunately the Columbus SG Chop is the only one of my victims to survive! That experiece sort of taught me to look after my gear...

Academic as I've already bought & paid for it - but part of the reason I did so was that I've been mithering over one of these since the end of last summer - and the version I bought is getting on for £50 dearer now than it was in September! Whatever happens, based on that I can't see there being many bargains coming across the channel in the forseeable future.

Update: Thomann have sent a return/exchange label, so it'll be heading back to Deutschland forthwith. Hope the replacement's up to scratch - really don't want this dragging on beyond March 29th!

With a few caveats, these are great-looking basses. Don't like the natural wood versions, the black block inlays don't work, and the scratchplate shape's ruined by that sharp corner under the bridge. The solid-colours with the offset dots look great though, so I'd forgive them the scratchplate faux-pas. Have to say though (and it might just be because the shape's so reminiscent of Retrovibe) they look like they should cost £250, not £1800 & upwards.

It's no secret, but in the early 80s I accidentally murdered my very first guitar, a Columbus SG copy. Undeterred, I murdered it some more until it looked like this: And it still looks like that now.

Not yet they're not. The new proposals regarding rosewood will be voted on at the end of May, and if they're adopted, implemented 90 days later.

Hope he didn't pay Barry The Luthier too much to squirt blobs of B&Q plastic wood in the old control holes!

Should hope it's better for that money, but not convinced! I prefer the maple board on the Bronc, but that's just personal preference. Interesting that Eastwood claim the board on the WE is rosewood - in these days of CITES regs, it isn't very likely to be!

I'm hoping all the red ones aren't like that! The colour itself is gorgeous - Candy Apple Red on acid! Not heard back yet but doubt I will before Monday.