adrihongkong

Thank you very much for all this. I love your CSL!

I am going to keep digging and see if I can figure out who manufactured those parts. If I did, would you accept that as a form of payment? 😉

@Bassassin, in the same link I sent earlier in which Hoshino is mentioned it says that "Matao guitars were manufactured at several factories over the years, including the Hoshino factory, and the Matsumoku factory for a time". Is that information not correct?

Anyway, these are two Matao basses I've found online:

1-   https://reverb.com/ca/item/496821-1975-matao-precision-bass-copy-mij

A lot of similarities (Bridge, truss rod cover, tuners) but still not the same headstock shape.

2- https://www.tdpri.com/threads/show-your-pbass.328674/page-2. (This is the bass I mentioned on my last post)

Same headstock shape but lots of different parts in the rest of the instrument. I couldn't find a photo of the back of the bass.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

Thanks!

@Bassassin, Thank you so much for your post. I really appreciate the time it must have taken you to put all that information in order and to type it all out. 

What I really find fascinating is that, after such a long career repairing, selling, etc, MIJ basses, you have never seen one bass like mine.

Somebody else on FB as recently pointed in the direction of Matao basses, which (apparently) were made at the Hoshino factory and share a lot of similarities with my bass. 

What do you all think about this?

Bass 1:

Bass 2: 

More info on Matao guitars available here:

http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/matao_guitar

10 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

My mate from church has an original Hammond organ. 
He went to the professional electronics expert in town to get it serviced. He did his thing, It was ok but still not 100%. 
Then this old guy turned up at church to help the leaders for a few months. He asked to have a look at the organ, stripped it down and fixed it. It turned out he used to build them for a living, and now restoration was a hobby of his. 

The professional knew the basics and could do a decent enough job. But their expertise was in electronics generally and they would work on anything. He knew a lot about a lot, but not to a massive depth. 
The somebody we knew nothing about had one very small window of expertise and knew a massive amount, at great depth, about one make of organ.
 

And this is another great example of that!

6 hours ago, Bassassin said:

While I have specific reservations, Chushin Gakki's a strong possibility, and that's what I expect he'd be told if he were to do the rounds of the various MIJ FB groups.

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't like to be told their instrument's not what they want it to be, it seems.

I will surely edit that post, @Bassassin, if what I said was incorrect. As I said over there, I spoke to somebody at a Vintage Guitar shop in Tokyo, who does appraisals for a living, and he said he believed it had been made at Matsumoku. He said Aria used to use various different logos, and he attached this photo from a Reverb post. 

Should I assume he has no idea about what he's saying?

It's not that 'I don't like to be told my instrument's not what they want it to be', believe me. I am a professional keyboard player who has been playing bass for 2 months. I don't know anything about MIJ 70-80s basses, other than I like them. I just assumed that what I was told by a professional was more likely to be correct than what somebody I know nothing about said on a forum. Does that sound understandable? 

It's actually very simple. 

And again, I thank you very much for your help!

I think so. I don't have the instrument with me right now but I believe they are exactly the same size. 

Thank you very much for the info, Bassassin.

Here are a few more 'clues' about the bass. I hope somebody in the community can figure this out!

I bought this bass a few days ago in Hong Kong, and the guy didn't seem to know what he had on his hands. He said the bass 'had been made by Aria Pro' but had no idea about the year, etc.

Let me know if there is any other part you would like to see.

Thank you again.

Adrian.

Hi all,

I'm trying to find our more information about this bass (pictures attached). 

All I know is that it looks like a Fender copy made by Aria in Japan around 1970 like these basses here:

 http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/bass/fbs/fndr_bass.html

However, the colour combination of body/pick guard is different, and the logo on the headstock is something I haven't seen anywhere else on the internet.

Can somebody help me?

The serial number is AP2457, even though I know it might not be of much help.

Thank you!

Adrian.