kevbass Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 (edited) Hello Ladies and gentlemen, been a while since I posted anything so I thought what better than to post some pics of my recent ebay acquisition, a kay precision bass, although I am yet to recieve it (hopefully I'll have it by thurs or fri). I got it for the price of 45 quid plus 11 quid postage. I hear these basses are known to be on the heavy side and I'm curious to know what the stock pickup sounds like, if its decent I'll keep it in there, if not I'll opt for something else to put in. Bridge looks original, not too sure about the tone and volume knob, never seen these ones on a kay bass before. The neck was what did it for me really and a nice bit of genuine mojo wear to the body. Out of interest did anyone else spot this or place a bid on it? Edited December 3, 2020 by Bilbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathewsanchez Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 [quote name='kevbass' post='240296' date='Jul 15 2008, 07:11 PM']Out of interest did anyone else spot this or place a bid on it?[/quote] I spotted it, didn't bid on it but I wish I had. When I have some money, instead of buying one really expensive bass, i'm gonna start collecting cheap lovely crappy vintage basses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutToPlayJazz Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Nice score, Kev. The neck looks especially nice with the glossed back on it. One of my pupils' father has one of the Kay LP copy guitars with the built in effects on board. Very cool in a crazy kinda way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 I've had two of these - been quite impressed with the pickup on both. very authentic & pretty powerful. You'll probably have to shim the neck to get a decent string height - you may find that as well as the massive 6-screw neckplate, there's glue holding it in too - so be prepared for a bit of a scrap getting it off. Don't worry, though, you won't break it! These are the most solid basses I've ever seen, they are massively heavy, and the neck's a weird sort of ply known to vintage guitar geeks as "strip mahogany" - about 90 layers of wood... I'd also recommend a proper bridge - these are fitted with crude 2-saddle things, more agricultural folk-art than hardware! Even if you can get decent action & intonation with it, there are 4 evil, sharp, ragged overlong screws, waiting to take a chunk out of your right hand... Not sure these are technically JapCrap - neither of mine had any country of origin - but one of these was on Ebay a while back described as made in Taiwan - seems it had a sticker. Anyway - you won't find a more robust vintage P copy for £45! Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevbass Posted July 17, 2008 Author Share Posted July 17, 2008 [quote name='Bassassin' post='241347' date='Jul 16 2008, 09:59 PM']I've had two of these - been quite impressed with the pickup on both. very authentic & pretty powerful. You'll probably have to shim the neck to get a decent string height - you may find that as well as the massive 6-screw neckplate, there's glue holding it in too - so be prepared for a bit of a scrap getting it off. Don't worry, though, you won't break it! These are the most solid basses I've ever seen, they are massively heavy, and the neck's a weird sort of ply known to vintage guitar geeks as "strip mahogany" - about 90 layers of wood... I'd also recommend a proper bridge - these are fitted with crude 2-saddle things, more agricultural folk-art than hardware! Even if you can get decent action & intonation with it, there are 4 evil, sharp, ragged overlong screws, waiting to take a chunk out of your right hand... Not sure these are technically JapCrap - neither of mine had any country of origin - but one of these was on Ebay a while back described as made in Taiwan - seems it had a sticker. Anyway - you won't find a more robust vintage P copy for £45! Jon.[/quote] Hello John, Im quite pleased its met with your approval because I wondered if it would do so or whether it would be shot down in flames by our resident jap crap expert! I think I'll take your advice and replace that bridge when I get it, the thought did cross my mind when I put a bid on it. The seller told me that the action is nice and low on the bass already (I'll find out if thats true today as it should be arriving). More pics and review coming soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Kimbara J for £20??? These are very, very good - Kimbara was the top-end range from importer FCN Music, and as far as I can tell all their electrics (acoustics are actually more common) were sourced from Matsumoku. Your bass is definitely a mid-70s Matsumoku, who exclusively used the Steel Adjustable type plate. The serial number is probably random - most are on copy-era Mats, but post 75-ish there were some dateable serials using a couple of different schemes on these plates. The pickups, with adjuster screws at the ends only seem to turn up on Mat Jazz copies too. Anyway here's the Aria-badged version of your bass: [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/catalogs/75_aria/75_aria_catalog_pg3.jpg.html"]http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/catal...og_pg3.jpg.html[/url] I've recently got a batch of old 70s catalogues & leaflets (courtesy of Bass Doc) including a couple of Kimbara ones. The natural finish version of your bass is included (model N.124) and the spec gives the body wood as maple. I'm no wood expert but yours doesn't look "grainy" enough for that or sen, which was also commonly used. I do know they sometimes used birch laminates on mahogany, but I'm guessing yours is solid, by the absence of contour oversprays. Anyway, £20 is a steal, as would £50 have been. Lovely bass and please take more pics! Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 [quote name='Bassassin' post='976991' date='Oct 4 2010, 12:49 PM']Kimbara J for £20??? Anyway, £20 is a steal, as would £50 have been. Lovely bass and please take more pics! Jon.[/quote] I know Jon... was quite surprised I bagged it at £50, as most decent vintage Japcrap seems to get flagged up on here now. Guess Kimbara, may not be on everyone's radar yet. You can probably recall, Mayas for example going cheap a couple years ago, then a few peple start mentioning them on forums etc... Not that familiar with Kimbara myself, but you're right it does have a 'quality' feel to it. Dare I say more than a lot of the other Jazz copies I've had, exception being Tokai. I know of a local respected guitarist who also raves over his Kimbara strat copies. Anyway here's a few more pics for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurcatovium Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 This is incredibly nice for only £20! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moos3h Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 Oooh, I'll play! Bought a no-name JapCrap P from ebay the other day for....£15! It's a 'Cimar' (is that good? I doubt it) as you can just see the outline of where the logo has been rubbed off. It has the typical black spray over the body contour, so I was convinced it was going to be ply, but nope! Solid wood! Needs a few things - new tuners and wiring fixing, but I'm happy enough for £15 Pics to follow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurcatovium Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 Cimar? My friend had really good Cimar jazz. I remember he liked it although it was ply... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moos3h Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 I think it's Cimar...it actually looks a bit like 'Ciman' but it's so faint it's almost impossible to be sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 [quote name='Moos3h' post='1041785' date='Nov 29 2010, 10:56 PM']I think it's Cimar...it actually looks a bit like 'Ciman' but it's so faint it's almost impossible to be sure![/quote] Not heard of Ciman so I'm guessing it's Cimar. I used to see these secondhand knocking around the stores years ago - they were the original fore-runners of Washburn or Ibanez (I don't remember which I'm afraid!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 Cimar was sort-of an Ibanez sub-brand, seems it was distributed by, and subsequently owned by Hoshino Gakki, owner of the Ibanez brand. Later Cimars were even badged as "Cimar By Ibanez". I won't speculate until I've seen pics of the beast, but it'll be decent - I've got a Cimar of my own and it's a very decent bass. Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkgod Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 (edited) A 10 year old thread back to life 🙂 Jap crap, here ya go, 1960s Zenta TEZ, super rare early Matsumoku made, couple of three and four knob ones floating around but not many of these earlyer two knob ones, Controls are pot 1 Vol pot 2 tone pick up selector switch. whats great about this bass is the back pickup, it has a great honky sort of sound being closer to the bridge than the later ones, really usable, worth doing a vid for just to hear it, the front neck pick has that deep hollow sound that sounds a bit distant not very usable for me, when both pick ups are on it still has that hollow sound though if muted while playing aka rocco prestia style then you do get that nice thump to the notes, i can see where a blend knob would be a better option here as i would like the have 75% bridge and 25% neck just to add a bit of bass to that honk without rolling the tone off,. Quality wise some good bits and some bad bits but it has lasted well so may be not so bad bits, , 1 it has a multi laminated neck, on saying this it has a lowish action, tuners not bad, have had allot worse, bridge is a bit naff if you play too hard as i do you can move the string on to the next slot on the barol,, pickups though not strong do have a sound all of there own quite good infact esp that rear one, it also has nice big fat extendible pole pieces via a slot screwdriver, neck binding very good body binding front and back very good, and has a zero fret, and a solid 6 bolts for the neck, all in all not bad, usable and looks super cool, im thinking of using it in the next band vid. im just wondering if i can get a bigsby for this. Edited April 28, 2020 by funkgod 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurroundedByManatees Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Here is my rare Fernandes Stingray copy: As you can see it's not a 100% accurate stingray copy, but soundwise it's a full house. I've replaced the original preamp and electronics, as they were oxidated and the preamp had too much highs and not enough lows.. Now it's equipped with an original stingray preamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 (edited) On 04/12/2020 at 03:58, SurroundedByManatees said: Here is my rare Fernandes Stingray copy: As you can see it's not a 100% accurate stingray copy, but soundwise it's a full house. I've replaced the original preamp and electronics, as they were oxidated and the preamp had too much highs and not enough lows.. Now it's equipped with an original stingray preamp. Imgur should be fired. Edited January 23, 2021 by Downunderwonder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Wouldn't mind a look at that - any danger you could upload the images direct to BC, @SurroundedByManatees? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurroundedByManatees Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 I'm afraid that I cleaned up my imgur, after I sold the bass... 😶 It was for a good cause though. Ill see if I can source the pics and repost them for those interested. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurroundedByManatees Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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