Bassassin

The actual same bass or one like it? Seems to be some debate over whether the bass came from the factory with a lizard! Jon.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1386355177' post='2299295'] I'll look forward to seeing it all nice and sparkly. [/quote] Well - it's suitably sparkly now, however lacking a little structural integrity: New nut from Ebay took a little longer to turn up than I'd hoped and other projects & activities have got in the way, so it's still at the box-of-bits stage. They're very shiny & sometimes remarkably new looking bits, though: Most of it's scrubbed up seriously well - often the plating on these old MIJ instruments isn't the best, but I've had 5-year old basses with more corrosion & wear than a lot of this. The finish on the body's the biggest giveaway of the thing's antiquity - very thin lacquer with loads of chips, scuffs, cracks & wear & tear. By comparison, the neck's almost like new. Speaking of the body, turns out it's a 5-piece sandwich - 2-piece font & 3-piece back. Lazy routing's a bit disappointing but unsurprising on this sort of early pre-replica era copy. The body's very thin as well - 38mm depth. Those odd-looking pups are clearly meant to be hidden under ashtrays, but I think a couple of bits of black scratchplate plastic drilled & cut to size will tidy up the looks, sit flush with the poles & provide a thumb anchor point. Hope they sound OK, though... Anyway, looks like I'll have something to do while everyone else is Christmassing! J.

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1387356536' post='2310938'] Interesting pups Jon? [/quote] They are - seen these before on early Matsumoku J copies, and I suppose reflect the fact they're supposed to be hidden away under ashtrays. Quite a few Japanese J copies had odd-looking pups for the same reason. Anyway these are just plain brown plastic bobbins with a taped-up coil - they do look a bit grim but I'm going to cut & drill a couple of bits of black scratchplate plastic to put on the tops. Should tidy up the looks and make a more useable thumb anchor point. As yet no idea what they sound like as the bass is still in bits, but output is a healthy 7.6k for each. Hope they sound OK because I doubt there are many drop-in alternatives! J.

Shame there's not £200 knocked off the Unicorn! Still be too dear, though. J.

Gittler - I remember these were around back in the 80s. Interesting idea but surely must be weird-feeling/uncomfortable to play. Jon

Never understood the motivation to make a perfectly good instrument look like an abused, neglected, filthy, raddled piece of crap. Even less comprehension of why anyone would want to buy one! Jon.

[quote name='Steff' timestamp='1387162656' post='2308923'] Thanks guys, unfortunately while taking the time to make up my mind someone has bought it. Not surprised really, it was £30 for this one and a no-name precision type of bass... [/quote] Bugger! I think when it's that cheap, it's got to be a matter of buy now, ask questions later. Having recently missed an Atila Balogh Odyssey guitar for £30 on Gumtree, maybe BC needs a "ones that got away" thread"! J.

Looks like we cross-posted, so ta for digging up an old thread I'd completely forgotten about - I think I explained myself somewhat better back then! I'm starting to worry that I might have forgotten more than I ever knew... J.

That's twice what I'd be happy paying. Looks cosmetically tidy apart from a nasty knock on the end, so I wonder why they're trying to flog it as needing restoration? I presume the electronics might be a bit fried. Shame, it's a lovely looking thing. And it's pink! J.

Without seeing it, generic Japanese or Korean (same design was made in both countries) short-scale starter bass. Body is probably plywood, pickups are definitely single-coils in mini-humbucker size cases. These basses were sold with lots of different names on the headstock, and also like this one, unbranded, which means it's not "an" anything. You see so many basses with this same Burns-influenced design that I tend to think a few different factories made them - as I said, I ve seen both MIJ and MIK examples. Here's an early 70s Aria catalogue with a very similar bass: [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/catalogs/75_aria/75_aria_catalog_pg1.jpg.html"]http://www.matsumoku...og_pg1.jpg.html[/url] Notice there's no brand name on the headstock. This is because these were stock factory shots used by any reseller who the manufacturer supplied. And in this case, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the factory wasn't Matsumoku! Jon.

Glad it went to someone on here, and also glad I didn't end up in a bidding war with people I (sort of) socialise with. Would have been wasted on me, really - I'm only after a fretless J neck for an ongoing project (that evidence suggests I'll never finish anyway) so would have ended up flogging its remains on here anyway... J.

Only reason I didn't bid on this was that it ran out at 7.30 this morning and I wasn't up in time for a last-second punt! Silly low price it went for - wonder why on earth he advertised it like that? Jon.

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1386951393' post='2306762'] Thanks for that Jon. I like its looks immensely, like the idea of it - a top end 80s MIJ bass is always going to be good! But, as you say, too rich for my wallet. £200 less and I guess I'd be bidding against you! [/quote]Quite possibly - but my ballpark's probably closer to £400 less! [/gyppo] J.

Don't know anything about these specifically but Riverheads were quite desirable back in the day - I had (and still have) significant GAS for the Riverhead Unicorn headless - like a Steinberger shape with a contoured body styled after the Burns Flyte. This one's very uncommon (seen pics on vintage guitar forums but never seen a real one) and it's probably worth £475 to a wealthier JapCrap collector than me. I would expect it to be a very decent instrument. Jon.

From the ad: [quote][font=verdana][color=#00429A]An electric piccolo bass is similar to a four-stringed electric bass, but is usually tuned one octave higher. The lowest note of a piccolo bass usually being equal to the E found on the seventh fret of the A string of a standard bass[b][size=4].[/size][/b][/color][/font][/quote] So - it's a four-string guitar, then. Jon.

As an unashamed gyppo gear-flogger, rule-of-thumb is avoid Christmas, as most people don't have money for gear before, and don't have money [u]at all[/u] immediately afterwards! Rein in the GAS & wait for the January pay packets! Jon.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1386510555' post='2300834'] Hohner headless guitars/basses used to come in that finish too. [/quote] They did - I've got one! Anyway, free ZZB? Welcome to nineteen eighty phwooar! I'd love an old pointy 80s bass (had a Washburn B20 Stage back in the day) - but now it'd have to be strictly for jazz gigs. Jon.

The Ventura name was used recently on some new low-end cheapies being sold through Ebay a couple of years ago - there's every probability that thiis is what it'll be. Probably worth £30. A few points about old Jap Jazzes and Venturas. Ventura was a brand name owned by distributor C. Bruno in Chicago, and Japanese Venturas were never exported to the UK. There will be one or two floating around so you can't rule it out but it's highly unlikely this will be one. Always worth remembering that 70s Japanese J copies almost always have block position markers, 99% will say "Japan" on the neckplate or somewhere in the hardware - and lots of them weren't very good. Jon.

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.