Bassassin

Why would a VPN provider based outside of the UK (as I expect most are) be interested in, never mind compliant with local restrictions?

All the time VPN providers make a big selling point of keeping no records of user traffic & never, ever making any records they do hold available to external scrutiny (which may or may not be true!) then that seems improbable. If the service VPN providers offered was restricted by local legislation to being functionally identical to an ISP, it'd be much the same as outlawing them & hard to see why anyone would use one. Absolutely. Because our elected representatives are entirely committed to the principle of level-playing-field fairness, and have never so much as heard the expression 'one rule for us, and another for you'.

I've spent the last 10+ years frankly amazed that some hysterical MP hasn't proposed outlawing VPNs. I guess they still haven't heard of them.

I'd assume the fact that a lot of different manufacturers were condensed into a small geographical area in Matsumoto city made this easier - I'd assume Matsumoto Gakki Seizou Kumiai had premises for component stock & instrument assembly. As usual with old MIJ guitars there are very few records - hopefully more info will come to light about how it operated & what manufacturers were involved. Matsumoto Gakki is credited on literature from distributor Kyowa Shokai for their Fresher & Camel brands, but much of what's known is word-of-mouth from people who worked in the industry at the time. The most comprehensive explanation was posted on one of the FB vintage MIJ groups a little while ago: Apologies for assuming anyone (other than me!) might be interested in this!

It's a generic budget-end 70s P copy - I suppose the name's uncommon & that might constitute 'rare'. It's thought that a lot of these identikit instruments came from an organisation called Matsumoto Gakki Seizou Kumiai, or the Matsumoto Manufacturers Association. This was a collaborative group of manufacturers supplying various components - necks, bodies, hardware, electronics - through an order-book system, to be assembled & branded up to order.

£1415.84 now, apparently! https://www.inflationtool.com/british-pound/1977-to-present-value?amount=220&year2=2024&frequency=yearly

Got to be deliberate, Shirley? I still have fond memories of the 'Squizz' from a few years back. That was almost understandable.

It's what happens when someone goes "If only Wishbass made a headless..."

Kasuga? If so, one of the best 70s/80s Japanese manufacturers by a long, long way. On topic, I used to make a few quid buying old guitars & basses for pennies, tidying them up & selling them on. In 2003 or thereabouts, I picked this up for £60, thinking I'd hose it down & maybe flip it for £150 or so. Tuned it up & it was the best-playing bass I'd ever had in my hands, bar none. Still is. It's had a few upgrades & a bit of bling over the years but still probably only owes me £120 or so, all in. It's the one I'd save in a fire - you can stuff your four-figure basses.

J'arrive! Does look a lot like the 'Guyatone' (dunno what it is really, it's not an EB4 though), and the 'Teisco' isn't a Teisco - Reverb/Ebay rule no. 1 - every weird-looking 60s/70s guitar or bass is a Teisco, regardless of what the headstock may say. This rule has no exceptions. Teisco did make basses that looked a lot like this, though - the EB18, 3rd row: Although you can just about see this has edge block position markers (which seem to be a Teisco thing) rather than dots. Currently flicking through Frank Meyers' 60s MIJ Bible (an actual book, so frustratingly, no useable search/image search function) and it actually looks like these may be eariy Fujigen Gakki. Will come back with more boring stuff if I find any!

I agree. I'd have the lower horn corner coming to a point to mirror the top, dunno why Roger R didn't do that. And he's not telling now.

Objection! It doesn't, and it's not. It's an ugly, throwaway afterthought slapped on to cover up some holes. Even John Hall thought it was so rubbish he didn't bother trademarking it, unlike every other aspect of the 4001/4003 design! Compare & contrast the original 1957 Roger Rossmeisl design, perhaps a bit oversized by modern standards, but it flows with & is sympathetic to the shape of the body. It was clearly designed at the same time on the same drawing board, by the same person. By the time the 'deluxe' 2-pickup 4001 was launched, Rossmeisl had cleared off to Fender, so had no part in the redesign. F.C. Hall presumably got the tea boy to do it!

Track off the first Level 42 album? Probably a bass player involved there.

That would've been the post-Lydon Rock 'N Roll Swindle era stuff, and McLaren's doing. Not 100% about it but I think there was a court case between the band members & McLaren over the ownership of the name, probably when they reformed back in the 90s. Someone who's more of a fan will know better than I do!

They're actually going out billed as 'Sex Pistols (Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock) featuring Frank Carter' rather than just 'Sex Pistols', probably in case Jonners had a hissy fit about it. Still using the logo, though.