Bassassin

Thread in need of some vintage MIJ StackKnobbery. 1984 Aria RSB Deluxe II. Somewhat modded 1980 CSL Jazz. Knobs are not original but are they stacked? Yes, yes they are. And because not everything has to be from the Olden Days, a Sire V7 fretless that's only like, 5 years old.

That's my old T34! Wish I still had it... But never mind - instead I have this, and I'm inclined to think, in the context of this thread, it means I WIN! The pic's a good representation of the (awesome) colour but doesn't do justice to the sparkliness. It'll be getting an update shortly as the pickguard's started delaminating, and needs replacing. I was never super happy with the shape & want to remodel it to reflect the design of the gold pickguard on the original 50s Rick 4000 bass. And it just so happens you can get gold glitter pickguard material. - well, who knew? In other sparkly news, to keep the Pink Thing company I have this, from the Dark Side:

Definitely not a common bass in the UK, I've only ever seen a couple of pics before. You may already know, but there's a Westbury owners FB group. They'd probably be very interested in seeing it. I've got a Track 2 bass & a Standard guitar (aka The Westbury Synchro Pair) - both excellent instruments which sadly don't get the attention they deserve these days.

If I remember right, T40 necks are a 2-piece construction laminated right down the middle, so that's where this split is. If it's limited to the heel end, the neck pocket should help keep it stable, but I think I'd be taking it off, trying to wick some superglue in & clamping it up for a bit. Interesting bass though, clearly put together by a T40 aficionado & with a very tempting start price. Kinda relieved it's collection only & a long way away!

OK, it's a P/J but you can't argue with £117. https://www.musicstore.com/en_GB/GBP/J-D-E-Bass-PBJ-Candy-Apple-Red/art-BAS0011774-000

Once I got over the shock of $4400 for a Precision copy with an ugly headstock, I recovered enough to appreciate that that's an incredible looking fretboard. Still wouldn't pay that much for it, particularly with a 44.45mm nut, but that's stunning! Beat me to it!

Here's one I made earlier: Not sure why the preview's showing a sparkly pink Retrovibe - if that's become headless since last time I picked it up, I'll be upset!

Good to see another one. Is it a bolt-neck with a serial number on the plate? Might at least be dateable (or debatable, @tauzero! ) from that.

This seems very restrained for The Maestro - just a £20 car boot Strat copy with the headstock hacked & Ronsealed & the tuners brutally wonked. Surprised he found so little to 'improve'!

You never see these. One of the rare MIJ Hondos too - most were Korean. Good price for a rare bass too. If it was a P/J or J/J I'd be tempted (although neither actually existed!) but I have too many single P basses I barely play as it is. So one of you lot will have to do the right thing!

Obvious variation on the HB thing. Like the fact they've binned the nasty Chickenbacker hardware & electronics, don't like the fact they kept the nasty throwaway scratchplate 'design'. In other news, if you're in the Phillipines, you can get one of these: https://ddmusic.ph/product/dd-resurrecctor-bass-guitar-4s-salmon-pink/ For about £160, or a bit cheaper in white with a maple fretboard, and a bit dearer in green. Wonder how easy it is to import a bass from Manila? Or bring one back from a holiday trip...

I work for a charity & only found out last week we get the free pro account. Had a quick mess around & it looks very intuitive & comprehensive. I have a poster design to do for next week so will be giving it a proper tryout tomorrow. AFAIK Canva's related to the free photo/video site pexels.com - I've been using their endless repository of images & video clips for years. Easy to lose hours there!

Saw prog collective Big Big Train at Edinburgh Queen's Hall last night. Uplifting & thoroughly lovely music from an international bunch of absurdly talented multi-instrumentalist polymaths. Came away feeling both inspired & musically inadequate!

Excellent! I had no luck finding decent pics of Hondo OEM DiMarzios, but this is great to see & confirms what I thought/hoped. And now you know those covers come off easily - think how much more awesome it'd look with cream ones!

Another entry in the ever-growing sub-category of basses which is: Home Made Basses That Should Be Used To Beat Some Aesthetic Sensibility Into Their Creators.

Whatever it is, it let someone steal that for £112!

Makes sense in a US-made bass but doesn't follow for the Far East. OEM DiMarzios were a big deal in Korean-made Hondos & numerous MIJ brands around 1980-ish - I have a Westbury Track 2 & Westbury Standard guitar both with their original DiMarzio pickups, and neither of which have any other DiMarzio electronic components. A tenner says original pots in a Hondo Curlee would be the Korean-made Jung-Poong (JP logo) units that pretty much every MIK guitar has. Anyway - done a bit of digging, & the fact the Hondo Curlee guitars had DiMarzios makes me 99.9% sure the bass does too:

The wiring & wax potting on that don't say 'cheap Korean pickup' to me. It's not a Model P, & I don't know enough about old DiMarzios to know if this is theirs, but I'm leaning that way. If there's a signal, I think I'd clean 'em up & see what they sound like. Can't help thinking this thread would get more attention in the 'Bass Guitars' folder rather than down'ere in Repairs & Tech. Someone probably knows what these are.

That's gorgeous. never heard of Ms DeTiger before but she has superb taste in basses. I'm only glad her taste doesn't extend to maple/blocks (blue sparkly blocks for preference) or I would be placing an order right now. As it is I'll cross my fingers for a cheapo Squier version in a year or two.

These are cool - I'd've paid £90 for it, no bother. That'll be a great project so do start a thread for it! Not sure that's a DiMarzio - a lot of 1980-ish Hondos had them as standard, as did US Curlees - but yours doesn't look like it has hex poles like a Model P. It might be marked/stickered on the back, & a DiMarzio will have green/red/white/black wiring. Usually I'd say imperial size hex poles are the giveaway, but not this time... Definitely should have a series/parallel microswitch though. And cream covers. Not sure that's the original bridge, Curlees were from the everything more brassy than everything else era, & that one looks a bit vintage. There are, or have been a few Curlee (Hondo & US) owners on BC, so hopefully some more informed contributions than mine will be forthcoming!

Not a model I'm familiar with, quick Google shows a pointyhead PJ, late 80s/90s, probably Korean but definitely not MIJ (so won't be on any Matsumoku site!), looks budget/midrange. Fortunately post-Mats budget/midrange Arias tend to be pretty decent. MIght be more info through the Aria guitars FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/23692974725

Definitely wouldn't have got that! Never seen one of these before, I'll hazard a guess it's Italian, though. Really like the body shape/pickguard & that laminated look to the body edges. The rest, not so much!

There's something 'almost but not quite' about the styling - looks like with a couple of tweaks of proportion it would be striking rather than lumpen. The rudimentary hardware & janky retro-style pickups look horrible & the Danelectro knockoff headstock doesn't work. I quite like the scratchplate design but don't get why there's a huge bit of it where the controls aren't. And where they are, they just look like they've been sort of abandoned there. Maybe I just don't understand it - but hey - at least it's not yet another Precision, right?