Bassassin

Ibanez 2351, assuming it's a bolt-neck! 1978 would have been the very last of the copy-era stuff. Is that the original colour? Never seen a blue Ibby LP before.

Taking the natural/blocks J as an example, I can't think why anyone would choose this over the equivalent HB, which is made from nicer-looking timber, has a bound neck and is £30 cheaper - excluding the minimum £5.99 (Parcelfarce) that PMT charge for delivery. If it was from the 'Harley Benton Factory' you'd think it would be the same bass.

Ooo - that ain't something you see very often! Pedant alert - it's an MC940 - the 824 was passive, fretted. Looks like the designations for these, the Studios & the Roadsters were 8 for passive, 9 for active & then the fret count - the earlier MC800 & 900 Musicians were 22 fret & the RS800 & 900 Roadsters were 21. Yeah, I know nobody cares but me...

Got that wonky Musicvox thing going on with the body shape, although I don't think it's trying to be deliberately wacky or kitschy. Hard to tell, though. And I have an unreasoning loathing for Dean's idiotic 'tiny Flying V' headstock. Always makes me think of this w@nker's bass. (Just re-read this before posting and I'm actually not in anything like as bad a mood as it sounds!)

Most manufacturers produced different versions of the same designs for different price ranges - there would very likely have been a set-neck version of this from the same manufacturer. We see a lot less of the higher quality/dearer stuff because there would have been less of a market for it. This looks pretty early (guessing '71 or 2) but quality got better/more accurate over time. Shaftesbury was Rose-Morris' top-end brand above Top Twenty & Avon and the later stuff - including their through-neck Rick 4001 copy - was excellent quality. Importers' own brands were always less expensive than 'name' stuff like Ibanez or Aria which led to odd situations like Antoria (owned by JT Coppock Ltd) being the exact same guitars as Ibanez, but about 25% cheaper. Ibanez (made by Fujigen) did set/through & bolt-on versions of all their Gibson/Rick knockoffs and the bolt-ons are way more common. Anyway, this is pretty cool because I don't think I've seen one before. I'd put a tenner on it being a Kasuga - the giveaways are the truss cover shape & script, the bridge pickup with the single row of poles (pretty sure it'll be a Maxon but for some reason Kasuga seemed to use this style rather than the more common 8-pole units) and the plain neckplate with no MIJ stamp.

FFS if any of you hacksaw-happy nutjobs really have to do a DIY SuperHeadless, please murder a Thunder 1, not one of the neck-throughs! Unlike the through-necks, 1s & 1As are still like fleas on a scabby dug!

Very useful link - bookmarked! 👍

£205? Crazy bargain, even with the pre missing. That's Thunder 1 territory pricing.

Lovely thing, always liked the later Musicians with the SR body shape, a bit more elegant than the earlier ones.

These are Modulus-branded Gotoh GB707s - I presume you need replacements because the plastic button on one is visibly broken. Typically these are supplied with metal buttons and theoretically it might be possible to replace the broken bits. However it doesn't look like spares are available for these units, and the plastic pearl keys aren't standard, & were presumably a Modulus special order. A standard chrome set isn't too expensive at around £50 - although it looks like you'd need to buy a 4-a-side set & an individual l/h unit for your bass. In case a BC member has a set or part set in their spares draw. this is what @Bassman93 is looking for (in a forum-friendly image format! )

Only just remebered I got a pretty good pic of Jonas Reingold playing the Manson, back in November 2019 when Hackett played in Edinburgh.

Had mine maybe 15 years now, bought it off a guy on here who went through an odd phase of collecting them - he had every colour of SBV500 (the common J/J version) as well as the SBV550 P/J and some other variations, including a couple of the original 60s SB5s or 7s. Mine was a duplicate! Reversibly modded with a hi-mass bridge I had lying around & home-bodged red pearl scratchplate, because the I thought white looked a bit cheapo & nothing like vulgar enough. Definitely a keeper - like the OP says, sounds like a Jazz on steroids and with a 38mm nut width, plays a bit like one too. One of my 3 go-to basses for recording, not too heavy & nothing like as neck-divey as you might think. I've gigged it a few times, although paradoxically, playing prog rather than surf.

Absolutely crazy bargain for an ATK! Always had mild ATK GAS & still rue the day (a long time ago) one came up on Ebay for £120 BIN, & for various reasons I didn't grab it. Posted it on here & someone else snagged it & flipped it for a significant profit!

If this was me I'd buy the parts & put a bitsa together. A Precision is such a simple bass you could spec exactly what you want as far as neck, pickups, hardware, finish etc was concerned & have change. The only thing you might struggle with would be the contoured heel - I'd guess that's not a deal-breaker because as far as I know P players are not allowed up the Dusty End!

Also for the solo section of A Passage To Bangkok, I think.

Got this in a case at the back of a cupboard somewhere - when I bought it my prog originals band had a few songs that would've benefited from fretless interludes on some parts. Never even made it to a rehearsal before the live band fell apart - fortunately for my back... It's a 1985 Gordy Blueshift, & as far as I can make out it's a one - off, originally built for Pete Glennon, who seems to have been a player active in the Manchester area in the 70s & 80s.

Great basses and a seemingly unending supply of them coming onto the market & keeping prices sensible. Which is to say, there's an enormous discrepancy between what some people will ask for them and what most tend to change hands for. Ignore the silly prices - they tend to go for £150 - £200 or so. It was ever thus and looks like it will continue to be.

Your best bet is to hang around the Facebook vintage MIJ groups, probably the biggest, with the biggest collection of experts is The Original Vintage Japanese Guitar Fanclub. There are lots of others for numerous different brands/manufacturers but many of the same people (including me) are members of several groups. There's not anything like as much understanding of Korean manufacturers as Japanese and often the factories are harder to define. Cort & Samick seem to have been responsible for a lot of 70s MIK, but there were bound to be numerous others. The industry took off moving into the 80s & 90s as it became the main source of budget & midrange instruments but still many of the manufacturers aren't known. Same with Indonesia, Taiwan & now China too.

Unfortunately a lot of the info on that page is outdated and downright wrong - it's been a bone of contention/irritation in the various vintage MIJ communities for years, & unfortunately whoever put it together hasn't updated it to reflect emerging facts & knowledge.

Same seller ( as the T2) has a Thunder 1A. £80 start: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234930320720 That 2xP is right up my street, but unfortunately collection only from Oxford is actually nowhere near my street.

"Abandoned due to lack of time"? It'd take 20 minutes to nail that together.

The seller's been trying to punt this for a while. Got discussed elsewhere - this was a 1981 Aria Pro RB700N (a properly rare set-neck 4001S clone) which the guy imported from a dealer in Australia & proceeded to 'modify' into this (IMO) fanboy junk. It had been a very well-preserved example - original case, tags & case-candy dating it to 1981 in the Japanese Showa calendar - but the orignal parts went in the bin & it got a respray & full makeover with Rickenbacker components. Which is a crime against vintage instruments and must've cost him an absolute fortune. And if you think £1000's a lot for a Faker, this earlier listing for it might raise an eyebrow... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aria-Pro-II-Prog-Rock-Copy-Tribute-Bass-Guitar-1970s-/255898424226

Doesn't beat the Thunder 1 guitar I picked up for £5 at the car boot - but that's definitely the sort of bargain you don't tend to see much any more.