Bassassin

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1403769043' post='2485991'] Just found this picky from 1989ish... [/quote] Kawai Sleekline! Don't see many of them. Jon.

All the best to you, Howard, hoping you're well again soon. Jon.

I suppose it's a fairly respectable DIY effort from someone who's clearly not a luthier, but expecting to get more than a hundred quid or so for that is ludicrous. Funny how you can always spot the home-made jobs, there's always something sort of wonky about the body & headstock shapes. Jon.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1403695868' post='2485349'] Shaftesbury Les Paul style bass. If I was less lazy I'd compare the shape to the Jedson posted a few posts further up, and therefore by implication to Jon's unbranded bass. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-SHAFTESBURY-LES-PAUL-TYPE-BASS-MIJ-JAPAN-70s-WORKING-RIPE-TO-RESTORE-/321442695774?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4ad77a4a5e"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item4ad77a4a5e[/url] Said to be 'ripe' to restore. But it looks OK to me, just old. Reasonable starting bid and reasonable postage means that it'll make its true value. [/quote] Now that's interesting. "Steel Adjustable" plate, offset position dots & arrowhead trc tell us this is a Matsumoku bass. Just a week or two back I was reading somewhere (probably one of the MIJ boards or the Vintage Japanese Guitars FB group) and the concensus was that there had never been an Aria LP bass, and that Mat had probably never made one. I'm pretty certain I've never seen one before. However this one does look pretty far gone - the corrosion makes me think it's been sitting somewhere damp (a cellar or a shed) for a lot of years and all the screws will probably be rusted in. And the cracking around the fretboard looks very bad - I'd say the board is delaminated at both ends, plus the shot down the neck looks warped. I might take a chance on it if it was £50 or less delivered, but I think there are too many potential issues with this one. Shame. J.

Saw that last night & was sorely tempted - pretty sure you could easily sort out the unsightly neck lacquer wear, if you wanted. J.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1403536032' post='2483663'] I saw him on Saturday and he is OK. [/quote] Very happy to hear this - Howard's a diamond. Jon.

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1403456003' post='2482848'] Both my lads are often up & about earlyish at the boot fairs this time of year. I am always saying " If you find any Fenders for a tenner or so - - - " Guess what my youngest came up with today! [url="https://www.dropbox.com/s/ntszo30rmoxcog4/2014-06-22%2016.52.27.jpg"]https://www.dropbox....%2016.52.27.jpg[/url] [url="https://www.dropbox.com/s/q36jgfhpen35svy/2014-06-22%2016.51.15.jpg"]https://www.dropbox....%2016.51.15.jpg[/url] [url="https://www.dropbox.com/s/rz6qty04pw8v7wa/2014-06-22%2016.51.20.jpg"]https://www.dropbox....%2016.51.20.jpg[/url] [url="https://www.dropbox.com/s/mxo7freml8xoqj2/2014-06-22%2016.51.39.jpg"]https://www.dropbox....%2016.51.39.jpg[/url] A couple of hours tinkering & it's a perfectly useable bass [/quote] That's the same as the bolt-neck Satellite I had - it was a really nice bass to play. Weighed a ton, though. J.

I think the "hefty cast bridge = improved tone/endless sustain" myth is exactly that. Having said that, I don't like Fender BBOT bridges mainly because they look like cheap crap, whatever they're on, and I've found in the past that aggressive pick playing can cause them to move around. Considering you probably won't want to be drilling holes in your 27-year old P, the Gotoh is a good recommendation, top quality build, looks good & should be rock-solid. In the unlikely event you would consider drilling new holes to fit a bridge, the Schaller 3D is worth a look, I'm a big fan of these for the roller saddles & adjustable string spacing, they're beautifully made bridges too. I agree with Paul S - the BA2 seems to be regarded as some sort of Holy Grail, but I find them bulky, crudely made and they add noticeable weight to a bass. Plus it's a bugger trying to find an Allen key to fit them! Jon.

Pics are so poor it's hard to tell, but it doesn't look like a sticker to me. Looks like a serial number at the top & Made In USA underneath, both stamped on the headstock. Just did a bit of Googling & I think it's laid out like this one: I'm pretty sure it's genuine. J.

That's lovely. Score of the year? J.

Looks like a generic Ebay no-name bass that's had a nasty headstock accident - note there are no clear pics of the pointy end, no idea what that hat-like thing covering the string retainer/zero-fret is. Owner probably got his dog to chew an appropriately-sized gap at the end of the body before installing the Steinberger-licensed Hohner bridge/tuners currently fitted. Jon.

Definitely not a copy, MIJ stuff from this era didn't try too hard to be accurate, I think the tuners are Schaller M4S, very similar to Grovers but secured with pegs rather than screws. These seem to have been commonly used on various 70s Gibsons. Anyway definitely a low start price, very much doubt if it'll stay that way for long! Jon.

