Ritsugamesh

For anyone on the fence of picking up a JMJ - I literally have to go out of my way to play other basses or I'd just take one of these to every single gig, so do yourself a favour and pick one up. 

GLTWS and sorry to hear about the health troubles mate. 

Ah that's good to hear, must have just been a duff string indeed! I'm honestly sad I gave it up haha.

Glad you're happy with it either way pal.

EDIT: And if you are thinking of selling, get in touch and I might nab it back! 😅

You got any pics mate? Assuming this is the MIM model?

So badly wish I had the funds for this, had an eye on it since it went up. Only an hour away too! Type of thing that keeps you awake at night haha. GLWTS!

Ash is a great guy to deal with - I purchased a bass that looked eerily similar to this one from him a few months back! 

Buy with confidence guys. GLWTS Ash!

Purchased a bitsa bass from Ash to grab hold of a lovely example of a late 70s P bass neck. 

Great communication, prompt and direct, friendly to boot, and was flexible in arranging collection/meetup. 

Bass as advertised and he even showed me some other cool basses during the necessary basschat deal bass chat that ensued. 

Credit to the community, would absolutely do business with again (hoping to if he ever shifts that Tele bass!)

4 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

Apologies, I may have missed this information in the earlier posts; when open tuned to the correct pitch and you play the strings exactly on the 12th fret mark position is the note flat or sharp? I'm assuming the bridge saddles don't have enough travel to correct any variance?

The G string will be accurate at the 12th and about 50c flat on frets below the 12th. The inverse occurs above the 12th. It's only the G string that is struggling to intonate, the other 3 are fine, which suggests scale length isn't the issue. 

It's seemingly impossible to have the lower frets tuned to pitch and still have it accurate to the 12th. 

Going to try and put another string on to see if that fixes the issue. Any additional troubleshooting tips welcome! 

Thanks for posting those pics Valerian - very similar looking neck to mine for sure, ebony slab thickness withstanding! 

I've taken the time today to pull it apart for a brief look and review scale lengths, etc.

Scale length appears to be absolutely bang on from the end of the nut to the bridge saddles. The G string being a pain to intonate must be either related to the nut at this point or the string itself being old and done in. I will look at changing at the very least the G to check whether this is the case. 

I've also taken the neck off and pickguard off to get a bit more information about the actual parts in use! Some very interesting insights for sure, at least I think so 😁

The neck has this code on the bottom - I have done a bit of googling to figure this one out and I believe it's 01 (precision) 02 (no clue) 36 (36th week) 9 (79) 3 (weds) - the 02 I have no clue, but I think the rest is correct. Anyone with better info let me know! 

The stuff on the back of the neck eludes me, although googling J Torres brings up a fair few results about him being a well-regarded neck builder of the era. The sticker I have absolutely no idea what that's about, but assuming original. Also not sure what the stamp codes mean, so any englightenment is appreciated! 

All the internals look well done, though I honestly have such poor knowledge of electrical work on my instruments it just looked like a mass of cables to me. Anyone with better knowledge please chime up! Not sure what dates these EMGs are either. 

The silver foil job appears to be as from the factory, suggesting this is also the original pickguard. I've never seen a silver foil on a bass before from Fender, but the serial number sticker on the underside suggests it is indeed how it was done in the factory. Last but not least is a sticker with F 1-23 written inside the pickup cavity - again, absolutely no idea. 

The buttons are removable, one I've got out and the other is providing difficult. Even with big holes in the body it looks a damn sight better than whatever those metal buttons were, so I'll take it. At this point I'm likely to buy a fretted replacement neck to avoid doing any major work to this one, the neck pocket is 2.5" by 3.8" or so, which I believe is relatively standard for a Precision neck? 

Hope the guts and glory photos are of interest guys, thank you for all the comments so far - very illuminating for both me and my father! 

4 hours ago, EMG456 said:

 

I'm late as usual...

