Bassassin

Those are the actual tuners fitted as standard to my first gen MM V7! Grover 142 clones with torque screws. I have an Aria STB-GT, doesn't really need new tuners but these are nice...

This seller has 100-odd poorly photographed guitars & basses, many of which have 4-figure price tags. Possibly lazy & delusional but doesn't look like a scammer.

I have a 2000-ish (so modern-ish) MIJ Talbo bass, a reissue of the 80s aluminium oddity. It's an amazing-looking & nice playing thing but the hollow metal body makes it quite resonant and microphonic, making it very prone to feedback in my last noisy rock band, meaning it didn't get out too often.

I have a gen 1 V7 fretless and don't understand the negativity surrounding the tuners - unless earlier ones were different, they're accurate & nice quality Grover 142 clones with adjustable torque. I do wonder if some people have slippage issues and they've not noticed the adjustment screw? No issues with the functionality of the bridge on mine, although I'm slightly (I'm sure needlessly) uncomfortable with the vintage type threaded saddles & flatwounds.

New one on me - had a bit of a dig and it's on page 56 of this 1988 Greco catalogue: https://vintagejapanguitars.com/greco-1989-catalogue/ Should be good quality, at this point Greco was still exclusively MIJ & Fujigen was the factory. Not going to be a particularly common bass so I'd leave it stock, or at least don't do anything irreversible.

Wot - the blue bit? It's a bit of clear blue acrylic rod poked through the hole. So to speak.

After some delays, and stuff getting in the way, it would seem that I have taken something functional but ugly, and repurposed it into something weird and functionless. An improvement? Who am I to judge? Anyway - next, a little bit of fret dressing, then slapping on some Danish Oil. Wonder if I can get the cloth to spontaneously combust this time?

Much as I don't like to have all-time favourites of anything, I'd have to concede that the single biggest influence on the way I ended up playing, and (in the context of his former pop group) how I approach music in general, would be this dude:

Agree about the damage (although if it's only minor fretboard delamination near the nut, it's a really easy fix) but most Fakers don't have their original trc & I wouldn't say it impacts value. Would need to see pics to confirm it's a Kasuga - but imo €600 is a lot for any Faker.

My first amp (1981) was a T&B 50, the snakeskin covered one. Got it from a charity shop for £20, with a matching 2x12 cab. Gigged mine with a home-made 1x15, dunno how it really sounded but it impressed the f*** out of teenage me! It died when our drummer's basement (where we used to practice) flooded. The annoying thing (devastating at the time) was that I'd just left the band but hadn't picked my gear up yet.

I did already know about this - and I envy the lives, free from related mental and emotional scarring, of those who do not.

I've seen them a few times over the years, was a big fan in their very early days and saw them at King Tut's in Glasgow in (I think) 1995, and chatted to Cass for a bit after the gig. Phenomenal player and a thoroughly lovely human being. Back then he was still 'that guy out of Terence Trent D'Arby's band'!

I think the neck shim's a consequence of the swapped bridge - the original would have sat in a shallow route which appears to have been filled & the replacement just plonked on top. Action's pretty brutal although the saddles are bottomed out by the looks. These were rare basses so finding the proper bridge would be close to impossible - and even if you did, you'd need to re-route it. It's also been de-fretted (which won't help the action) although that looks like a decent job. Pity - first 5-string I ever saw in the flesh & played was one of these.

Ah - becoming restless following a weekend with no updates, are we? Patience my pretties, patience...

This is the Marathon 6 that Eastwood Guitars have recently released a knockoff of: https://eastwoodguitars.co.uk/collections/hooky-series/products/hooky-bass-6-pro If they can charge £1300 for what's a mass-produced Chinese or Indonesian copy, I wouldn't want to try and guess what an original 70s Marathon 6 would go for.

La Guillotine has claimed her bloody prize.

It's disturbing how many Americans spell it 'Rickenbocker'. Which is, inexplicably, how they say it. I've seen Ebay ads for both 'Squizz' and 'Squirt' Precisions, so I think I've pretty much got to give a pass for a bit of harmless transposing!

I really like that scratchplate design - nice nod to the original 1950s 4000 in some of the contours, and a huge improvement on the ugly afterthought Rickenbacker have been slapping on their basses since the 60s. The pink Retro's actually due an overhaul after the scratchplate I made started delaminating & the top pearloid layer started peeling off! Slightly redesigned pickguard, also new pickups & bridge might happen too if I can find anything suitable. It'll be keeping its head, though!

Slight progress update - I have a design for the re-shaped vestigial head that I think looks pretty damn sexy - it's now down to my (non-existent!) wood-hacking skills to see if I can replicate it in reality. Think I'll keep it under wraps until it's done... Messing around with the tuners, I found that they're a lot smoother with two nylon washers fitted, downside is that the size of washers used on the units doesn't seem to be available in nylon, although they are in steel, copper & aluminium. Back to the grease then, unless I can successfully trim larger washers (which I already have) to size without them looking a complete mess. Wouldn't be surprised if that's pretty much exactly what it is - Steinberger neck, hardware & electronics transplanted onto a Rick-shaped body.

Sold for £360 BIN, re-listed as Washburn - which in fairness is pretty good for a Washy Status these days. Bit rough & ready but if it's structurally sound should tidy up OK.

Would be fine for £70. Really don't know who bids on things like this.

This will definitely have conventional string spacing & neck proportions - I'm pretty sure only the 70s Fakers had correct Rick string spacing. The Hipshot bridge has adjustable spacing, although they do cost a fortune these days. I think I'd be inclined to go for a decent conventional bridge, Schaller 3D or something. Apropos of nothing, if I was doing this one I'd take the opportunity of binning the scratchplate (which I think is a horrid design that spoils the look of the bass) and put an original 50s 4000 style one on. In gold, obvs. 😎

Haven't listened to the demo yet but looking at the design and construction of the instrument, this is a fascinating design concept. It's a genuinely spectacular leap of imagination to look at a basic BBOT bridge and go - let's make the entire bass like that! Slightly more seriously - I don't find it attractive to look at but if this was £160 (as a BBOT bass realistically should be) rather than £1600-odd, I'd be all over it!

So anyway - I made a thing: I think that constitutes a proof of concept - everything's nailed on, everything looks straight, everything seems to work. A couple of niggles - the tuners are very, very stiff - albeit I have not yet smothered them with grease as I don't want to risk oily splats on the unfinished wood. The other is something I didn't forsee - the ball ends on this set of strings (the old ones that were on this before I dismantled it) slip out of the tuners unless the ends are laid horizontal. Not too important - I've had bridges that did this before (the Gotoh on an Ibanez SR800 I had didn't like small balls!) and it's easy enough to place them flat. The ends on these strings are fairly small & rounded so it likely won't be a problem with other strings, but if push comes to shove I can slip washers over them like I did on my old Ibby! Very pleased with this so far, I have some ideas for reshaping the headstump, & I'm starting to think this could be quite special when it's done.