Bassassin

Sorry Eric, sadly I missed it too. Seiwas were made by Chushin, weren't they? Chushin's come up on the Facebook JapCrap guitars group & I couldn't remember if they made Seiwa. J.

Genuine fake knockoffs of the 4004LK do exist: [i]*pics deleted for fear of The Wrath Of Hall*[/i] That turned up on Fleabay about 5 years back, around the time those rather sexy Bach copies were around. It was brand new & not all that dear. Jon.

Doubt it's JapCrap, looks too recent. Still probably worth £50-odd for the case & parts, even if the bass turned out to be junk. Jon.

Sweet - I had 2 SR800s at one point, and have residual GAS for another. You won't be surprised to hear that one was in my watched items! I think it's a great colour! Jon.

Same person's also selling a Vintage brand fretless - looks like the back of neck pic is of that bass. Got his pics mixed up, I suppose. Jon.

Fretted/fretless headless twin neck makes sense to me. Sadly £800 doesn't! Jon.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1393098245' post='2376238'] Satellite P Basses often come up on eBay though prices can vary considerably... [/quote] Usually highly overpriced, should be avoided at any price. Badly built early Korean-made driftwood tat. Jon.

Wish I could help but I'm not too clued up on acoustics. "Yama" isn't ringing a bell, but in addition to Yamaha there was also Yamaki (related to Daion) and Yamato (prob. an importer rebrand) so it's not impossible it could be related somehow to one of these brands. It's equally possible that it was an importer trying to use a familiar-sounding name for a product - same as the Isonez, IBZ & Gerrinez brands and (perhaps more even more obvious) Founder & Fresher! Just guesswork, so hopefully Noel will be along with some proper facts! Anyway it's a very pretty box, and £60 for a decent guitar is a steal, whoever made it. Jon.

It's said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and having skimmed this thread I'm now quite content to accept that the incompetence that I put into my bass gets turned into music by the fairies. Jon.

Nicest looking bit of plywood I've seen in a long time - possibly ever! Most old Eastern European stuff is as crude & weird as that other bass, but I really like this! £328 is a bit steep, though. Jon.

This is a 60s era Japanese bass, it has specific hardware (pickup & tuners) which I've seen used on Teisco & Kawai instruments. It's not consistent with any Teiscos listed [url="http://www.mark-cole.co.uk/teisco/"]here[/url] but it is similar to several & this is far from an exhaustive resource. Musky might be right about Guyatone, who were a major Japanese manufacturer of the same era. The name on the headstock probably won't link it to any particular manufacturer - a huge proportion of what was exported from Japan was sold under importer/distributors' own brands. Try asking on the forum at [url="http://www.vintaxe.com/phpBB3/"]Vintaxe.com[/url] - either the Japanese or Unknown Origin boards - chances are someone will have seen this bass before. Jon.

[quote name='MB1' timestamp='1392486780' post='2369357'] MB1. I have a feeling it will be remaining Local. [/quote] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/229533-aria-pro-2-sb-special-2-mij-1982/page__view__findpost__p__2366064"]It'd be nice to think the first person to ask might get first refusal...[/url] J.

I killed a couple of my early starter basses but the only properly worn-out one is my Aria RSB Deluxe 2. Bought new in 1984, my only gigging/recording bass up until 2000, permanently strung with Roto Swing Bass, so the frets were ground to nothing by 1986! Retired when the neck developed a twist so bad it now resembles an Archimedes Screw - I've been looking for a replacement neck for 14 years now, would love to revive it. The body's still in great cosmetic condition, just a couple of knocks & a bit of corrosion/wear on the bridge & pups. Jon.

Captain Predictable to the rescue! Of very little, as the question's already answered - generic 70s J pups typical of Japanese and Korean copies from that era. I assume they made these round-ended because it was quicker & easier to do the crude round-ended routes they got fitted in. Also all the J copies back then had ashtrays, so they weren't really designed to be seen. Never seen 3-wire examples of these, but I have seen this on other old MIJ single coils, extra wires are additional grounds. Doubt if these will turn out to be twin coil but I wouldn't rule it out - they won't be potted so the covers should come off with a bit of careful encouragement. Jon.

Pretty sure you've met before: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/227071-fender/"]http://basschat.co.u.../227071-fender/[/url] I guess the Crack Converters web gonk must've had a reading lesson. Jon

Pretty bass but a pale imitation of the [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/catalogs/78_pb1500_slick/78_pb1500_slick.jpg.html"]PB1500[/url] it's based on. Jon.

Beautiful - looks like you've done a great job of cleaning & tidying it. Persist with for a while it before you make a decision, however if you do decide to move it on, there are plenty of people here who'd be interested. Well, me at least! Jon.

This philosophy inevitably originates with guitarists, to whom the only "real" bassist is by default a guitarist's girlfriend. I have been told I "play bass like a guitar" which, as well as being a load of arrant testicles, is contradicted by having being told by guitarists that I "play guitar like a bassist". I prefer to think that I play music, with a musical instrument. Jon.

[quote name='noelk27' timestamp='1391981865' post='2363335'] Which time? [/quote] Referring to the shenanigans involving the gentleman presumably trying to sell an "awesome" (and doubtless "raer") Grant P copy a couple of years back. J.