 

That's a lovely thing. Contrary to what you have suggested, it looks to me as if a previous owner has lavished a *lot* of care on this bass.

 

As it stands, you have something way better than a stock fretless precision. The active circuit probably adds to it's versatility but if you don't want that, the EMGs will work perfectly well with a passive circuit - just make sure the pot values are correct.

 

If it was me - new nut and strings and a careful setup. I wouldn't mess up that lovely board by having it fretted!

 

If you feel that you're not great with fretless then let this be the start of your great fretless journey.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Thank you for the alternative perspective. I'm perhaps being too critical, simply from the shield job being visible and the fret marker situation, but otherwise it is a series of well-done modifications. 

I'm more in the mind to keep things as-is, though I'll be taking the neck off and electronics to see whether there is more information to be shared. 

What nut would you suggests as a replacement? I believe this must be a bone nut, but I've never actually replaced one before! 

3 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Leave it alone as it is! (well except for having a new nut cut obviously)

 

You are not going to restore that to it's original state, as you then might as well just buy a similar bass that hasn't been modded.

 

Enjoy this bass for what it is, or sell it to some who would appreciate the work done on it, seems like an absolute killer bass, and to be frank a vast improvement over the original.

 

Appreciate the feedback, leaning this way for sure, it's had a lot of work and a lot of character as a result. Might change the control knobs though, not a fan of the plastic ones!

23 hours ago, 3below said:

I experienced a bass that would not intonate and played out of tune when the 12th fret intonation was correct. The cause was a faulty G string, from new. It took a while to find this, the first faulty string I have encountered in 50+ years of playing. I would keep it as it is, it looks like a really nice example, good upgrades and big bonus, an ebony fretless board. 

Will check that out - it's never had a string change since we've owned it, so some very funked out flats as it is. I have heard of this happening before, but haven't experienced personally.

21 hours ago, BassBunny said:

If you plan to go passive it might mean new pickups as those EMG's could be active.

That said the pickups plus the preamp are pretty saleable to offset the cost.

They are indeed active, I believe the battery is housed beneath the pickguard cover but haven't had time to take it all apart and review. To be honest, given that getting it back to vintage is unlikely, tempted to just get some nicer looking control knobs and leave it at that. The plastic black ones don't really do it for me!

20 hours ago, miles'tone said:

The dot positions on the new fingerboard have been changed to accommodate the badass bridge. I'd be tempted to replace the fingerboard and put an original 70s bbot bridge back on myself (I prefer the woodier tone of a normal bridge).

I'd keep it fretless but whatever floats your boat.

Nice bass!

 

Edit... looked again and the saddles look all over the shop regarding intonation so gawd knows why the dots don't line up 🤷

I can attest that intonating this bass has been an absolute p***take - hence the mangled looking saddle placement. I'm in agreement that the adjusted fret markers must be to account for the positioning of the larger bridge, I'll take some measurements tomorrow when I'm back to see whether it's properly set at a 34" scale length or not. It seems to be the G that is having the most trouble, i.e. if it's intonated at the 12th it's out elsewhere, none of the other strings seem to be having the same issue and the neck isn't warped, so not entirely sure what the crack is there! 

20 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

I think it’s been altered too much for you to put it back as original, S8 is 78 sometimes up to 81, really nice looking fretboard there, I’d be inclined to get it fretted (I don’t play fretless) and have the electrics you like, I’d remove those chrome caps at the bridge too, not an expensive project to get it how you want and it’s a very nice bass 

I think this is the long-term plan, I am not really a fretless player either and those chrome caps are just gaudy to my eyes. Not sure if I could git an ashtray over the badass bridge either, but we shall cross that road when we come to it. 

22 hours ago, RikiB said:

There is Bass Japan Direct if you’ve heard of them? They do a Bass Hunter service for £80 🤔

+1 for Bass Japan Direct. I purchased an amazing Tokai Jazz Sound off him earlier this year and it was well-packaged, reasonably-priced and he calculated estimated additional costs for me for customs and the like. Really sound guy called Danny and well worth dealing with. It did get caught in Dutch customs too, funnily enough, maybe they have a thing for holding basses! 

