Bassassin

Fair enough - I'll get the cans on & have a listen, in a bit.

IMO Fender got it right with the Tele design & if I buy my fretlessV7, that's what I'd reshape it to. If I was bothered enough by it. The Strat/J/P design is robbed from Bigsby, and derived from styles that go back centuries. It only looks "right" because we're used to it! The Sire head is proper fugly, though.

Hard to actually get to see what it looks like as the clip seems to be 5 minutes of close-up shaky/blurry hand-held phone-cam. Had the sound off but would hazard a guess that was accompanied by some sneering. Anyway - looks like someone's 60s/70s shed project based on generic junky Eastern European components from the era. They don't make 'em like that any more basically because they never did.

Think Brian might be MIJ, none too sure about the others... Didn't you post about Mavis the other day?

He definitely played a Riverhead Unicorn headless with Tull 1985: I had massive (and still unrequited) GAS for one of these back then. These were wood construction, he might well have played Hohners too.

Always been tempted by these - liking the red one. This popped up on one of the listings - don't think I've seen one before: 1983 Peavey T20 with original case - £325 Where are our Peavey experts when you need 'em?

Simultaneous reply there - didn't see yours until I posted mine. But yes, Hondo started out being made in Korea, in the 60s, I think, as a joint venture between an importer in Texas (hence the name) and Samick in Korea.

Dunno about "more professional", but as I understand it, it was an attempt to make the Hondo range more upmarket, and competitive with (at the time) upward-moving MIJ brands like Ibanez & Aria Pro II. A lot of people get this ar$e-about-face and assume that the early Hondos were Japanese (as most copy-era stuff was) and later manufacture was Korean. The truth is that Hondo was a budget Korean brand in the 70s, and had a broadly deserved reputation for being a bit cheap & nasty. There were some nice-quality MIK Hondos but most were plywood & shoddy. Towards the late 70s, when the copy bubble burst, Hondo moved a lot of its manufacture to Japan & started producing mostly original designs - like the bass in question - under the Hondo Professional brand. So yeah - probably a bit more "pro" than your old P copy!

To be quite honest - if I saw something like that at a car boot for £30 - £40, I'd almost certainly take a punt, for the hell of it. I'd then be in exactly the same position as this seller, as I know the sum total of less than bugger-all about EUBs & double basses, and would probably happily admit to that if/when I flogged it! As it is, if it works & doesn't attract crazy bids, looks like it might be a fun project/toy, if you like that sort of thing.

I've been regularly looking at the maple fingerboard lined fretless necks & wishing they sold them separately - sadly it doesn't appear they do. A shame because I have a rather lovely J body that's been waiting for the right neck for about 10 years, and one of these (with a headstock re-cut to a Tele shape) would be perfect. Anyway - unavailable necks notwithstanding, I am very, very close to pulling the trigger on one of these: https://www.thomann.de/gb/marcus_miller_v7_vintage_alder_fl_bmr.htm Really don't think I'd have the heart to scavenge the neck & flog the body/hardware, and that metallic red is gorgeous... Someone talk me out of it. Or rather, don't.

Long time no see, @FlatEric! And you've come just to taunt me with your Odyssey. Nice to know you're thinking of me! There must be a way to separate you from one of these... you can't possibly need two!

That's me being complimentary! Actually, that Chris Martin seems to be a nice chap from what you hear. His band/music's a big pile of buttocks, though.

Pretty sure I remember reading that Coldplay stole their name from another band anyway. Then they stole their entire repertoire from Unforgettable Fire-era U2, apparently filtered through weak tea and insipid pink blancmange.

Has there ever been a Police tribute called "Police False"? If not, have that one for nowt.

That's another thing that points to Matsumoku, IMO - my Westbury when I got it!

Interesting to re-read that, & unfortunately the detective work (mostly from heroically committed uber-geeks on the MIJ FB groups) hasn't progressed much in the intervening 5 years! Other than to throw doubt on previously-held assumptions about Matsumoku serials... But like I said, some Hondo H-1015s do turn up with Matsumoku-stamped plates, those, at least I'd be confident about the origin. Might be the case that ones with no ID on the plates were collaborative builds involving more than one factory - neck from one place, body from another, assembled at a 3rd.

He hasn't been here since October 2017, so chances are he'll have missed that. I guess @jacethebass wasn't interested in reuiniting it with its original owner, then...

That's what you find yourself strapped to, and tortured for all eternity by the application of oxyacetalyne blowtorch to the extremities. When you go to Hipster Hell.

I'd usually concede to NoelK27, but having seen several of these with Matsumoku-stamped neckplates, some at least definitely were. Replying to @Paul S - not sure any of them were MIK, as I understand it Hondo was trying to position itself as a higher quality brand and Samick, who made all the 70s copies, didn't have the best reputation at the time. Never owned one of these but they look pretty decent & follow what's a fairly typical format for MIJ originals at the time: symmetrical doublecut, single P, (usually OEM DiMarzio) 3-point Gibbo bridge, 2-a-side tuners.

Been there, ridiculed that: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/336312-headless-precision/

That's a work of art, that is, quite beautifully executed. Also manages to be a single-cut that doesn't look fat & lumpy - which seems to be something most manufacturers/builders find beyond challenging. Too many strings, & to me it's aesthetically compromised by the humungously long fingerboard and the enormous cutaway needed to access it. Would be nice to see the same design with a bass-appropriate string count (5 or fewer!) and a more balanced body shape.