Bassassin

Funny what people will do to a bass to "improve" it. Maybe he made a simple schoolboy error and got his treatments for body & fretboard arse-about-face! Decent components I suppose. But having owned a couple of 90s MIJ SRs, the originals would have been top quality - including the original Gotoh tuners.

Hats. Used to be all about the hats.

Moridaira serial sticker. You'll find the same serials on Morris, HS Anderson & MIJ Hohners, all of which came from Moridaira. Not sure how the serials work, but I'm inclined to think they're sequential rather than date-coded. Did you buy it new? It looks late 70s/early 80s to me. Anyway yeah - your bass came from the same factory as Prince's MadCat Tele copy. Jon.

This has been doing the rounds for long enough for Meg to have learned to play like Peart.

This trend for making everything (not just basses) look like a filthy, ruined pice of cheap crap that's been dragged out the wreckage of a burned-out slum - is that a hipster thing?

Compared to many of [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?_odkw=&rmvSB=true&_ssn=rockinbilly&item=222099989762&clk_rvr_id=1079609985183&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xbass.TRS0&_nkw=bass&_sacat=0"]the same seller's other designs[/url], that one's both tasteful and restrained.

Same guy does a triple J too, and also sells bodies separately without control dillings: [url="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/guitar-alliance?_trksid=p2047675.l2563"]http://stores.ebay.c...=p2047675.l2563[/url] I'm disturbingly tempted by the idea of building a Triple P with a maple/pearl blocks J neck. Possibly with inverted Tele-style headstock... Better not, eh?

Fender Japan came about because CBS-era US Fenders couldn't compete with the high-end, replica-standard copies coming out of Japan in the late 70s and early 80s. Fender Japan was set up as a collaboration with Kanda Shokai, owner of the Greco brand - and anecdotally the very first JV Squiers began their manufacture as high-end Greco copies. Never owned a JV but I've had SQ and A-serial Squier Precisions. The SQ was superb and one of the few basses I've had second thoughts about selling. The A-serial was very good but a bit later ('87 or so) and slightly more obviously a budget instrument, in terms of finish and hardware. I also have an E-serial Strat which is a lovely guitar. I do think there's a massive premium attached to the JV serials these days which is more reflective of the mythology that's grown up around these instruments than anything else. Japanese manufacturing is nothing if not consistent and later serial Squiers (in my view!) offer better value - as do the plethora of 80s replica-strandard copies from the likes of Tokai, Fernandes, ESP, Greco etc. I recently acquired a Daion P copy from around 1980, which is the nicest Precision I've played since my old SQ. Jon.

If you look, the headstock's been modified from a 4 inline, so it could've been a Squier. Hope it wasn't a JV...

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1471111696' post='3110643'] 'Kawai Teisco Satellite',60s, through neck. Looks interesting, though not for me. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BASS-GUITAR-/232047205716?hash=item3607175d54:g:bRYAAOSwMtxXrsj8"]http://www.ebay.co.u...RYAAOSwMtxXrsj8[/url] [/quote] Hilariously inept description. It's Korean, from about 1980. As you'd assume from looking at it! These are OK - I had one, it had a treetrunk neck, was was incredibly heavy and the timber under the brown lacquer was a bunch of random knotty offcuts. Quite playable but built to survive the nuclear apocalypse we all expected in the 80s. If it stays around £70, that's a decent price. J.

Sorry. I should definitely get out more...

Pretty wood on the FB, alright. Not familiar with the brand but it's a US ad, so that's not unusual. Also can't put a builder to the bass - quite an interesting one with a bunch of uncommon & contradictory features. Seller claims it's Fujigen, I'm pretty sure it's not - although the 3-part neck was used by FGN. The body has me a bit concerned that it's a big old slab of ply - literally a slab as it has no discernable contours. Pics are a bit coy about showing what's under the ashtrays - but what you can just about see under the pickup cover looks like a little chrome Tele-type single coil, not uncommon on low-end 70s MIJ. The bridge looks brand-new and is probably a replacement for what I expect to have been a rusty 2-saddle BBOT. The tuners are similarly low-end. That neck is nice though, I like the 3-part build and it's a very attractive piece of rosewood - also pretty uncommon in an era when most Fender copies had maple boards. There are several accounts of early 70s MIJ production being shared between different manufacturers, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the neck on this came from a builder of a somewhat higher standard than the body & hardware. J.

