Bassassin

Satellite J copy, £55 BIN: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-ELECTRIC-GUITAR-SATALLITE-BASS-/300441270000"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-ELECTRIC-GUI...S-/300441270000[/url] 70s Korean-made, a bit more crude than most of the Jap equivalents but a bargain if you can collect from Southampton. J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='878427' date='Jun 26 2010, 09:27 PM']CMI bass. CMI in this case standing for Cleartone Musical Instruments, the USA based CMI not the UK (?) one. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CMI-Bass-Very-rare-and-collectable-/120588301110?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item1c139f7336"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CMI-Bass-Very-rare-a...=item1c139f7336[/url] Claims to be Fujigen. I'm not even going to hazard a guess if that's correct for this instrument or not Edit: Oh, it needs a setup but the "trust" rod is broken. How do you do a setup on an instrument with a broken truss rod?[/quote] Cleartone Musical Instruments was the UK one - Jim Marshall's "other" brand. The US CMI was Chcago Musical Instrument Co, who owned Gibson up until 1970, & interestingly didn't produce any copy-era guitars, as far as I know. Just to complicate things, it seems there was an Australian CMI as well! I don't think this is a Fujigen, in fact I've never seen a definite Fujigen CMI. This looks like the stuff that appears with low-rent brands like Columbus & Avon - it's not clear who made these yet but I'm pretty sure it's none of the "big" names. With a broken "trust" rod (in the kneck, under the fretts, unless it has a frettles arm) it won't be getting any setting up any time soon. Won't be reaching its reserve, either. J.

[quote name='tazza1' post='877495' date='Jun 25 2010, 03:48 PM']I'm just about to go on holiday for a few days but I'll try to get some pics up on this thread when I come back. The logo had been removed when I bought it but I was in a recording studio a few years ago & the owner had two identical basses (one fretted & one de-fretted) - they were badged Columbus. I've tried rubbing a pencil lightly over some thin paper on top of the logo but the impression it left wasn't clear enough.[/quote] Columbus is quite likely - they had proper J pickups and are pretty common. If it has little enclosed tuners with cast buttons, a big chrome TRC and plywood body construction, then I suspect we have an ID already! Post some pics when you're back from your hols anyway. J.

[quote name='tazza1' post='877438' date='Jun 25 2010, 02:34 PM']I was 99% certain that was the case. I've got a similar Jap one in pieces in my garage at the moment awaiting refurb. It's got Jazz style pickups though & the tuners are not the elephant ear ones. I've had it since around 1980 & I think it must be early 70's.[/quote] Stick some pics up & let's try & ID it. J.

[quote name='discreet' post='877407' date='Jun 25 2010, 02:11 PM']Gyppo-flip? Ha, ha![/quote] That I can't take credit for - blame Mr Foxen for that one. J.

[quote name='discreet' post='877312' date='Jun 25 2010, 12:38 PM']Your sense of justice and civic responsibility toward the bass-playing community is highly laudable. [/quote] Yes, I am, as you can clearly tell, awesome. Plus, all the time they want £180 for it, there's no chance at all of being able to snag it for £25, strip off the rattlecan refin, nail on an Avon badge (there are two in my junk drawer) and gyppo-flip it as the honest JapCrap copy it truly is. J.

I sent the seller a polite little note to explain what it is, & suggest they change the title of the listing. I probably should've said that the start price was ever-so-slightly ambitious, considering... J.

I hope this just is a case of genuine ignorance on the part of the seller! Anyway it's a low-end Jap jazz copy. This probably had a tin "Avon" badge nailed to it once. Under the black rattlecan paintjob it will have a 3-colour burst, and under that there will be genuine vintage plywood. This is typical of early/mid 70s MIJ cheapos - it would have had chrome ashtrays originally, so for pups they just used whatever was lying around, in this case chrome single-coils intended for Telecaster copies. These pups do actually sound OK though. In Telecasters. Here's one of these that I picked up a couple of years ago, for about £30: [attachment=52989:avonjazz.jpg] Jon.