You might be right about the bridge - haven't been on RickResource for about 4 years so I'm not exactly up to speed! I suspect the "official" redesigned tailpiece is still in limbo though & likely to remain there. Wonder if it ever existed in the first place... There's actually a searchable database of US trademarks - I remember seeing all the RIC TMs, including images, dates of registration etc. This was a few years back though & I have no idea of the address. I'll try & dig up the link again. J.

This is correct - all design elements of the 4000 series basses are registered trademarks - oddly apart from the scratchplate, unless that's changed now. Even the footprint of the tailpiece got Hipshot into trouble when they decided to make an aftermarket Rick bridge that intonated correctly & didn't bend in half under string tension. J.

I picked up a Squier P on Gumtree for £35. Turned out to be late 80s, A-serial MIJ. Bonus! Jon.

Broadly speaking, absolutely none of the current Rick copies look more than passingly like the real deal. Familiarise yourself with genuine tailpieces, pickups, tuners, pickup covers etc and you can spot a modern copy a mile off. As far as vintage MIJ, Korean, Brazilian & Italian copies are concerned, most of them are pretty easy to spot from the construction - Ricks don't have bolt-necks (apart from the double neck!) or single truss rods. There are only a couple of vintage Fakers that try to get the detals right, but Joey's Bass Notes, linked above, will show you what to look for. I should point out though that ALL the Japanese neck-throughs have the binding gap, exactly like the real thing - I think it's only the Italian Gherson that doesn't - but all the hardware's wrong on that. Jon.

I've always had a a somewhat cynical opinion about all these sub-genres, unfortunately it's mostly music journalists & marketing chimps trying to define/promote something fundamentally unremarkable & retrospective as the Next Big Thing, and these labels tend to stick. Rock music's an incredibly conservative bunch of styles and personally I think you'd struggle to find anything particularly revolutionary or genre-changing that's happened in the last 25-30 years. And I speak as a dyed-in-the-wool prog rocker/metalhead/occasional punk who's lived & breathed this stuff for 35-odd years. Math Rock? Sort of prog-meets indie, as distinct from Mathcore which tends to be frentic Prog-Metal with shouty Hardcore vocals. I think.... Jon.

I've had serious GAS for one of these for years - even looked for one when the band was playing in Prague a few years back, to no avail! Although we did play with a band whose bassist had a gorgeous Ibanez 2388B/DX, early one with full-width glitter inlays... Anyway I should remind everyone that we can't discuss sales of instruments of this nature here on BC, otherwise certain CEOs of California-based instrument manufacturers will materialise & start screeching and throwing poo at us, sort of like a demented 23-stone chimpanzee. Or something. Jon.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1402942979' post='2478157'] Jedson LP bass with bolt-on neck. Quite detailed list of what's wrong with it, which doesn't seem to add up to all that much. Except, what's that bolt on the heel of the neck? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/jedson-bass-/171360230376?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item27e5dd9be8"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item27e5dd9be8[/url] [/quote] Had one of these (identical but unbranded) when I was 16! J.

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1402847179' post='2477201'] A tenner Jon, you have a reputation to uphold. A fiver surely [/quote] Fair point, I just thought a tenner might help towards the postage... J.

Live Music tends to be somewhat overpriced in general - they currently have a Sunn Mustang (90s Indian-made licensed P copy) for £120 and an 80s Westone Spectrum for £250. Sold privately these would be closer to half those prices & I'd apply similar logic to their Baldwin. J.

[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1402831805' post='2477065'] Haha, I am the winner 'bidder' on that SR900 - I bought it because I'm looking for something cheap, decent and light. Collecting this week so I'll let you know whether it was the bargain it hopefully appears to be! [/quote] Glad it was someone on 'ere! If it's a good 'un but you decide you don't want it (in a few months after all my house-move b0ll0cks is sorted out, preferably!) you could make an easy tenner on it by flogging it to me - been regretting selling the 2 SR800s I had for some time now... J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1402780852' post='2476807'] Erm, Jon. You called someone a "cheeky git" because they bought something from you for £64, and then listed it for £150 [/quote] And I stand by that assessment! I listed the Watkins at 99p - bidding wars are great, ain't they! And in fairness I did do a lot of very careful cleaning and fettling to make it as nice as possible - I think it had had mice living in it when I got it... J.

Probably a bit ambitious but it depends - this sort of stuff can be worth a few quid to the right collector. I was highly surprised (pleasantly!) when I sold a fairly scruffy '62 Watkins Rapier 33 guitar for £300-ish. Particularly considering I only paid £6 for it... Jon.