Bassassin

Wouldn't want one, but as daft metal basses go, that's pretty cool. Jon.

I remember seeing these in my LMS back in the 90s. Like the cutout but the rest of it's a bit of a moose. Jon.

More worrying when your local takeaway's menu actually advertises "Donor Kebab". Jon.

Catalogue piccys & specs from 1986. I want a natural one! J.

I do like that. I had an Aria AMB50 electro-acoustic which was really quite nice, if rather quiet when played acoustically. Modern Arias for some reason aren't very highly regarded, not sure why, I've been very pleasantly surprised by the ones I've owned or played. Jon.

Oooh - MC2924? First generation of what's now the Soundgear body shape, I think. Eric's right - not very many of these around, looks gorgeous. Jon.

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1456840076' post='2992742'] Both Fender and Gibson tried to stop copies being made, especially in the far East, but eventually realised the futility of doing so. China is finally starting to tighten its copyright laws, but too late for a lot of manufacturers. Rickenbacker are still attacking windmills in true Don Quixote style [/quote] Fender did no such thing, they left it far too late, hence Fender Japan, as explained. Gibson on the other hand challenged the use of the "open-book" headstock design (that so-called "lawsuit" against Elger Hoshino/Ibanez, that never actually happened) and do retain that as a trademark. They could've done the same with the LP body shape at the time, it's not clear why they didn't. Bit more complicated with Rickenbacker, the modern company Rickenbacker International Corp (RIC) didn't actually exist during the 70s copy era and the original company never challenged Far-East copiers. Rickenbacker trade dress has only comparitively recently been registered (15 or 16 years ago) and at that time there weren't significant amounts of new Fakers being made. They are a bit more fashionable these days and RIC's behaviour is actually legally necessary if they're going to fight off the Chickenbacker hordes! Shame JH is publically such a git about it all. J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1456838655' post='2992714'] Has anyone canvassed John Hall's opinion on all this? [/quote] Actually very relevant, BC's no Ricks policy exists [i]entirely[/i] because Hall & his not-so-merry men do their damnedest to protect RIC's trade dress. Even in territories where they have no enforceable legal ability to do so. Not that I'm one to quibble over semantics (he lied) but one man's "homage" is another man's "counterfeit", particularly where profiteering from legally held trademarks is concerned. J.

No. An expensive Fender copy doesn't stop being a copy because it's a different colour. To be a bit pedantic, the basic identifiable shapes of, say a Fender Precision bass - the body profile, scratchplate shape, headstock profile, etc - are "trade dress", and originally were exclusive trademarks of Fender, simply because Fender manufactured this design before anyone else did. In order to retain ownership of these trademarks, under US law, Fender [i]should[/i] have pursued & prevented every violation, instead of ignoring all the 70s copies and hoping they'd go away. Again, because of US trademark law, through being lax Fender lost exclusivity of their own designs, meaning now anyone from the Chinese factories turning out 100,000 P copies a day, to the likes of Maruszczyk, Limelight, Bravewood etc can all churn out knockoffs with impunity. Regarding the "superiority" of high-priced fakes, It might help to remember that Fender introduced the Squier range in the early 80s precisely because they wanted to compete with the replica-level MIJ instruments coming from Greco, Tokai, Fernandes etc, which were broadly regarded as far higher quality than the US-made official instruments. Fender Japan was a deal done between Fender US and Kanda Shokai, owner of the Greco brand - and those first JV-serial Squiers that everyone gets all hot & bothered about anecdotally started their production as Grecos. J.

Ibanez SR all the way. Light as a feather, full-scale but skinny neck ideal for growing hands, properly well made with decent hardware, electronics & pups - easily good enough that there's no need to upgrade if he really gets into it. And they look cool. Pretty cheap used, you can pick up a nearly new SR300 for a little over a ton, or an older higher-range model for about the same. I recently got a rough but perfectly playable SR500 for £87. Jon.

Definitely Chushin as far as I can tell. The hardware is Cushin's own in-house kit. This is based on a discussion on the Daion FB group, which I joined to try & find out about my lovely Daion P copy. A guy who is a bit of an obsessive researcher has basically drawn a lot of (imo) quite far-fetched conclusions about the origin of some instruments based almost entirely upon serial numbers, rather than (to me) more clear differentiations, like construction & hardware. I could give lots of examples but my question derives from two identical guitars with identical build & hardware, one branded Azumi & one branded Onyx. According to this guy, the Onyx is indisputably a Yamaki build because it has a stamped serial number, while the Azumi is probably Chushin, because Chushin used serial stickers which fall off. Clearly to my eyes the two instruments are identical and I have no reason to think they came from different factories - particularly since they both have the same idiosyncratic Chushin hardware. I would assume that one has a serial because whoever commissioned the production run (the Onyx brand-owner) asked for serial numbers. But then, I don't know nuffink, do I? J.

[quote name='FlatEric' timestamp='1456734357' post='2991728'] Jon, Hi. I've got one - branded as "Morris". Bought it on a whim, years ago - still got it and it plays nice and has "a big bottom" Deep, deep, thud - with clarity. Just one of those oddball things I acquired that turned out to be quite a find. I'll dig it out and get some shots. [/quote] Cool, would appreciate that. Interesting that yours is a Morris, if it is exactly the same bass. Morris was (and still is) house-brand of Moridaira, a manufacturer in its own right, so that might shed some doubt & confusion over the origin of these things! Speaking of doubt and confusion, do you have an "Azumi" branded bass or guitar in your armoury, Eric? If so, does it have a serial number of any sort? There's some discussion going on about whether these were Chushin or Yamaki builds, which seems to hinge on serials rather than sensible things like hardware details... J.

