Bassassin

A few months back we played a pub gig with a band which featured a long-term former Groundhogs member, drummer Ken Pustelnik. Really lovely guy and an excellent drummer. Interestingly, the band in question is fronted by a former Hawkwind member, Paul Hayles. The music was all original & didn't feature anything by their former bands. I have a lot of respect for guys like these whose pro careers are effectively over but who continue writing & performing because that's simply what they do. Jon.

I'd be a bit worried by that cheap scarf-jointed headstock with all that string tension on it! Still if it stays under a ton it'd make for a cheap headless project... Jon.

Easy when you've got [spoiler]an old Jedson catalogue[/spoiler] J.

My band exists as a vehicle to perform songs written by me & the vocalist - that's how it's been from the outset. Everything's demo'd to a high standard before handing it over to the guys & taking it into the practice room. I'm an OK guitar player & can programme pretty competent drum parts, but they have free rein to improve & embellish their parts as they see fit. As the song becomes a performance piece, it will evolve and improve and sometimes change. I've always been open to contributions & collaboration from the band, but they've never seemed that bothered! This is pretty much how every originals band I've been in has worked, even when I've not been a main composer. I've never been involved in an original song that's evolved from a jam. Jon.

Cheers Eric, look forward to hearing from you! Jedson? House brand of Dallas-Arbiter, formerly J.E. Dallas & Sons. See what they did there? Anyway, early 70s Jedsons were often Matsumoku-sourced so it's probable that ones identical to this are out there. And if you ever see an old Jap copy of a Jazz with "Status" on the head, that's actually a Jedson 4450 Sabre bass. No, I don't understand it either. J.

It was inevitable that returning to BC after a long absence would have a detrimental effect. I am not at all proud to say that I appear to be reverting to type. First blood goes to an Eros Mark II Jazz copy from Ebay: Arrived this morning, fresh out of the bubblewrap and as yet uncleaned, unrebuilt & obviously unplayed. This is a Matsumoku-built bass, and based on details like the tuners, pickups and knobs, dates from around 1971, making it one of the earliest accurate Jazz copies. Apart from a replaced nut & (possibly) jack, it's all original & lacks only the ashtrays & tug bar it would have been sold with. Quality-wise, it's several cuts above the ubiquitous Columbus copies with its solid 3-piece mahogany body & real MOP inlays. Everything looks good - pickups & electrics work, truss rod adjusts, neck's good & straight with virtually no fretwear. No damage beyond the inevitable lacquer chips & scratches and an oddly-bent saddle screw. More pics: Bit of background, if you're still awake - Eros & Eros Mk2 were brands used by importer Rosetti (who, confusingly, also distributed Italian-made & unrelated E-Ros acoustics) and early ones were sourced from Matsumoku & Fujigen. Later Eroses (?) were Korean-made and more in line with Hondo & Satellite in terms of quality, but this is the 3rd MIJ Eros I've had, and they're very nice instruments. Looking forward to getting it fully stripped & cleaning it up. Jon.

First NBD for me in a while - here's the Eros Jazz, fresh from the (copious) cardboard & bubblewrap: Pleasantly surprised - under 40 years' grime, the neck's in very good condition, everything's original apart from the nut, no damage apart from the knocks & chips you'd expect. Cleaned up this will be a very nice example of a very early (black button tuners date it to around '71) Japanese Jazz copy. I may give it its own thread. J.

Classy. Easy translation of garish blue text - ineptly assembled piece of garbage made mostly from shoddy junk parts. Two nice vintage tuners on it (Gotoh Resolites) - presumably he binned the others because they [font="Arial"][size="4"][i][color="#002cfd"]"WHERE A BIT LOOSE"[/color][/i][/size][/font] - shame he didn't notice the torque adjuster screws. Jon.

If you're in the market for a Speccy, have you seen this one? http://basschat.co.uk/topic/222040-westone-spectrum-gt-bass-w-hardcase-l160-posted/ A fair bit higher up the food chain than the Ebay one.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1386157973' post='2296456'] 'High end' is anything over 100 notes for you though Jon [/quote] That's a fair point. J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1386154875' post='2296391'] You appear to be coming into your stride in terms of buying stuff :)I If you search on "Old Bass Guitar" on ebay, and find the red (I think) one with that title, are you tempted? [/quote] Fortunately having just changed energy supplier, I have a reasonable deal (for a month or two at least) and less of a need for firewood! I normally only post stuff I don't intend buying - the Matsumoku J was a rare exception due to a moment of weakness. If that Daion had a J pup as well as the P, it wouldn't be on here! J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1386157310' post='2296440'] Incidentally, can anyone explain how you can look at a piece of sawn wood and confidently announce that it was done with a "surgical saw"? [/quote] Probably when you'd used your very own "surgical saw" that morning to hack bits off your Aria Laser Heritage! J.

