Bassassin

So - someone, somewhere (at the time of posting) is willing to pay at least £55 for a cardoard box with a stick poking out of it? ....... ....... ....... I have cardboard boxes! I have sticks! *runs off to start business*

Not looked in a while but I think when they come up on BC, they often go for a fair bit less than the start on this. Looks in nice order though.

[quote name='Mastodon2' timestamp='1503247120' post='3356668'] The split of opinion on this sort of thing always amuses me - "It's too complicated, he's overplaying" vs the "It's too simple, he should spice it up a bit". [/quote] That's not really the split in this thread though. While this sort of thing's neither what I play, or listen to - as a piece of music it's pleasant,, the band are great musicians & there's some lovely playing going on all round. I just don't understand why the guitarist's playing a bass!

Defret - doubt a maple lined fretless neck would have such pale inlays, also the side dots are mid-position, not aligned wth the lines. Looks like a very tidy job though.

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1503178771' post='3356308'] Seriously wondering why on earth he bothered playing that on a bass. Big Box Jazzer material if I ever heard it. [/quote] Sort of agree. Unremarkable (ie stuff I could play!) guitar solos, for some reason played on a bass.

[quote name='KK Jale' timestamp='1503067149' post='3355490'] I'm going to bid 1976 (for production basses, at least) with this Ibanez... [url="http://imgur.com/YSkLhOs"][/url] [/quote] Was going to post this. These are associated with Free/Faces geezer Tetsu Yamauchi - I've read (unconfirmed) that he was involved in its development & it's often regarded as an unofficial signature model by MIJ geeks. The earliest known appearance of this bass (with pearl blocks) is a [url="http://s93105080.onlinehome.us/Ibanez-Catalogs/catalog/1974-2/09.jpg"]1974 catalogue[/url].

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1503031637' post='3355144'] "it's rubbish" IS a critique of it's condition, what else could it be, sheesh now you tell me what I mean? the dude asked for opinions, I gave mine. You gave yours. Why attack me? [/quote] I'm not "attacking you", am I? You expressed an opinion about the bass 100% bleedin' obviously based on the assumption that it was a cheap, badly-made and unplayable piece of rubbish. Me & six other people who replied have owned or had experience of these instruments and actually know otherwise. I'm also enough of a sad geek that I know a bit of stuff about the manufacturer and the instrument range. Even if you were in some incoherently cryptic way attempting to discuss the condition of the bass (which you clearly weren't), your comments would make no sense - the bass itself is a bit beat-up but appears to be fine, apart from needing a new nut, a set of strings and (maybe) a £10 set of tuners.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1502983048' post='3354863'] I wasn't insulting the brand, moreso the number of things wrong with that particlular one, like the tuners and all the dings and the nut. [/quote] With all necessary respect, this is what you said: [quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1502943376' post='3354517'] it's rubbish and will greatly hinder your playing. Go buy an SX or Squier for less than $200 Euros DO NOT THROW MONEY AT THAT POS [/quote] That is not a critique of the condition of the instrument. There's currently a l/h Fenix Jazz on Ebay for £259, and another on one of the FB gear groups (can't remember which) for £250, so I may have underestimated a tad.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1502943376' post='3354517'] thank him for the gift, then throw it in the bin it's rubbish and will greatly hinder your playing. Go buy an SX or Squier for less than $200 Euros DO NOT THROW MONEY AT THAT POS [/quote] Ignore Mr Bazztard - he seems to like to dismiss/insult instruments he knows little or nothing about. Young-Chang is an interesting manufacturer and the history of Fenix instruments is similarly interesting. In the late 80s, Fender moved production of Squier guitars & basses to Korea - Young-Chang was one of the factories contracted to build them. Young-Chang Squiers were nice quality instruments (I once had a very nice Y-C Bullet), but simultaneously Young-Chang began retailing many of the same instruments (with a few cosmetic & hardware changes/upgrades) branded as Fenix, for lower RRPs. They were quite flagrant in doing this - even referencing Squier in their marketing materials - and eventually lost the Squier business and were later subject to legal action from Fender over the use of the Fenix, brand, which was considered to be intended to be similar to Fender. These days these instruments are becoming quite rare and borderline collectable, likely due to the "lawsuit" cachet. Not worth a huge amount (up to a couple of hundred quid or so for a vgc example) but interesting & good quality. For more info about this bass, an ID for it, and advice over what to do with it, have a chat with these nice people: [url="https://www.facebook.com/groups/128212226340/"]FB Fenix Owners Group[/url] Fwiw I have a Fenix ST-20 Strat copy - it's a lovely, well-made & incredibly playable guitar. I also have an 80s MIJ E-serial Squier Strat. The Fenix is better.

[quote name='PawelG' timestamp='1502701200' post='3352898'] And the neck looks mint too. Odd. [/quote] So it does - never noticed! Make that "horrid bashed-up half-arsed fakey relic job", then

Lovely finish, IMO completely ruined by horrid bashed-up fakey relic job. So unnecessary.

Hipster bait.

Couple of thoughts. I'm with the "keep the finish" lot, and having patched up a few flaky/cracking finishes, would suggest flowing superglue into any unstable-looking bits. When it's hardened it can be flatted & polished so it blends with the lacquer - it might also make the cracking look less obvious. Wondering about the lacquer preventing the bridge from sitting level - surely screwing it into place will compress the uneven finish until it's flush, won't it? If I were to remove this finish I'd try a heat gun first - very carefully so as not to scorch the wood. I'd expect the finish to soften and peel away quite easily. But I'd leave it. Looks ace.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1502309044' post='3350634'] I wonder if he'll tell the story about how he tried to smash up a Status at a Pink Floyd concert [/quote] He did when I saw him at the Fringe 9 or 10 years ago, so it's quite probable. Cheaper than last time ( ) so I might go along...

