Bassassin

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1389191336' post='2331113'] Please ignore... [/quote] Not at all - it's a rare day that I get pulled up about lazy use of language and I appreciate the reprimand. I do try to avoid mangling the language (apart from for attempted comedic effect) in particular the use of lazy Americanisms. My only excuse is that I've been living in Scotland for too long. J.

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1389182826' post='2330930'] [b]Jon is right, as always[/b]. Squiers are unfortunately associated with cheap tat, i think i destroyed my fair share of great guitars in the 90s, as they were squiers, and therefore needed to be Townsended at the end of the gig. Sorry. [/quote] I forgive you, if only for your obsequiousness. J.

I have dismantled and rebuilt easily over 100 bolt-neck basses and guitars, most of them 70s Japanese instruments made from significantly inferior timber to 80s Fujigen products - I have never had a problem re-attaching a neck. The screws cut a thread into the timber the first time the neck's attached, re-fitting it cleanly is simply a matter of making sure the screws engage the "threads" cleanly & not over-torqueing. In the event some ham-fisted numpty did manage to chew the wood up, it's spectacularly easy to plug the old hole with a dowel & re-drill it, anyway. J.

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1389139126' post='2330665'] There are some nice guitars there. [/quote] £385 for a mid-70s Aria J copy? Dream on. Jon.

Satellites were nothing to do with Teisco, Matsumoku didn't build Columbus Js, end of. There's a lot of out-of-date erroneous information floating around on the web, most of it (including the Japanese manufacturer list I'm sure Fleabag's referring to) has been picked apart & discredited on the various specialist JapCrap boards where there are people who have been living & breathing this stuff since 1972. Because most of the factories & importers are long-gone, the few that aren't kept no records, and these were irrelevant budget instruments at the time, the study of JapCrap is an odd cross between archaeology & detective work. Some manufacturers (Matsumoku, for example) have easily-identified features, while others are much more generic. Often the only way to define the origin of an instrument is to compare a no-brand or off-brand with an example of one with a known provenance. Eg - there are no confirmed Matsumoku Jazz copies which are the same as Columbus J clones, therefore Matsumoku didn't make Columbus Js. On the other hand, a particular Maya J copy looks to be identical in every way, apart from the logo, so it's quite likely that Rokkomann (brand owner/possible manufacturer of Maya) were responsible for these Columbus instruments. I'll stop now because one of the rules of BC is that one should not post material which is "tortuous" and I think I possibly am. But you get the gist. Hopefully. J.

Sad, sad, sad, sad. What a f*cking mess. Wish I hadn't looked. Jon.

Some things just don't shift on BC - there was a nice Korean-made Ibanez SR clone on for £50 or swap for P/J parts. It was on for about a month before it sold. I think a lot of people are very conservative in their tastes - I definitely know better than to try & sell my Lace Helix here... Jon.

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1389095723' post='2329756'] Hondo made a neck-thru P Bass? [/quote] They didn't - Geoff's bass was a Satellite. I bought it off him & found the logo under what looked like an inch of black Hammerite under the headstock! J.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1389096221' post='2329767'] In the mid 70s my parents bought me a Kimbara branded acoustic guitar. Six months later my friend also got one which was identical in almost every way except his said "Grant" on the headstock. Obviously from the same factory in Japan but imported by two different companies. [/quote] Yep - Grant was a music shop in Glasgow who imported & distributed their own line. My first bass was a Grant. Awful, it was. J.

I still think that [b]IF[/b] it's structurally OK under all the crap, and [b]IF[/b] the electronics are a straightforward fix, then it's just about worth £400. Personally though I wouldn't touch it without having a good, proper look at it. J.

[quote name='SlapbassSteve' timestamp='1389061166' post='2329543'] Weren't Satelite basses made by the same people? Horrible things. Amazed they trade hands for so much money nowadays. [/quote] Satellite was imported by the same company (FCN Music in Tonbridge) but they were Korean-made and a lower priced, even cheaper & nastier range. Columbus was FCN's middle range, with the very nice quality Kimbara brand at the top. J.

What they said! Hoshino Gakki (parent company of Cimar & Ibanez) sourced from several factories, not sure who made Cimar but Ibanez came from Fujigen. The factories supplied stock shots of the instruments so the same pics of the same unbranded instruments turn up in catalogues for various different brands - eg find an old Antoria catalogue and the pictures are the same as Ibanez for the same year. Jon.

Some of the later ones were Japanese-made and very nice - Flat Eric on here has one, I believe. However, a lot of them - most, in fact - were Korean-made in the early/mid 70s, at a time when Korean instrument manufacture was not good at all. With these, expect a ply body, ultra-cheap hardware/electrics and potentially dodgy fret work. These often turn up for well under £100 on Ebay. Any chance you can grab a pic of the one you're interested in? The different models are easy to ID from components & headstock design. Jon.

Dunno where the OP got the idea that Columbus were made by Matsumoku. Ebay experts, perhaps? Anyway, they absolutely weren't. Not sure who did make them - maybe Rokkomann/Maya but definitely not Mat. I've had a few and none of them were ply - bodies tended to be veneered butcher-block - not great quality but a step up from ply. Clear finish ones were decent solid timber. Not great basses but not awful - like most lowish-end 70s JapCrap a decent setup will address most issues - I guess back then most of us just played them straight out of the box. The weedy round-end pickups were another matter - not surprising a good few turn up with DiMarzios fitted. Jon.