[quote name='The Twickerman' post='877114' date='Jun 25 2010, 09:03 AM']Excepet, perhaps, a new found awareness of the litigious nature of Rickenbacker. Just a thought. I share your scepticism. Yet the rumour persists and is quite prevailant.[/quote] Thing is, it's not a "rumour" - it's UK dealer listings & Ebay listings & nothing else. If you do a bit of digging around, "Rockinbetter" is associated with a [url="http://www.jsdguitarshack.com/dillion_guitars/dillion_rockinbetter_bass.html"]Canadian brand called Dillion[/url]. Do a bit more digging and there's a strange association (of sorts) between Dillion & Tokai. It seems the Canadian distributors for Tokai were having trouble obtaining guitars of the spec they needed, so they ordered a bunch of Tokai fakes - copies of copies - through Dillion's supplier. Tokai geeks call these "Fakai" & I strongly suspect the spurious association between Tokai & whoever buys in these Korean Rick copies & puts a "Rockinbetter" sticker on the trc is derived from little more than the two names appearing in the same Google search result. As I've pointed out before, Tokai Gakki are no strangers to US trademark protection laws, otherwise you'd still be able to buy a Tokai Les Paul Reborn, rather than a Love Rock. J.

This is post - Fujigen, made in Korea by Samick, I think. These appeared after the Antoria brand changed hands (as it has a few times) & are decent enough, by all accounts. J.

[quote name='Dave Vader' post='876646' date='Jun 24 2010, 05:31 PM']Now when did Tokai sort out the pickup spacing on these? Thoot looks so much better than mine, which is probably why it's £200 more...[/quote] I'm sure if Tokai had made them in the first place the pickup spacing - and everything else - would have been spot-on from day one! J.

Cheap mudbuckery Tele japes: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bass-Guitar-Fender-Squire-Precision-/170503924985"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bass-Guitar-Fender-S...n-/170503924985[/url] Jon.

[quote name='GaryTheBassMan' post='874311' date='Jun 22 2010, 11:54 AM']Oh man, I wish I had picked up one of those babies for £3!!!! lol Maybe the next time!! [/quote] Just be patient. I've had a Westone Thunder 1 (guitar) for £9, a 1963 Watkins Rapier for about £12, a Tokai-built Hondo Tele & an early 70s MIJ Gibson 335 copy for £30 for both, and plenty more. Car boots are brilliant. J.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='874216' date='Jun 22 2010, 10:29 AM']You sir, are a true gentleman![/quote] Well, one does what one can. And I should point out they weren't actually [i]my[/i] limbs. [quote name='Dom in Somerset' post='874278' date='Jun 22 2010, 11:18 AM']At some point in the 80s K made some P bass coppies that were .....good! My first bass was one , they had a Dimarzio Pick up (if memory serves) ,they were set up nicely , fit and finish was good.They weighed a tun! Obviosly made in a different factory and just badged K.I can't remember what happened to mine , but I've met others who've owned them and they have agreed , yes , they were good![/quote] Kay was originally a US - made brand & "original" Kays are well-respected now & many can fetch a lot of money. At some point in the 60s/70s it just became a generic low-end importer brand, and the name appeared on stuff like the bass in this thread as well as some halfway-accurate Taiwanese copies. I've had a couple of Taiwanese P copies and they were really solid (literally - like you say they weighed a ton!) and good-sounding basses. The necks were a the only letdown - really thick, made from strip-ply and with pretty rough & ready fret jobs. Still OK though considering the budget build (and Taiwan really wasn't respected for guitar-making in the 70s) and easy enough to make playable. Pups on mine weren't DiMarzios but were punchy & powerful anyway. Here's one I had: [attachment=52790:body_f.jpg] A bit later on Kays started being made by Cort in Korea - these were really nice-looking through-neck designs with brass hardware & detailing, & clearly an attempt to move the brand upmarket. There were a few different designs around the same concept but the most common bass was like this: [attachment=52789:fullfrontal.jpg] These are really nice basses if you get a good 'un - the main problem with these is an unadjustably high action due to the low fretboard height & fairly chunky bridge. Again, mine was a really great-sounding bass. J.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='874206' date='Jun 22 2010, 10:18 AM']The owner should have paid you £3.00 to take it off his hands. Unfortunately the cost of disposing of it safely so it can never damage an aspiring bassist again would be considerably more than that...[/quote] If push comes to shove I'll take it off his hands & dispose of it - for a small consideration. I have a lot of experience in handling such hazardous waste and have so far only lost two limbs. It's a small price to pay for the benefit to future generations and society as a whole. J.

