Bassassin Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Something to keep me distracted over the Season Of Illwill - I grabbed this on Ebay for a massive £43 - I don't tell you lot about all the JapCrap I spot... It's a Cimar, from about 1979/1980, with no name other than the rather unimaginative "Electric Bass" on the headstock. These were built by Fujigen Gakki, and actually marketed as an Ibanez sub-brand - in fact the Cimar Stinger & early Ibanez Blazers are identical. Also this is a close relation of my CSL Jazz copy - note the identical headstock shape: Anyway - as you can see from the original listing pics, it's seen better days - it's had a Halfords rattle can refin, a replacement P pup and a not quite right size replacement scratchplate. It's missing its full complement of strings and the bridge looks decidely odd... I picked it up over Christmas - and first appearances were not great - the neck was severely bowed, with a quite significant twist. Fortunately it turned out that the two remaining strings were wildly overtightened, and the truss rod completely slack. Removing the strings & allowing the neck to settle has straightened the curvature & reduced the twist to a barely discernible level. The truss rod appears never to have been adjusted, and works fine. Which was a relief. Knowing Fujigens to be generally well-made instruments, I extended a claw & had a bit of a scrape at the paintwork. This is what I found: Yes - somebody has squirted horrible matt black over what looks like a rather lovely ash body. I suppose there's no accounting for taste. Anyway, full stripdown & examination next - Neck removed, all hardware removed, dismantled & stored in 2 plastic tubs - all the grimy/corroded metalwork in a separate one, doused liberally with WD40. The electrics were a mess, the pickups wired (well, sort of) to single volume & tone & 3-way selector. Research shows me this setup was original - but I don't think I'll be rebuilding it like that. The replacement P pickup turned out to be a Schaller PBX - unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any output from it. The bridge pup is a typical 70s round-ended Jap Jazz type, which outputs a healthy 7.5k or so - and will probably sound pretty decent, if my experience of these is anything to go on. The strange-looking bridge saddle layout was the result of somebody confusing the string holes with the saddle holes when reassembling the bridge & stringing up. Did someone actually [i]play[/i] it like this? The saddles themselves are rusted badly, the height adjusters in two are seized, and the saddles will need to be replaced. I'm not sure they're original, anyway. The bridge base plate is a chromed alloy casting, pretty chunky & in decent condition, so I won't replace the entire bridge. The tuners are the same as the set on my CSL - I like the design of these, they have cast alloy backplates & a tension-adjustable collar. The same design, with different keys, was used on some early 80s Yamahas, too. These are in pretty decent condition - a little rough with corrosion on the backplates, and some pitting (and one bit of peeling chrome) on the keys. They'll clean up OK. To work on the body, then. Much as I'd like to hope the ratbike black would just flake off, it's actually been competently sprayed - the original lacquer's been keyed, and there's a coat of primer under the black. There's nothing for it but the 400 grit paper... Anyway - two days of gentle abrasion, and this is revealed: I'm assuming it's ash - Fujigen basses from this era tended to be ash, mahogany or maple. It's less like a 3-colour sunburst in real life, not so yellow as the pic appears. This is a common finish on late 70s/early 80s Ibanez, the catalogues refer to it as "brown sunburst". How poetic. Anyway, I think this is pretty damn nice, and apart from a liberal application of T-cut & elbow grease, I'll be keeping this finish It has been played over its 30-odd years, and as a consequence has a few scars to show for it - I won't be refinishing anything or replacing components that work, as I'd prefer it to be as original as possible. A bit of Google digging revealed this: The same bass, with a rosewood board. It's reasonable to assume mine would have once had a tort plate. The original plate is pretty close to a P shape, and I'm left with a choice whether to use a standard P type (£11 off Ebay) or to attempt to fabricate my own to the original shape. I'm guessing the plate mine came with was the cheapest possible replacement, since every other expense has been spared on this bass - but (apart from having no screwholes in common) it's a surprisingly good fit and apart from being slightly long at the lower horn, doesn't look wrong. It would be a good basic template to work from if I make my own. Anyway, that's about where I am with this, I'm presently cleaning up the metalwork & polishing the body, the neck's cleaned & the frets wire-wooled (not much wear, but a bit rough) and I'm thinking about building it up [i]sans[/i] electrics, just to see how it plays. Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgt-pluck Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Nice one Jon - keep the thread going and let us know how the restoration goes. I'll be doing something very similar to a Japcrap P-style bass. When I find the right one. BTW, I didn't go for that Roadster we were talking about. Also, the white P pups on your Cimar look identical to the 70's Dimarzio's on my Tokai ( apart from obviously mine a jazz ). Like [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1976-Dimarzio-P-Bass-Pickups_W0QQitemZ140191616806QQihZ004QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]these[/url]... The pups on my Tokai sound wonderful. Pluck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOD2 Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 I have a real soft spot for 70's Japanese guitars/basses (although preferrably the better ones). That's what was widley available when I first got interested in playing so it must stem from that. I started off on guitar with a "Sumbro" (imported by Summerfield Brothers) then a "CSL" before treating myself to a late 70s Fender that was probably no better than the CSL. I can recall the Cimar brand, among many others, and that looks like a nice example. That surely is a DiMarzio P-Bass pickup with the adjustable hex-key polepieces and the cream coloured pickup covers ? Nice find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 The pickup's a Schaller - clue no.1 being "Made In Germany" on the underside of the covers, and then finding a wiring schematic with the same colour leads - the model's PBX & they still make it: [url="http://schaller-electronic.de/hp31873/PBX.htm?ITServ=CY796117abX1174a3c3344X1d39"]http://schaller-electronic.de/hp31873/PBX....174a3c3344X1d39[/url] I even sussed out that it's post-1990, otherwise it would have said "Made In West Germany"! These get good reviews, but unfortunately mine seems to have no output - although the wiring before I dismantled the bass was chaotic, and I haven't tested it properly since taking it out. Bod - Sumbro & CSL were one & the same, CSL = Charles Summerfield Ltd. I don't know if Sumbro were built at Fujigen - the CSL brand seems to have appeared around the time Summerfield were UK importer for Ibanez - which is probably why they went to Fujigen for their own brand. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beerdragon Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Did you have any idea that there would be a nice looking body under that black? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 [quote name='beerdragon' post='114146' date='Jan 5 2008, 04:42 PM']Did you have any idea that there would be a nice looking body under that black?[/quote] Kind of, but not really - I was hopeful that it would be something like the g*it*r in this thread on the Ibanez Collectors forum: [url="http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/index.php?topic=10613.0"]http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/inde...p?topic=10613.0[/url] And it was. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted January 8, 2008 Author Share Posted January 8, 2008 A brief but nonetheless decisive update to JapCrap Resus. Today I put the thing together, minus electronics, to see if it will go. May I present The Hollow Bass: I rebuilt the bridge with the brass saddles from my CSL's original bridge (which I replaced with a Schaller 3-D) - the pictures I've found of other Cimar PJs seem to have these. The tuners have been stripped, cleaned, greased & rebuilt. I tightened the truss rod to compensate for string tension, bolted the bits together & stuck a set of cheapo strings on. And I'm keeping it. It played great with no real attempts to set it up at all - it will need a few tweaks, but the neck's sweet - almost identical in feel to my CSL Jazz. Stringing up has indicated a couple of jobs that need doing - just like the CSL when I got it, the bridge is slightly misaligned, and will need to be shifted floorwards by a couple of mil. The nut slots seem to be cut unnaturally close together, and the E string slot's a bit worn, (although the string still sits correctly) so this may be an excuse for a brass nut to match the saddles. To get a proper setup I'll have to shim the neck & maybe give the rod another little tweak, and also the saddles are a bit tight in the bridge, so a little bit of filing may be in order. I'm swapping the Schaller pup for Burpster's Ibby Blazer pickup - this is probably the same as the original unit from this bass. Bob's going to get the Schaller rewound, if it needs it. I'm still undecided as to what to do about the scratchplate - although I'm leaning towards a cheap tort P-alike, just to get the bass up & running. I'll be binning the old pots & wiring, and going for 2x V & T stack pots. It'll also need new screws for pups & scratchplate. However, I'm painfully skint for the next week or so, so I'll be occupying my spare time trying to restore a bit of gloss to the body lacquer. And that's about it! J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgt-pluck Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 Looking good. Wonder how it'll sound.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 What a find that lovely burst is. Bonus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 (edited) Long time no update - but I think we're almost done now. Tort P plate, 2x v/t stack pots, new nut & a bunch of screws, plus lashings of T-cut & elbow grease, and a good opportunity for a before & after: Not quite there yet - I still need to take the nut slots down a little, something I'm always a bit nervous about fecking up, and my stack pots don't [i]quite[/i] work the way they're intended to yet. :blush: Anyway, it plays nicely as it is, and sounds [b]big[/b] - the P pup is from an Ibanez Blazer (did a swap with Burpster for the one the bass came with) and once I've sorted out the wiring for my stack pots, it will be way more versatile than the original setup of single volume/tone & 3-way selector switch. I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out aesthetically. There are plenty of battle scars revealed now the rattle can black's gone - unfortunately the grey primer under it has infiltrated every little scratch & crack, and there's little that can be done about that. I'm not bothered because this is a 29 year old bass & I don't expect, or want it to look pristine. The new scratchplate is a much better fit than the old white one, and just required a little trimming around the top of the neck pocket to go on. The screwholes are a different story - only the top 3 lined up, all the rest had to be redrilled. I plugged all the old holes - for about 3 different plates, by the looks of it, the bloody thing looked like a pincushion! There are a couple of old holes which the plate doesn't cover, so I'll have to find some stain to colour them. I'm really glad I went with the tort plate, it really suits the body colour, I think - although the photos make it look much more lurid than it is in real life. I plugged & then re-drilled the bridge screwholes, so the alignment's now correct. The brass saddles are the old ones from my CSL, and coincidentally are the correct type for this bridge. And I have found out what it is - it's a Cimar XR-2065BS! At least now we know why they just put "Electric Bass" on the headstock. Anyway, in my web-trawling I found this: - From a 1979 catalogue, apparently. It describes this bass as being Mahogany, faced with Judas Wood. I presume Judas Wood refers to the Japanese Judas Tree, which I'm aware of being used in wood carving & cabinet making - but my bass is made from two lumps of what looks awfully like ash to me - and nowt else. Maybe they changed the timbers used at some point in the production. Anyway, that's about it. Looking forward to gigging it soon. J. Edited February 18, 2008 by Bassassin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgt-pluck Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 (edited) Great work - another one spits out the dust and battles onwards!!! I like the brownish tint to the sunburst, goes well with the maple neck. Very nice Edited February 18, 2008 by sgt-pluck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 wow, youve done a nice job there, the before and after pics look like different basses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 that is looking sweet dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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