[quote name='tom skool' timestamp='1470603823' post='3107086'] On trickier sections I work out what syllables land on particular notes. For example you might need to hit an f as you sing the 'lo' part of the word 'hello'. If that makes sense [/quote] This. You need to look a the vocal part from a rhythmic perspective and work out where syllables, pitch changes, pauses etc fit in over & around the notes you're playing. When I first started trying to sing & play, I found it easier when I didn't look at what my hands were doing. Dunno why! Jon.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1470464762' post='3106131'] I'd love to see a decapitated Fender (P [i]or[/i] J) with Steinberger bridge done by someone who cares. [Ducks behind flameproof sofa] [/quote] Turns out Cort were reading this thread for inspiration, then jumped into their time machine and popped back to 1985 to create this: [url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Random/CortHeadlessP_zpsgrgxb6eb.jpg.html"][/url] Including genuine Steinberger-licensed bridge! But yes, looks are very important. Fortunately I like basses in general so can find something to love in most styles, colours and designs. Not seen too many singlecuts that I like, but I think that's down to trend-led aesthetics rather than the underlying concept. There is no intrinsic need for a singlecut to look like the misbegotten offspring of Snoopy and a sperm whale. But most of them somehow do. Jon.

They seem to know it's being discussed on BC... [quote]... And it is located on low-pitch site...[/quote]

Just had a quick Google of Tom Clement basses & my god, he's made some horrors. Now I'm sure as musical instruments they're impeccable, but he appears to have made an art-form of that wonky, cock-eyed, slightly queasy wrongness that usually typifies the home-made bass. Taste is a curious and unquantifiable thing, innit? Jon.

[quote name='KK Jale' timestamp='1469880310' post='3101712'] I know!! The interesting thing about this bass is I don't think it's a Teisco or a Guyatone or even Japanese at all. [/quote] Agree with this - it's not MIJ. I don't know a whole lot about early American instruments, but this could just as easily be 60s Italian or Cold War-era Eastern European. That maple fretboard's curious. You don't see that on many early basses. Jon.

Don't think there was ever a Westone like that. I'm with the Precision-meets-bandsaw theory.

[quote name='razze06' timestamp='1469712386' post='3100554'] You're not wearing road leathers underneath that - you should! [/quote] My character prefers military fatigues under a combination of BoS & legendary Synth armour. None of your trashy Raider rubbish for the formidable Diarrhetica Buttocks!

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1469704194' post='3100436'] It's a bit more difficult when you're going for a post-apocalyptic style vibe [/quote] This sort of thing?

It's a pretty colour. For a gruter.

[quote name='lee650' timestamp='1469444786' post='3098287'] Very informative! Thanks again J [/quote] I need to get out more...

[quote name='lee650' timestamp='1469432319' post='3098118'] Pedant away J It's all good!!!! Here's a little thing that confirms your right! [url="http://www.music-trade.co.jp/tokaihistory.html"]http://www.music-tra...kaihistory.html[/url] It does mention lawsuit era guitars meaning all of the Japanese copies at the time. Whether or not fender sued these companies is Moot as fender employed them all at different stages to make Japanese fenders. thanks for the info J [/quote] With Fender Japan instruments the rule of thumb is the "Made In Japan" refers to instruments built by Fujigen (basically from JVs right up to the mid 90s) and subsequent "Crafted In Japan" were products of Dyna Gakki & Tokai Gakki. The "lawsuit era" refers to the period from about 1971, when Japanese manufacturers began flooding the market with Fender, Gibson (and the occasional Rick) copies, up until June 1977, when Gibson brand owner Norlin made a proposal of intended legal action against Elger Hoshino, the US branch of Ibanez brand owner Hoshino Gakki, over the use of their copyrighted "open book" headstock profile on Ibanez Gibson copies. No legal action ever took place because Hoshino had already changed their heastock profile to a non-infringing shape the previous year. Fender never threatened legal action against anyone in the 70s and basically dealt with the MIJ copy threat by setting up Fender Japan, in co-operation with Greco brand owner Kanda Shokai.