Looks like an SR840: [url="http://www.ibanez.com/anniversary/expansion.php?cat_id=241&now=14"]http://www.ibanez.co...t_id=241&now=14[/url] Jon.

Seller in Ireland does this set, it looks like it's based heavily on the Steinberger-licensed design used by Hohner: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311363305520"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311363305520[/url] Used in this build thread: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/269096-headless-steinbergeresque/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/269096-headless-steinbergeresque/[/url] Jon.

Didn't see that one. If I had, you likely wouldn't have got such a bargain! One of these came up a few years ago, I was very interested then but missed out. Very, very rare bass - wonder if this is the same one? Gorgeous thing IMO, I love the Yammy SG shape. Jon.

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1456675433' post='2991265'] An unkind person might suggest that vocalists and/or guitarists know they are cool so don't need to put in the effort that the bass player does. [/quote] The thing is, singers & guitarists desperately, agonisingly want to be cool, and try really, really hard to look and act cool. Which is of course, spectacularly [i]not[/i] cool. I don't get the impression that bassists as a breed are particularly interested in being cool (I'm certainly not) and as such, perhaps feel no need to try. So the upshot is that some of them sometimes turn out to be a bit cool. Without trying. Or knowing. Or caring. Jon.

Apart from sharing some of the same letters, no. Cimar was a Japanese brand distributed by, and subsequently owned by Hoshino Gakki. Hoshino is the company which owns the Ibanez brand and subsequently marketed Cimar as "Cimar by Ibanez". So there's no connection with CMI (although some Cimars may have come from the same factory) but interestingly (if you find this sort of thing interesting!) there is a connection with similar 3-letters-starting-with-C UK brand CSL. CSL was house-brand of Charles Summerfield Ltd, who during the 70s & early 80s were UK distributor for Ibanez. So using this connection, they sourced their own brand through Hoshino, meaning CSLs were mostly re-badged Cimars. Very nice some of them were too. J.

First one I've seen since the last one - and that was a while ago... However, I've seen these same through-neck basses (and the equivalent guitars) with various different names, and I think I know what they are. From what I can glean they're a variation on a Japanese-market thing called a Fernandes Custom Hand: [url="http://www.fernandes.co.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1978_vol1.pdf"]http://www.fernandes...9/1978_vol1.pdf[/url] (page 28) It seems that Fernandes was built by Kawai at this point - this Yasuki appears to be the same thing as the FXB-I bass, with different (probably cheaper) hardware & electronics. Jon.

[quote name='Shambo' timestamp='1456630134' post='2990932'] Any thoughts on the guitar hiding under the stickers? Says 'Made In Japan' on the neckplate. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mi-Electric-Bass-Guitar-with-Cover-Bag-Stickers-Hospiscare-/381554431743?hash=item58d66a96ff:g:ZYcAAOSwe7BWzu~0"]http://www.ebay.co.u...YcAAOSwe7BWzu~0[/url] [/quote] CMI (Cleartone Musical Instruments - a Marshall sub-brand) Jazz copy, same bass as the Avon discussed here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/277141-replacement-pickups-for-a-1970s-avon-jazz-bass/"]http://basschat.co.u...avon-jazz-bass/[/url] Probably made by Chushin Gakki, ply body, a decent neck if you're lucky, single-coil Telecaster pickups etc. Might be cool if you can grab it cheap enough (about £50 - £60ish), those stickers would all come off no bother if you warm them with a hairdryer to soften the glue. Jon.

Copies are still copies. Me - I like copies (good vintage MIJ ones, anyway) and have never owned a real Fender. Closest I've come is a few MIJ Squiers. Which are licensed copies anyway. There seems to be a variety of inexplicably expensive knockoffs around at the moment - some even craven enough to be sold brand-new wearing shonky Fender logos - and I struggle to see how these are innately any different to the MIJ copies of the 70s & 80s. Apart from the complete absence of any historical interest value, making them seem even less authentic. Just goes to show I suppose how dismally unimaginitive and undemanding most bassists and manufacturers must be. Jon.

Much to the surprise of absolutely no-one at all on BC, I've got one gathering dust in my spares box! PM me your address & I'll bung it in the post Jon.

Don't think so - seller says he thinks it's a one-off & I'm inclined to agree. Looks quite nicely made, has a hint of the Ned Callans about it. Loving the banjo tuners! The bridge is interesting, it's a Schaller 3D made for a 2-point Gibbo fitting, discontinued years ago AFAIK. I think that's proper cool, you should buy it if it doesn't go too mad. J.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1456513959' post='2989952'] Feel free to PM a list! [/quote] I might hold you to that! [quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1456511609' post='2989925'] I do have one other question is it possible to have the obvious traders in another category then? [/quote] ...which would have broadly the same effect as a sub-£500 category! J.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1456501631' post='2989730'] If people can't be bothered to filter through a few ads then that's their problem. [/quote] That's also a problem for the people trying to sell cheaper basses. So it sort of becomes [i]everyone[/i]'s problem. J.

What sort of tuners are they? While I don't intimately know Tokais, I do know that early 80s examples sometimes had 3-screw, cast body units, with torque-adjusting collars. Similar to the ones used on Yamaha BBs from the same era, apart from the keys. From what I can see, yours might be this type - I'd doubt that a '97 bass would have these. Jon.