7 minutes ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

It actually seems like a whole new fretboard has been applied. Personally, in this case, I wouldn't go the way of semi-restoring and take this bass as it is as long as sound and playability are good.

 

Seems like a great bass; cool looks with a nice grain in the wood, EMG

That is the assumption I have made - it's a really really thick slab of ebony that's been put over the top of the neck and the fret marker situation definitely irks me! Sounds cool and plays well as far as I can tell, though I'm not really a fretless player. 

8 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

S8 serial is anywhere from 78 to early 80's. The hole the bridge pickup is sitting in is not original, so I wouldn't get too caught up in returning it to original state. That ship has sailed.

 

If it were me, the neck dot situation would do my head in, so I'd be looking at getting the fretboard replaced, a new one fretted so the original dots are in the right place, get them refilled with black dots and I'd keep the bridge and the EMGs. They're better than what it left the factory with, IMO of course 🙂

Good to know r.e. the serial, he said previous owner told him 78 so that tracks. The fet marker situation is definitely giving me some conniptions, but it does seem like a real quality fretboard so inclined to accept the jank and refret, I also find it a little tricky to intonate and I wager that's down to a) me being a crap fretless player and b) because the scale length has potentially changed between the bridge swap. 

I'm tempted at the very least to return it back to a passive instrument befitting it's vintage more, and the nut needs repairing on the low E side, though it isn't affecting playability at the moment (possibly thanks to being fretless?) 

Thanks for the input so far guys! 

Hi guys, 

Looking for a bit of help/guidance/advice here regarding a fretless P-bass my dad has had for donkeys years and by osmosis came to be in my collection. As far as we're both aware, it's a mid/late-70's P-Bass, original body and neck, and that's about as far as the knowledge goes. If anyone is good at dating serial numbers do chime up! 

The main point of contention is how many mods have actually been made to the bass itself. From what I can tell, it looks like it was not originally fretless. If you look carefully at the underside of what I think is an ebony fretboard -It's incredibly dark and doesn't feel like typical rosewood to me - you can see what looks like filled-in fret markers, especially at the 12th fret. The bass has a skunk stripe too, which I was always led to believe meant it would likely have a maple one-piece neck. My dad thinks it's always been a fretless, I'm just not buying it. 

The active electronics are 100% not original, nor is the bridge and what looks like a strange silver foil shielding job? Any insights here appreciated! I believe the J pickup has been routed out specifically to add these pickups, relatively professionally if I do say so myself, and either side of the bridge are these odd circle pin things that I'm assuming were put there after an ashtray was removed from the original. 

I'm considering whether I should try to restore as much of the bass to original if possible, what people's recommendations would be to go about that r.e. pickup selections and whether to refret it (if anyone knows any good luthiers in the midlands that could handle such a job I would be appreciative!). I think it's a gorgeous instrument let down a bit by lack of care from the previous owner before us - no mods were done by myself or my dad, it is as we received. 

Cheers!

Pickguard and control knobs have been changed but they look nicer than the original stock config either way, so probably a bonus! 

1 hour ago, Twincam said:

 

I also stripped the neck on mine but left the front of the headstock alone. It's very common for people to strip the back of the neck.

I then oiled the neck, during the stripping process I also tried to take a very very small amount of neck width off and a tiny amount of depth. Made it easier to play. But was still a bit to large for me. 

 

Mine didn't have any ugly looking wood either. And I don't think I've seen any with bad wood, actually maybe 1 on a us forum. Theres loads of info on these and people modding them over the years to trawl through.

You won't get any with flamed maple. Just very plain wood, which is OK to me. Even so it's better than the paint. 

Mine. Wish I kept it now! 

 

At work. Where I stripped it.

 

How they can look at the factory

 

You've done a really good job there, very clean indeed! Agree that the unfinished neck looks miles better than 20 year old black paint that's seen too much action (at least is the case on mine!). 

