Happy Jack

I can't handle anything over 9lbs these days, and I greatly prefer below 8lbs. You youngsters don't know what you've got ...

And all joking aside, Prowla, excellent heads-up ... thanks. I bought one as well.

Silvie & I will be in the States next month, might have to pick up one of these.

What logo did it carry?

Beautifully - absolutely gorgeous thing. The SD 1/4 Pounders sounded awesome, too.

I sold this because I don't 'do' relic'd basses. Big mistake. A Fender? No.

I sold this beautiful Bravewood primarily because of Now I wish I'd kept it ...

Just ordered a job lot of 1000 fake Fender decals ... money well spent.

Looks like a cooler version of

Congratulations to LewisK1975, on having the 500th post on this thread. Just to recap, has someone suggested that people put fake logos on basses then?

Not sure I follow ... if I had listed a bass with a BiN of £1000, I'm not sure I'd be happy to be told that a buyer could have 20% off!

I'm waiting for the great porridge -v- porage debate to kick off ...

No worries - I was the 300th and as a Brucie Bonus I also got to kick off page 13. Sheesh! 13 pages and we still haven't decided whether Limelight should be hanged or electrocuted. I dunno, fings was simpler when I woz a lad ...

You realise that you will now need to commission a 1/4-size bow? And the bow will end up costing more than the bass?

Wow! Well over 10 years old and that thread just refuses to die. The Moderators have never liked the idea of having that one pinned (dunno why, Fender fascists the lot of 'em) so it keeps sinking out of sight, but it never gets completely drowned.

Please can I have the 300th post on this utterly pointless thread? Please Please Pretty Please?

There's more than one bass player in South Yorkshire?

Steady on, old chap, not all of them were crap - far from it. Futurama was not so much a brand as a description. There were a bunch of standard designs around in the late 60s and early 70s which were built in various countries, most notably Sweden (usually badged as Hagstrom) and Czechoslovakia where there was a very healthy instrument manufacturing industry. In those days IIRC the majority of their basses were shortscales intended to compete with Hofner and Framus. There were plenty of good ones - I've had some of them! The name never really went away and has been used over and over since then. Yours looks like a fairly modern copy of a Jazz bass design. If it doesn't play well, don't chuck it away in disgust. Have someone give it a good set-up first. There are really few genuinely bad instruments about these days, but there are plenty in need of setting up properly.

I've never actually used my headphones as a substitute for my crash helmet, although of course I have been tempted, so I can't really comment on the "sturdiness" of the PJB cans. But in fairness they do sound unbelievably good if you're a bass player.

I wonder how long that model would have kept it in her back pocket at 70 C ...

Trusted courier = contradiction in terms. Sorry.

This isn't getting any easier, Martin! Those photos don't provide any conclusive evidence either way. Your bass has a number of distinguishing features, none of which give a clear answer either way ... it could still be a genuine '66 with some after-market changes, or a more modern re-issue, or even a bitsa. Even the beautiful condition of your bass is no indicator of 'newness'. My '64 is hanging next to me as I type, and it is in a similarly impeccable state. If I were a gambling man (which thank the Lord I'm not sir), I'd say original '66. Hard to say why, but I've owned a lot of vintage Hofners and looked very closely at many more, and I'd be inclined to go with the little things. In that last photo, for example, take a look at the 4" slip of wood which forms the end of the fretboard and is glued in place as a dovetail. In any re-issue bass from the 90s onward that would be a nice, smooth piece of wood which matched the rest of the neck. On your bass it is clearly a slightly battered offcut from another piece of work ... which is exactly the sort of thing the guys at Hofner did in the 60s when they were trying to turn out hundreds of these basses in a hurry. I suppose it is possible that it is (i) a rare Spanish or Japanese re-issue from before the 90s, and that (ii) perhaps some of those re-issues were also built to less exacting standards, but I suspect that William of Occam would have a few things to say about that line of reasoning.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FENDER-PRODEGY-4-STRING-BASS/173046108109?hash=item284a5a0fcd:g:SF0AAOSwNWxaPPvJ The vendor has done himself no favours by spelling the name wrong, mind ...

Bit of a thread revival to mark the appearance of a veritable Xmas bonanza from Revival Guitars of JapCrap on eBay ... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1970s-Teisco-Japan-MIJ-Audition-4-String-Surf-Style-Bass-Guitar/292379627295?hash=item44132f0f1f:g:VQ8AAOSwUwFaPCdP https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1970s-Vintage-Japan-MIJ-Grantson-Branded-Narrow-Necked-Solid-Body-Bass-Guitar/292379620273?hash=item44132ef3b1:g:YO4AAOSwSq9ZnJMM https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1970s-Vintage-Short-Scale-Satellite-Bass-Well-preserved-Fully-Functional/292379620256?hash=item44132ef3a0:g:03EAAOSwgYVZyV8y https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/80s-Japan-Roadworn-Vantage-Avenger-Full-Scale-Bass-Duo-tone-Upgrade/302573870057?hash=item4672cedbe9:g:JLsAAOSwJwpZyV8v https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Early-1970s-Vintage-Japan-MIJ-Raver-Junior-Starter-Shortscale-Bass-Guitar/302573870034?hash=item4672cedbd2:g:zFoAAOSwrFJZ1-ZZ https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Early-1970s-Vintage-Made-in-Japan-MIJ-Grant-badged-twin-Pickup-Bass-guitar/292379620237?hash=item44132ef38d:g:CxcAAOSwm7RZnIrW https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-C1970s-Teisco-Silvertone-Framus-Solid-Body-Bass-Made-in-Japan/292379620290?hash=item44132ef3c2:g:DN0AAOSwTzlZhO-u

At least Feliciano didn't have a music stand ...