Unexpected NBD ....

[LukeFRC]

I was listening to some songs from my old band the other week and kinda missed my maple necked P bass, glorious Fender Japan '57ri sunburst with a gold plate I added (if you have it give me a shout!) ... so went looking on eBay at maple necked Precisions....

 

 

Years back I lived in Glasgow for a year and found an old beat up Cimar 1905 model Jazz bass from 1975ish bought it knowing a friend was going to have it, @Bassassin helped me fix it up, and it was just fun thing, fun to play and a bright bouncy sound.... nice. I regretted selling it to the mate (although he has loved it since.) 

 

And then in my search on eBay for a precision I found a Jazz like the cimar ... and stuck in a bid... and lost....

A week later I got a second chance offer and a few days later it arrives - sold as broken from someone selling for a family member. So other than knowing what it was maybe going to be like a bit of a risk... 

 

 

So it's a Japanese made 1975-76 ish Jazz bass, the headstock is branded Diplomat who I think were a kiwi distributor, but it's very close to both the other one and assassin's one - so Cimar/Ibanez/ Fujigen build probably.

 

It's ash and maple, kinda cheap - pressed tuners that look cheap but seem to work well, square end bridge, the old curved end Japanese pickups, the most evil bridge design known to man, the pots which need replaced and just a bright engaging tone...

 

first thing I found taking it out the box was wasn't far off being in tune that the neck relief was spot on. A good sign. 
Though the action was High. 

Then I noticed that the evil bridge had something missing... 

so the evil sticky out screws to adjust the height are on the bottom, with the nice rounded ends facing up (an improvement) - but the adjustment screws... erm... but the intonation was pretty much spot on... 

And then soldering the wires back - I imagin they were broken when the old owner tried to fix the dodgy pots... and it comes alive... 

And yeah they feel, look and sound like TI jazz flats on it too! 

 

So yeah my new precision bass ...   

Edited May 29 by LukeFRC

[Bagman]

Diplomat = Aria sent to New Zealand from mid-late 1960’s 

[LukeFRC]

35 minutes ago, Bagman said:

Diplomat = Aria sent to New Zealand from mid-late 1960’s 

Thanks for confirming the New Zealand link - this I think is a rebadged Cimar 1905 model  - it's pretty much the same as @Bassassin sunburst model but with a different badge on the headstock

[Bagman]

2 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Thanks for confirming the New Zealand link - this I think is a rebadged Cimar 1905 model  - it's pretty much the same as @Bassassin sunburst model but with a different badge on the headstock

virtually all the Diplomat Basses I have seen were short or medium scale 

 

Cimar - were also imported here (apparently) and before they were a budget range Ibanez 

[LukeFRC]

2 hours ago, Bagman said:

virtually all the Diplomat Basses I have seen were short or medium scale 

 

Cimar - were also imported here (apparently) and before they were a budget range Ibanez 

Interesting - just measured its 33.5in scale length! 

 

 

[Woodinblack]

How do those saddles stay in that position? are they bolted to the bottom of the bridge?

[LukeFRC]

33 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

How do those saddles stay in that position? are they bolted to the bottom of the bridge?

nope, just string pressure. It looks like previous owner set it up with TI jazz flats and was using it for something... but took out the adjustment screws!