Bassassin

[quote name='FlatEric' post='890080' date='Jul 9 2010, 07:22 AM']Jon, one of the lads in a rival band had one - two pick-ups and switches!!!! WOW One evening managed to borrow it for the night, we did a swap. EUCH! No thanks. I think younger people just bought stuff, never set up and changing strings was something you only ever did when they broke! [/quote] I think you're quite right about that - I had no idea about intonation, truss adjustment, saddle height & all the elementary stuff when I was 16 & I think that reflects why so much JapCrap had the poor reputation it did. I've rescued & revived a good few MIJ cheapos from that era & I've not found one with a bad neck/fretjob yet. Different story with the Korean/Taiwanese stuff from the 70s, though! Pretty sure if I had that bass now I could make a good player out of it with no problem - the first thing I'd have to do would be reposition the bridge so the G string didn't hang off the neck above the 12th fret... I probably couldn't do much to stop it sounding like someone slapping an empty wheelie bin with a dead fish, though. J.

Absolutely fascinating stuff. I bought my first-ever bass, a short-scale Grant sort-of-Jazz copy in June '78 - I was 16 & still at school. It was identical to this: [attachment=53794:grantfront.jpg] [attachment=53795:granthead.jpg] It cost me (or rather my Mum) £59 from Unisound/Melbourne Pianos in Chatham High Street. It was absolute, utter borderline-unplayable garbage and I repeatedly tried (and failed) to kill it. I didn't sell it (who'd buy it? Apart from me, now I suppose) and as far as I know it's still in a loft somewhere, unless the owner of the loft has flung it in the tip. Anyway crap or not, I made enough progress on it to be able to approximate most of JJ Burnel's lines from The Stranglers' first 2 albums after 2 or 3 months. Couldn't afford an amp so I bodge-wired a guitar lead into the aux input of my little stereo - which of course destroyed the speakers - but at least I could hear it! Later my dad helped me to build a ported 1x12 cab from plans from some music mag (not sure but it was probably IM&RW) and I ran that off a 2x20 watt Amstrad hi-fi amp, with my bodge-wired lead! Took me a couple of years to get out of the bedroom & join a band, by which time I had a no-brand Les Paul bass copy (secondhand for about £50) which was light-years better than the Grant, and a Selmer Treble & Bass 50w head with 2x12 cab, which was about £25 out of a charity shop. I gigged that, plus my home-made cab a couple of times. Unfortunately all our gear was kept in the drummer's mum's basement, where we practiced, and it was wrecked when a pipe burst & the basement flooded. The Selmer would certainly be worth a few quid these days, and that home-made cab would have incalculable sentimental value to me. Ah, mammaries, eh? Jon.

I think they're pretty decent, although like all Arias made after MIJ production ceased, they don't fetch much - £70 is probably about right. Probably a good first bass for a guitarist! Jon.

I think I'd blame really rubbish listing titles / search term for the first 2 bargains - that and the fact it's clearly just too much trouble to walk to the PO. The Ripper's hilarious - what a piece of junk, it would be an OK fixer - upper for £70, I suppose. The most interesting thing is the bridge - looks like a Schaller 3D Piezo - these go for about £200. Obviously, you'd have to want one first. J.

[quote name='octaedro7' post='888592' date='Jul 7 2010, 03:54 PM']You missed a chance to get the real deal [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=86003&hl=ibanez+musician"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...ibanez+musician[/url][/quote] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?act=Search&CODE=show&searchid=be67cc6f303b853e3da97131d5e6b2bf&search_in=posts&result_type=topics&highlite=ibanez+musician"]Looks like he missed six chances this year![/url] Bog-standard ones ain't exactly rare. J.

Don't worry Dave - I can make you another one... No freebies, mind. J.

Fine feller, Foxen - just flogged me a cheap neck which I like quite a lot. Jon.

I think this still counts, it is - or rather was - one of those grotesque little Taiwanese Kay things. It got what it deserved: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OLD-BASS-GUITAR-NEEDS-MIRACLE-/380248505574"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OLD-BASS-GUITAR-NEED...E-/380248505574[/url] The seller says it needs a miracle. It does. The miracle of fire. J.

[quote name='Dave Vader' post='886628' date='Jul 5 2010, 08:20 PM']Very much Ply inside. Here's a link to the flickr set I did of the TRC, it's got some kind of sticker inside, makes me think of fakery. Oh, and Jon, if you want to see what I did to your wonderful TRC work, I'm about to make a build thread on the Rickenbastard. It might make you cry...[/quote] No link! I'm looking forward to seeing what you've done to the trc. And don't worry, takes a lot to make me blub these days! J.

[quote name='noelk27' post='885982' date='Jul 5 2010, 01:08 AM']Hmm, the plot thickens - this bass is not the MC30TH, but one from the early 80s - it has the usual exposed pole pieces on the pickups, a dark ebony touchboard, and dark stain - the bass in question has serial G806058 - and an inlay at the 24th fret that says "Limited Edition". I'd post some pics, but can't seem to attach tonight![/quote] Sounds interesting - have you tried asking/searching the boards at [url="http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/"]ICW[/url]? The Ltd Edition thing sounds faintly familiar. That serial makes it July 1980 - 30 this month! J.