Having been away from BC for a couple of years I admit I was not pleasantly surprised to find selling gear is no longer free. However I appreciate the reasons and will, like NAS, pay the £20 in the new year, when people might have money to spend on old Japanese basses rather than figgy pudding, mince pies and iPads! The marketplace feels different, though - dunno if it's a result of the fees or just the changing membership on BC, but there seems to be proportionately a lot more high-end stuff, and less of the sort of [s]shonky tat[/s] - sorry - modestly priced vintage curiosities - that I'm usually drawn to. Speaking from a seller's perspective though, a fee's a lot easier to comfortably accept when the bass in question's £500+ rather than £60. Jon.

Moving on, this really is something you don't see every day: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121228649213"]Daion Power Mark X-B[/url] These are the proverbial rocking horse poo and £300 is probably pretty reasonable. Made by Yamaki, have a close look at the hardware & build details and you can see why a lot of JapCrap anoraks believe the early MIJ Washburns (like that lovely Vulture) came from the same factory. Slightly more modest but getting quite rare, a Vantage VS600 (I think), looks pretty tidy: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141132131797"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141132131797[/url] J.

If this stays cheap, I might have a punt on it for the neck - my old RSB Deluxe 2 has a horrible & uncorrectable twist and I have a hunch this would be a straight swap. Looks like the end of the headstock's been lopped off too, but that's not too noticeable & could be reshaped. Jon.

I like these, which is just as well 'cos I've got one. These appeared around 1985 at the same time as the Hohner B2 licensed Steiny copies, which were also made by Cort. They have the same licensed Steinberger hardware and neck-through construction, but the neck's a bit more porky feeling and the finish not quite as good. I think I prefer the P/J setup to the rather sterile-sounding EMGs on the Hohner - and this one's worth keeping an eye on, if only for the Barts. Jon.

Well - he dropped the price to £75 so I had no choice. Bought it. And so it begins again... J.

I picked up a scruffy '63 Watkins Rapier 3 guitar at my local car boot a few years back. I bought it along with a wreck of a Strat copy & paid 15 quid for the pair - after a good clean up, the Rapier fetched £250 on Ebay. If you bung the bass in a skip, make sure it's the one down the bottom of my road! Jon.

Buy this instead: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BASS-GUITAR-JAPANESE-EROS-II-/261344010689?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cd95121c1 Early 70s Matsumoku Jazz copy, Eros Mk II brand, £98 BIN. Someone buy this so I don't have to! J.

Remember that names like Avon, Columbus etc were importer's names stuck on the heads of generic no-brand instruments, which is all this one is. Electra was a US importer brand who sourced from Matsumoku, Fujigen and Kasuga. This little LP bass really isn't anything special - cheap ply body, junk hardware and single-coil pups in humbucker cases. J.

Doesn't need much info - that's an early 80s MIJ Yamaha, missing the pickup surround - probably because the pup's not original - but otherwise complete & fairly tidy. £30 is ridiculous & I'd be taking a trip to Ayrshire if I wasn't off to Birmingham this afternoon! Jon.

[quote name='allighatt0r' timestamp='1385470524' post='2288570'] Consider punt made then in that case! Just spotted this too.... [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Washburn-B-20-Stage-Series-Bass-Guitar-Cherry-Sunburst-MIJ-1980s/321255048977"]http://www.ebay.co.u...0s/321255048977[/url] Now THAT is gorgeous. [/quote] B20 Stage Series - had one of them back in the 80s - beautifully made but neck-dive from hell! Still wish I'd never sold it, though... Very best of luck with the Vulture then, hope you get it for £150! BigRedX - three of those tuners are original - early ones of these & other MIJ Washburns hd these tuners (AFAIK the ones assumed to be made by Yamaki) and later Matsumoku builds had very nice Schaller M4S clones. J.

Jolana D! Had Faker GAS for one of these for a good few years, missed a few on Ebay back in the day, but never seen one in the flesh. We played in Prague a few years back & I had high hopes of picking one up cheap but no joy. The shops were all full of bloody Rickenbackers! Jon.

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1385379655' post='2287458'] What about this Washburn Vulture? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111224594009?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649"]http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1423.l2649[/url] [/quote] I want that so much it hurts. Worst GAS I've had since coming back to BC - I'll have to drop him a note & see if he'll post it! Anyway - decent project JapCrap Jazz for £45 BIN: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Grant-Jazz-Bass-MIJ-Lawsuit-Copy-/251388708480"]http://www.ebay.co.u...y-/251388708480[/url] He reckons it's a Grant, might be, but more likely a Columbus. J.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1385307452' post='2286644'] Overpriced by at least £31... [/quote] Shocking, the price of firewood these days! Jon.