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='874144' date='Jun 22 2010, 09:11 AM']The tone.........like dropping pebbles into a biscuit tin.[/quote] That is poetry. Painting with words. Unlike the bass. I'd certainly pay a tenner or thereabouts for something like this, purely to do what I said earlier. Easy money. In fact I have some thing similar (don't get excited, it's just a guitar) in bits in the lab at the moment. All I'm lacking is the intestinal fortitude to actually touch the bloody thing. Guess I just don't need £70 badly enough. J.

[quote name='GaryTheBassMan' post='874053' date='Jun 22 2010, 12:13 AM']Haha I wasn't far off of the actual value of this bass when I bought it then?[/quote] Well, funnily enough if you were to give it a scrub up & fix the bits & pieces wrong with it, if you bunged it on Ebay claiming it was a Teisco (which I'm fairly sure it's not), chances are someone would cough up £70 - odd quid for it. Although six quid's a more realistic price! J.

Cheapo Kay starter thing from the early 70s, probably made in Korea or Taiwan or somewhere they hadn't invented the wheel or discovered fire. Probably has accrued a degree of retroid kitschyness conferred upon it by the passage of time but it's still highly likely that any resemblance to a functioning musical instrument is entirely accidental. Jon.

[quote name='noelk27' post='871921' date='Jun 19 2010, 05:15 PM']Interesting. (But now only "quite interesting" as it's not an official Sting signature piece.) Jon, In theory, just saying, imagine if, etc, I've just been offered one of these (fifteen) basses, pre-owned, what sort of price tag are we talking?[/quote] Considering the new list price was $10000 - odd and there were so few of them made, I can't see the one you've (theoretically) been offered having depreciated a great deal! Possibly the opposite, depending on collector demand. Much better pics of the MC30th here: [url="http://www.ibanezrules.com/namm/2009/mc30th.htm"]http://www.ibanezrules.com/namm/2009/mc30th.htm[/url] Can't help thinking they could've tried a bit harder with those pickup covers... J.

[quote name='Machines' post='871671' date='Jun 19 2010, 01:10 PM']Ibanez should reissue them - i'd be after one if they did.[/quote] They did - there was a 30th Anniversary reissue last year: [url="http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/handcrafted-re-issues/limited-edition-mc30th-musician-bass-reissue-at-namm-%2709/"]http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/hand...-at-namm-%2709/[/url] Not exactly affordable & easy to find though! There weren't any signature basses as such in the Musician era but they did occasionally produce one-offs for particular artists - check this out: [url="http://www.gbase.com/gear/ibanez-stanley-clark-1979"]http://www.gbase.com/gear/ibanez-stanley-clark-1979[/url] :brow: Jon.

[quote name='ukbassboy' post='870676' date='Jun 18 2010, 12:19 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ibanez-AEB8E-Electro-Acoustic-Bass-Guitar-Hard-Case-/150455788120?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2307dd2258"]Ibanez[/url] Ibanez AEB8E with a hard case currently only £52. I have this week bought a Crafter 4 string acoustic bass off Ebay found this when searching for a hard case. I bid on it with the aim of using the hardcase and selling the bass on here, unfortunately I missed the bit about pickup only in Bristol. I know, I am retard! I am currently the highest bidder so if you are genuinely interested and don't mind driving to Bristol then PM me and I will tell you my max bid. I reckon that including case its worth over £270 new so a good deal, I just cant drive to Bristol![/quote] You ever noticed that 2/3 of BC's membership appears to be in Bristol? Jon.

Right - these came in two flavours - the original US-built version and a licensed copy by Hondo, built in Korea or possibly Japan. Understandably the Hondo version is much more common (particularly in the UK) and similarly understandably the Hondos are never identified as such in the Ebay listings. And this one's a Hondo. That doesn't make it a bad bass - just one you wouldn't want to pay a lot of money for. I'd say if you're OK with this being a bit of a project, and the price stays south of £150 it's probably worth a punt. Jon.