Bassassin

I've shimmed dozens of necks on guitars and basses and never noticed the slightest difference in tone, sustain, resonance etc from any of them. Material-wise, whatever's to hand, don't agonise over it! Thin cardboard will actually compress a little so if the idea of a micrometric gap under the heel is one that sends you into cold sweats, then using this might help you cope... Currently I favour thin, stiff plastic card - the sort used as dividers in document binders. I like this because you can stack it in stepped layers to achieve the height/angle you need.

I think it's probably Cardington by Lifesigns - beautifully executed, uplifting, accessible & melodic prog. Lovely stuff.

Ah, it's one of those olde-worlde neck-through "old style" basses, not an up-to-the minute Precision or anything! Might need a jack socket, as well as tuning...

I don't know the Pulsers specifically, but it might be stamped into the back of the headstock. That's where they are on many 80s BBs. Looks like this bass has had a hard life, certainly compared to Beedster's example. Not uncommon for surviving MIJ copies - unfortunately they weren't regarded as quality instruments at the time so were often treated as disposable. That said, I've owned many that came to me in a far worse state so it's likely with a bit of tlc it will be a great bass. Just make sure you pay fixer-upper money for it!

The closed-back tuners with cast buttons used on loads of MIJ basses were made by Gotoh - occasionally a NOS boxed set comes up on Ebay. They came in at least 2 different sizes, I had an Antoria 2345B EB copy and mine were the smaller size, so I assume yours will be the same. There are quite a few around because they were so common on 70s & 80s basses - I'd try the various MIJ-related FB groups, starting with The Vintage Japanese Guitar Fanclub - I'd be very surprised if someone there didn't have a spare or two in their parts box.

I've no idea how that could've happened!

Bit of a fan early on, liked the first album & absolutely loved Purple. Saw them on that tour ('95?) and thought they were the best live band I'd ever seen. On later, sober reflection, I concluded that while they'd been a powerful & polished band who represented their recorded work admirably, my excessive enthusiasm might well have been linked to a sneaky tab of MDMA which had somehow found its way into my system. Well - it was 1995.

Gold would work but might verge worryingly towards tasteful, certainly compared to its present amusing vulgarity. Amusing to me, that is. Cream would just be bland. Tried it with cream MOTO before & didn't really like it.

Not a massive fan of brown but oddly, I'm quite happy to put up with this:

Saw this on a local gear group. Very pretty & expensive-looking, but the only thing that made me go "hmmm" is the rather cheap-looking headstock scarf joint: Interesting that Chinese "tributes" exist... Edit - looks like someone put the tuners on in the dark.

Shame no-one here picked this up. Looks like it's turned up here: https://elitevintageguitars.com/category/peavey-t-40-bass/ And currently advertised on a local FB gear group for about £900 more than the Gumtree price!

Hohner Arbor fretless with same bridge & square heel: You see these on a few early 80s MIKs, and oddly, on Yamaki-built MIJ Washburns. Odd things went on between Japanese & Korean factories in the 80s.

It's an early 80s Hohner, made by Cort in Korea. Up to about '81 or '82 Hohners were Japanese, made by Moridaira, but manufacture of these types of instrument moved to Korea in the late 70s/early 80s due to rising production costs in Japan, and the move by the Japanese guitar industry towards higher-end original designs. This bass probably pre-dates the mid 80s Hohner Professional range by a couple of years. Always liked the bog-seat saddles & abalone inlays on the MIK Hohners.

Think I've seen guitars like this before, but not a bass. I quite like weird but this wouldn't get on my list.

Translation doesn't mention material, just refers to body & neck being "one piece". I assumed it was timber based on the fancy top but with the rest painted black it could well be moulded composite - which obviously would make it less prone to distorting. It does have that wonky, hand-carved look to it though - you'd think a manufactured instrument might look a little less like something a dog deposited outside your gate.

Interesting and well-executed, if not particularly aesthetically pleasing, imo. If that's really 30+ years old though, it's hard to imagine that string tension won't have played havoc with neck/body alignment & likely led to all manner of warping or twisting.

Saw Norwegian black metallists Enslaved the other night, supporting Opeth - their bassist/frontman was playing an EB-3! Any other examples of incongruous basses in extreme metal contexts?

Don't think so - the bridge position looks correct for 34".

Noted.

Still there? Amazing if so. If this turns out to be an E or A serial (IMO looks like it could be either) then it'll be an awesome bass for £100. Or if you're an unprincipled gyppo, a potential £250-ish profit.

Like them both a lot. An awful lot. Only problems for me are i) the Fender sticker on the end and ii) the association with that smug git and his dismal band. Oh, and how much?

There was a BC member who gigged with one of these, posted the pics to prove it. Can't quite remember who, was a few years back. Anyway:

On the other hand Glen Matlock was a pretty damn good player. And Steve Jones (who played bass on most of NMTB) was absolutely rock-solid. Sid was never a musician and was never meant to be. When I heard that album, aged 15, I'd never heard anything like it. I may never have thought about playing music myself if it hadn't been for the DIY ethos of the bands that came out of Punk. Pretty groundbreaking to me & millions of other kids who suddenly realised they could be in bands too.

Very much depends what you mean by "greatest". If you grew up with this stuff (as I did) you know the impact they had on the music scene at the time - many of the other bands in the list would never have existed/had careers without the influence of the Pistols! They weren't virtuosos but anyone with a pair of ears knows the "couldn't play their instruments" line was, to coin a phrase, bollocks. And (speaking as an unrepentant prog rocker) great rock music isn't about technical ability!

Very nice - resisted the temptation to grab this one myself! I had a fretless BB400S, aside from the obvious it's hard to see what the difference between the 300 & 400 actually is. Mine had a chunkier bridge, I think. Can't offer anything factual about the serial (mine had a 4-letter prefix & 3 numbers) but I think all the different formats exist because Yamaha contracted several different factories to make the same models. That being the case, it's possible (probable, depending on the factory) your serial might use a standard format. Many 80s MIJ numbers use the first or second digits to indicate year of manufacture - meaning yours could either be '81 or '84. Pretty sure BB300s would have been around in both years.