Bassassin

£280 is tongue-swallowingly mental for that, pretty or otherwise. They don't come up too often but when they do they tend to be well under £200 - essentially Ibanez Blazer or Westy Thunder money. After all, it's really just a Precision copy with a skinny top horn! Jon.

Late to the party on this one - and I do like that a lot, hideous or otherwise! Dunno if I'd've twigged it was an MIJ Vox but not surprised seeing the logo. Never seen one of these before and tbh had no idea there was ever an MIJ Vox 5er. It's reckoned these came from Matsumoku, I'd say confirmed by the fact the Vox 24 guitar was pretty much the same instrument as the Westbury Standard guitar, and the Vox neck-through basses are very, very Aria-esque. As has been mentioned, a number of similarities to late Westones, I'd be inclined to put this around 1986/7, that being when Matsumoku packed in instrument manufacture. Jon.

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1385312807' post='2286743'] The 'top nut'. Meaning the nut. [/quote] To the Ebay seller, it's the "knut". Which can be found at the top of the arm (or "kneck") - which can be identified by its profusion of fretts. Unless, that is, it's a "frettles". If the instrument in question (a "base", to be specific) isn't a Squire, it's quite likely to be a Tokia, made in the Ibanez Factory. Bunch of stupid knuts. J.

Or Squier/Squire. Jon.

Withdrawn, due to an "error in the listing". It's pretty beat-up but I probably would have been all over that - I have a Track 2 (single P pup, bolt-neck) and have GASsed over a Track 4 for years. Top-quality Matsumoku builds, I also have a Westy Standard guitar & it's a gem. Jon.

Excellent! If the fretless neck was 5-string & lined it would tick every personal prog box I can think of! Jon.

Not Japanese but Korean, as were 99% of Hondos. Plywood, too. Jon.

None More Orange: [sharedmedia=core:attachments:72012] Ibby EDA900 - plastic fantastic. Jon.

[quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1384788182' post='2280699'] If Rickenbacker have some kind of cheap copies that made by them like epiphone and Squier or even made by another country, i think more people would buy them instead of third party copies [/quote] You're probably right but it's not a market RIC have any need of, or interest in supplying - as it is they struggle to fulfil demand for the "real" ones! John Hall's determination to keep RIC small & ,maintain the high quality reputation (deserved or otherwise) is a stance I respect, despite him being, err - [i]unprofessional[/i] - in other aspects of his role as CEO! [quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1384780707' post='2280574'] Rockinbetters are pretty good actually. I personally think the Ric company are not too confident with their own products against the copies ...... [/quote] As far as some of the old MIJ basses are concerned, it's a fair point - the Matsumoku neck-through Fakers were head & shoulders above what Rickenbacker were typically producing in the early/mid 70s - there's even a 70s review of a Kimbara-branded copy knocking around that says as much. These copies had functional dual truss rods, necks & body wings that didn't de-laminate, tuners that didn't explode, and even tailpieces that didn't bend. I have limited experience with the current Chinese & Korean copies but imagine them to have the same manufacturing consistency as other good-quality mass-produced instruments from similar sources - plus the benefit of more modern hardware & components than RIC's products. The main reason though that Hall makes a public display of Faker-chasing is the US trademark legislation, which requires that a trademark owner must be seen to be pursuing and challenging infringements. If any copy, old or new, goes unchallenged, ultimately the trademark will enter the public domain, meaning that anybody & everybody is free to use it. Fender & Gibson did not take Japanese copies seriously in the 70s until it was too late, which is why there has been 4 decades of relentless Precision, Jazz, Strat, LP etc cloning. J.

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1384628174' post='2278960'] No, Simon, nothing wrong with protecting rights, so I'll have to join you in that minority - but I'll keep a toe-hold in the majority camp, who wonder if it was worth the brand damage to do so in such a fashion [/quote] Exactly this - I support RIC's right to protect their intellectual property, and appreciate that as a small business (certainly in comparison to their competition) it's particularly important to stay on top of potential infringements. However it's specifically Mr Hall and his behaviour which create & exacerbate the problem. This is nothing new - those who have been on BC for a while (and who have an interest in Ricks & vintage Rick copies) may well remember that I've had personal run-ins with him, resulting from my making innocent inquiries (from the perspective of a collector & enthusiast of vintage Japanese instruments) which ended up with Hall sending abusive and borderline threatening messages to me at my personal email address. It's hard to escape the conclusion that he is a thoroughly unpleasant, arrogant man who has nothing more productive to do with his time than trawl the internet looking for an excuse to harrass and alienate his potential customers. Much as I like Rickenbackers, I would never buy a new, or RIC - era one, and even feel quite discouraged from even GASing after an early 70s Fireglo 4001 with checked binding, full width inlays, cast bridge and wavy Grovers. OK, maybe not that discouraged... J.

Pickup cover on - nowhere to rest your thumb. Pickup cover off - big gaping hole with sharp metal edges designed to slice the end of your thumb off. Best just thrash it with a pick like Lemmy, or play a Jazz. Jon.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1384556399' post='2278274'] Basically in the 70's and 80's, before Rickenbacker had european patents or trademarks (might be wrong on that) some nice people in Japan made copies of Rickenbackers for cheaper and in many cases better than the original. Some of your favourite famous rickenbacker players had japanese made ones... Nice basses - rickenbacker later stopped production of them and other copies - as is their right. [/quote] What's ironically amusing about this is that John Hall's Rickenbacker International Corp dates to the late 90s and his trademarks for the 4003 shapes & designs are actually some ten years newer - the basses being copied in the 70s were made by a completely different and now long-defunct company. One of those old Japanese copy brands was Ibanez, who were making Rick copies from about 1971, complete with checked binding & full-width inlays, just like the older 4001s. If they so chose, Hoshino Gakki, parent company of Ibanez, might have very good grounds to challenge RIC's claim to exclusivity regarding the 4001/4003 design. Despite all the bluff & bluster, RIC is a small, family-owned business (and realistically probably do not have the coin to pursue legal action against BC and its members) - so Mr Hall might want to take a moment to reflect on how fortunate it is that wealthy Japanese corporations have better things to do than take petty & pointless legal actions against inconsequential and anachronistic little American guitar-builders. Jon.