[quote name='BassTool' timestamp='1502277974' post='3350391'] Yes that's certainly one of the options, the early Blazers could give Precisions a run for their money according to some a P body would go well, meant to say that the neck is really nice too, and in very good condition! [/quote] Quite right about Blazers & early 80s Ibanez in general - this bass would've been made by the Fujigen factory at the same time they were making JV Squiers. I have a Mk1 Blazer & RS924 Roadster from this era - ridiculously good basses. Would love to see this rebuilt with something like an MIJ Aerodyne body - love the look of a bound P body... [url="https://postimg.org/image/y5vaz1u0p/"][/url]

Might make for an interesting hybrid/mashup to build it up with a nice Precision body - not 100% sure but I think the neck should fit a P pocket. Shame about the original body - lovely finish, don't remember seeing that on a Blazer before.

Cheap, I hope, what with the horrific 80s disaster dive-bomb trem & the Ronseal refin...

I've seen people using these things for years - but exclusively for string-muting whilst doing tippy-tappy two-handed fretboard stunt bass gymnastics. Which I can't do and have no particular interest in learning to do. The idea of needing one to play cleanly using conventional fingerstyle or plectrum techniques seems odd, and from the perspective of my own hamsifted technique, unnecessary.

Hmm. Why would you "commission a luthier" to bolt together a bunch of cheap-looking bits to create something indistiguishable from a £50 Crack Converters special?

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1501862509' post='3347894'] A 'Luxor' jazz copy, looks very Matsumoku . Slightly optimistic BIN I feel. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1972-Luxor-Jazz-Bass-Lawsuit-MIJ-Matsumoku-/322595387244?hash=item4b1c2ef76c:g:s-sAAOSwxxdZa2cV"]http://www.ebay.co.u...-sAAOSwxxdZa2cV[/url] [/quote] Quite nice, 100% a Mat build. Not 1972, looks like '75 or later to me - most 70s Mat serials were random numbers. Bit dear considering it's pretty beat-up and has non-original parts. I think Luxor's a German importer brand, so it's travelled a bit.

[quote name='Hellzero' timestamp='1501633748' post='3346152'] Have you ever played one ? This is real crap, sorry but these Japanese plywood basses are not good instruments at all, just like the Morris and other atrocities made in the seventies. It's not because it's old that it's good. I'm almost 52 and started on these basses that were awful but affordable when you are a student. Thanks to them, I now have a powerful left hand (and fingers) and can play double bass easily. So for that point I should say they were good, but the action was so high, the pickups so bad and noisy and the weight so heavy that telling these basses are good is proving that you never played one. When I bought my first real bass something like 5 years later, a second hand 1972 Fender P-Bass, I asked myself how could I have been able to play such an "instrument"... [/quote] Well. I guess that's me told, and firmly put in my place, then. Tempting as it is to respond with my usual elephantine sarcasm. I should probably be a little more constructive and explanatory. So yes, I have owned and played well over a hundred instruments from this era, starting with my first bass, which was a Grant-branded shortscale Jazz-ish copy. I had this brand-new in 1978, when I was sixteen. It cost £59, which was actually more than I could afford back then. It wasn't good - properly low-end and somewhat absent-mindedly put together. The thing is, I didn't even know how to tune the thing, never mind adjust the intonation & the truss rod, shim the neck etc. So I thought it was garbage, it held me back and eventually I bought another low-end MIJ bass off a mate. This was quite a lot older and had presumably been set up at some point, and this was what I learned on, and did my first few years of gigs with. Subsequently I have owned a really stupid amount of basses & guitars, predominantly midrange 70s MIJ copies. For a while a few years back I was making something of a living buying these instruments, restoring/fettling them and reselling, and as a consequence I have a somewhat trainspotter-ish level of interest & knowledge relating to these things. So I know exactly what this bass is, which factory made it and when, to within a year or so. Unless it's damaged or has excessive playwear, the neck will be well-made with good quality fretwork and it should set-up to be playable without any fret levelling. If you look, you'll notice it's a 3-part quarter-sawn construction which is typical of midrange MIJ of this era, and was a construction technique adopted to minimise the likelihood of neck twisting. The real MOP inlays to the 17th fret are an indicator that the bass is pre 1973. The pickups are very decent single-coil Maxons (actually pretty sought-after by MIJ geeks) which despite the appearance do give a good impression of "proper" J pups. At the time this bass was made, there were no accurate copies of J or P pickups which is why these turn up, hidden under the chrome ashtrays of so many early MIJ Fender copies. These will have codes on the back which give an accurate age for the bass, although I'd say '71 or '72. The body is probably not ply - on instruments of this type 99% of times they're veneered butcher-block - it's likely a mahogany core with birch veneers & probably a 2-layer pancake construction. The only real cost-cutting here is the admittedly nasty 2-saddle bridge, which, like the pickups, is intended to be hidden under the ashtrays. In fairness, in this condition (and if I was still fixing these up to sell) I wouldn't want to pay more than £50 for it - whatever way you look at it, it's a 45 year-old resto project and there's always a risk associated. However if the neck's intact and the pickups are working, then it probably would take very little to make a decent and useable instrument out of this.

[quote name='Hellzero' timestamp='1501539988' post='3345446'] It's an old Maya or crap like this, better avoid this. [/quote] It's an early 70s Moridaira, probably sold unbranded. Like most early MIJ stuff, it's a fairly inaccurate copy, but a long way from "crap".

Affirmas are like rocking-horse poo, they were never a mass- produced model as far as I know. I missed one that went for about 90 quid, ages ago.