[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1389032681' post='2329091'] The benefit of 'starter' instruments that are of a quality unimaginable 35 years ago, and Internet based 'monkey see, monkey do' lessons perhaps. [/quote] I think you have a point - usually the songwriting's nowhere near the standard of the musicianship, and a lot of young bands seem to slavishly imitate their heroes rather than take inspiration from them. I wonder if the lower level of technical ability back in the day meant we had to be more creative because we lacked the technique to imitate the bands we wanted to be. J.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1388918255' post='2327524'] Doesn't deserve to sell that for the glaringly obvious mistake this time! [/quote] What - that she's still too lazy to post it? That was the only real mistake first time around. Jon.

There were quite a few of these floating round Ebay 5 or so years ago. I like headless basses & looked into these because they do look good. The unintentionally hilariously named Bell & Head are, I think a German brand, and these basses were a lot cheaper new - closer to the €200 mark. From the prices I assume they were Chinese or Taiwanese - made. I never got around to getting hold of one, and now do wish I had - I'd forgotten what great-looking basses they were. Jon.

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1389004587' post='2328549'] There is nothing 'not grown up' in being in a band. it's a very normal thing to do. [/quote] That's an entirely reasonable and realistic attitude to have, if you play in a band. Problem is, 99.9% of people who aren't musicians would likely disagree! I doubt I'm alone in having spent the last 20+ years being told by non-muso family, friends, colleagues that I'm perhaps "a bit old for all that", and to be honest, being seen by many of them as something of a joke. Regarding younger bands, playing original material largely on a local circuit we do end up playing with bands many of whom are young enough to be our kids. Mostly this isn't an issue - we've been around long enough to have gained a modicum of local respect - but sometimes it's obvious that expectations aren't high, right up until we play. That's always a nice feeling. Personally I've been consistently amazed & impressed by the technical ability of most of the young bands we play with - by comparison, my generation were really rubbish at that age! J.

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1388959769' post='2328240'] There is also this. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1960s-Kay-K-2B-Electric-Bass-1964-/181292808458?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2a35e4b90a"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2a35e4b90a[/url] This is much different to the three similar ones on ebay that owe a more than a nod to Teisco. [/quote] To me, this is the only one that looks like it might be anythging to do with Teisco! I don't think so (although lots of Kay sellers claim them to be) but the pickups, inlays, knobs etc are very reminiscent of 60s/70s Teiscos. I don't think it's quite as old as he claims - I'd go for mid 70s, and interestingly there was actually a reissue of this bass a few years back - this one's so clean, that's what I thought it was initially. Shame about the P type bridge cover someone's bunged on. Better with nothing. Jon.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1388930365' post='2327705'] Electra Les Paul copy bass. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Electra-Bass-Guitar-MIJ-/131085139806?ssPageName=ADME:B:WNARL:GB:1123"]http://www.ebay.co.u...B:WNARL:GB:1123[/url] Anyone know anything about these? It doesn't seem to have the tailpiece and wooden bridge setup that so many of these LP copies do and the headstock looks as though it ought to be familiar. [/quote] I know about Electras and this isn't one. Electra was a US importer brand (actually 2 separate US importers but let's not get bogged down with that) who sourced instruments variously from Fujigen, Matsumoku & Kasuga - none of whom used the small split diamond motif. What they did use was a bloody great big headstock logo saying "Electra", and what Electra didn't do was sell any guitars in the UK. This bass was possibly made by - or at least exported by - a Japanese company called Rokkomann - the exact same bass appears in a Maya guitars catalogue. This one however will have been sold as an unbranded bass, and that's exactly what it is. If it had been branded, it would likely have been as a low-end starter brand like Columbus, Avon, Saxon etc. This exact same bass was sold under those names, so expect a hollow-top plywood body, and weedy single-coil pickups in humbucker cases. Like any cheapo, if you get a good one, they can be nice players (70s Japanese fretwork was typically decent even on low-end stuff) but intonation's going to be hit-or miss with that tinny bridge. A bass like this is a decent buy if you find one at the car boot or in Crack Converters and pay less than £50. Truss rod cover ain't original either. The wood bridge bass you mention is pretty similar to this, the only real difference being that bridge & the fact they have proper humbuckers. They're ply/hollow and also have interesting strip ply necks. These were sold unbranded and also as the Jedson "Jet Bass". J.

I'm not sure what constitutes a mid-life crisis! When what you've done since age 16 is play in original rock bands & ride motorbikes (as I have), and in 2 weeks' time you'll turn 52 (as I will), It's sort of difficult to quantify what element of your behaviour is a pathetic reaction to encroaching decrepitude! I have spent probably the last 10-15 years describing my immature lifestyle and behaviour as a "whole-life crisis", and fortunately I'm still not feeling the draw of either the folk clubs or the Harley dealership. That would worry me, particularly the Harley bit. Jon.

A shim in this instance might be to allow the saddles to be in the middle of their adjustment range rather than at the very bottom. My old SQ Precision had no shim when I got it & had no useable scope for lowering string height, and had about 7mm of potentially hand-gashing screws protruding from the saddles. A shim can be used to induce a specific & fractional curvature or relief at the heel end of the neck, otherwise all it alters is the neck pitch. The angle of the strings relative to the frets stays the same, and is dictated by saddle height & truss adjustment - so a shim won't make any difference to action between the 8th & 15th. Jon.