Maton Ibis: http://www.grouseguitars.com.au/matonibisbass.htm Antipodean oddness from the early 60s - seems there was only a couple of hundred or so ever made. I actually encountered one in the flesh about 14 years ago, being played by an old-ish (60+) Aussie guy whose band was practicing in an Edinburgh church hall. Got chatting & he told me a bit about it, stupidly I never asked for a go! Always had vintage GAS for one but had no idea they were quite so rare. Doubt I'll ever see another, one day I might have a shot at building a replica though. Lovely looking thing, imo. Jon.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1384455436' post='2277004'] I believe Cimar guitars were made in the Ibanez factory. [/quote] [pedant]Technically there's never been an Ibanez factory - Ibanez & Cimar are brands owned by Hoshino, who use various factories to manufacture their products.[/pedant] Anyway, in the 70s & 80s Ibanez was made predominantly (possibly exclusively) by Fujigen Gakki, who are probably best known for MIJ Fenders & Squiers. Copy-era Cimars are quite a bit different from their Ibby counterparts & I tend to think they're from a different factory, although I couldn't say where. As for this J copy, actually Cimar's a possibility - I had a Cimar J yonks ago which shared a lot of the details you can see on this - round-end pups, little Gotoh tuners, big chrome trc etc. But then again an awful lot of JapCrap Jazz copies do. Really, it's not "an" anything - if it ever had a logo it's long-gone & most brands were pretty meaningless anyhow And I still think it was a Columbus. Probably. J.

Hi EmmettC, got any pics? If it's 1980-ish it'll be Japanese, from either the Matsumoku or Yamaki factories. Can't say about the tuners without seeing them, but a lot of old MIJ Washboards seem to have either semi-enclosed Schaller M4S copies or what I think are Gotoh Res-O-Lites. Probably quite pricey to replace unless the bass becomes a labour of love! Jon.

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1383504266' post='2265197'] Kay/Teisco or Columbus? [/quote] It does look the same as the Columbus branded ones to me. Tbh they weren't that bad after a decent setup but more like £120 than £350! J.

Thanks very much for that, MEKer - I have old DiMarzio Model Js on my Jazz, love them and was leaning that way anyway, will see what sort of deal I can get on an Ultra. Re the Force 42, here's a link to the original thread, unfortunately the pics aren't there any more: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/77957-washburn-relic/"]http://basschat.co.u...washburn-relic/[/url] Bassuklike66 is still active on here so hopefully still has the bass. J.

[quote name='itsmedunc' timestamp='1383311189' post='2262981'] My good god, I hadn't noticed that he wants £350 plus £40 shipping! [/quote] Bloody hell - the price of plywood these days! Jon.

[quote name='el borracho' timestamp='1383256922' post='2262367'] Clarissa? Think they were Italian made which would tie in with what Jon said. [/quote] Excellent detective work! A quick Google gives us this, from an acoustic: [url="http://i317.photobucket.com/albums/mm380/ebonyandivoryltd/Clarissa/ClarrisaClassicalGuitar007.jpg"]http://i317.photobuc...alGuitar007.jpg[/url] And a search on Fetishguitars comes up with this: [url="http://www.fetishguitars.com/?s=clarissa"]http://www.fetishgui...com/?s=clarissa[/url] Ignoring the bass, which is blatantly an unbranded Japanese EB copy, the guitar is very closely related to the CL on Ebay - most tellingly the unusual scratchplate. Shame there's no back pic, as a matching neckplate would confirm the ID - but I think we have a winner! J.

Ooh - it does, doesn't it? The "CL" brand isn't ringing any bells, but from the look of it I'd say it's 70s Italian. I've seen those bass humbuckers on a few 70s/80s Eko basses, and the stepped neck joint & odd-looking neck plate is remeniscent of Gherson. Shame about those horrid tuners bodged on, but that's easily fixed. Who's going to have a punt so's we can get a better look? Jon.

I'm certainly not going to quibble over model designations - mine's a lovely bass, and acquiring it in the first place was a ridiculous stroke of luck - the story's here on BC somewhere, I'll try & find a link. It's not without its issues though, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure the bridge J type pickup's not original - it's much lower output than the P-type and sounds quite "cheap", very thin & nasal. Do you have any specifications for the original equipment pickups on these basses? It's pretty unlikely that I'd be able to find an exact replacement, but it might help me choose something better than what's presently there. Point of interest - the J pickup is a narrow neck-width unit to accomodate the narrow string spacing of the bridge. I wonder if the earlier models with the chrome & brass bridges had the same spacing. A personal preference here, but I'm probably going to modify the circuitry of mine - reversible of course - because I really don't like a pickup selector toggle on a bass, it seems pointless and I find it can make getting a balanced tone from both pickups unduly fiddly. I'll probably wire them with individual V & T and fill the empty hole with a phase switch for the P unit. There's another BC member who has (or had) what I think is a Force 42 BBR - headless with the black/red finish. He offered it to me a few years ago, when I could neither afford it of had room for it - wonder if he still has it now? J.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1383059529' post='2259641'] I didn't notice you'd gone. [/quote] Frankly I'm amazed anyone did! J.