I'd be tempted to do a slightly more reliced approach to the headstock transition personally, but mad respect for getting such a clean job done. I think I need to get researching on the best approach to sanding it down now, always get conflicting reports on grits, etc.! 

Cheers for the pics too, very enlightening and that looks like a lovely bass indeed. 

18 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

The one I've got has the neck completely stripped (the orig paint was damaged) to bare wood.. certainly doesn't look like "ugly" wood to me, so I may just nitro it, not sure.

I've also been messing with a maple neck on it from an indo Sub, which has a Jazz style skinny nut. 

Do you have a picture of yours with the stripped neck? I've got a USA SUB in white and have often found the painted neck to get a bit questionable after a long gig. It's definitely not leaving the collection so not afraid to mod it but would be interesting to hear/see the process/result! 

36 minutes ago, NikNik said:

Nice bass. Interesting intonation on the E.

Aye took me a good minute to find the right spot for it. For some reason when I took the neck off to touch up the truss rod, upon putting it back the intonation specifically on the E was right out. All the other strings were note perfect still! The nut is perfectly fine, no catching, plenty of winds on the string, neck relief ideal and the action in the right spot, it just needed pulling much further forward than I anticipated to get it intonated at the 12th and across the board. Not sure why, but if it works it works! If anyone more savvy than me has additional info as to why only the E would be out of intonation like that, do let me know. 

5 hours ago, Paul C said:

I saw this.....slightly jealous 🙂 looks great. He briefly had a black one too. How's the painted neck? Never tried a bass with a neck finish like that. Cool bass 

Aye I nearly bought the black one when I saw it, let it get away and this came up so I knew I couldn't let it slip by! 

The painted neck feels absolutely fine to be honest, somewhere between a satin and gloss finish, though it's possible once I run it at a full gig I might change my mind. I do have another bass with a painted neck and that doesn't bother me, but I know many people get really turned off by it. 

3 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

Gold and white/cream would not be my first choice of colour scheme but that it gorgeous. Enjoy.

Wouldn't generally be mine either but I've recently joined a Funk band and this screamed Larry Graham so figured it had to be done! 

Just need the sequin guitar strap and I think I'm there, got the bass face down. 

6 hours ago, wintoid said:

Nice bass.  What happened about customs?

There were customs charges unfortunately yes, came to 20% so if you did order you essentially need consider that in as a part of the package price. Still came out to cheaper than an MIM Fender these days, so I wasn't too fussed and Danny gave me quality estimate charges and made me clear and aware of everything. He was a pleasure to deal with for sure. 

Purchased from Danny at Bass Japan Direct and waylaid in Germany due to labour strikes, this arrived safe and sound on my doorstep this morning. 

It's all original and the date is a close approximation, as with these sorts of instruments. It's somewhere between 83-85 based on the serial number. 

Small amount of setup required given it's week and change trotting the globe, and the low E intonation took some dialing in, but playing beautifully now at 1.75mm (as is my preference) and the pickups sound superb. It's perhaps a little difficult to spot in the photos, but there's a lovely sun tan effect that's happened on the headstock and neck, sending the white into a more cream colour. 

Definitely got the played-in feel that you'd expect something pushing 40 to have. I'm mostly just sad at how played-in I feel at only 30 😂

Purchased a Darkglass Vintage Ultra pedal from Mick this weekend just gone. 

Concise and straightforward communication, product exactly as advertised and well-packaged for transit. 

Pleasure to deal with, would recommend! 

Cheers

Paul

Oh my god, if I hadn't just bought an MIJ Mustang bass I would have bitten your hand off for this! Alas, the coffers are empty... 

Beautiful bass, GLWTS. 

Purchased an MXR compressor pedal off Will. 

He was kind enough to meet me halfway at a particularly characterful location, had a pleasant chat and did the deal. Works like a charm and had it's first live run out that very same night. 

Deal with confidence.