Bassassin

[quote]Single Cutaways. Why?[/quote] Because [i]everyone[/i] loves Snoopy: [attachment=46055:snoopycut.jpg] Jon.

[quote name='Soloshchenko' post='790796' date='Mar 30 2010, 04:53 PM']Purely out of interest, what first indicated to you this one is the real deal?[/quote] It's a set-neck Rick 4000 - as far as I know (which I'm not proud to say is quite a long way these days) there aren't any copies of those. I suppose there's a fraction of a possibility that it's a massively obscure copy that either me or other Faker nuts have never seen before, or that it's a custom one-off, but all the evidence points to a Rick 4000, built at the point when this model had a set-neck, which would be between about 1975 - 1987-ish. I'd need a look under the scratchplate, or better, the truss cover to be 100% certain - but I'm OK with 99.8%. J.

I think this thread is dealing with aesthetics, rather than "image" - and yes, if I don't like an instrument aesthetically, I'm unlikely to consider wanting to own one. I'll probably never own a Warwick or a Music Man for that reason, no matter how playable I might find them. There are a lot of basses out there so from my view there's no reason to settle for something anodyne or that I find ugly. Currently I'm finding my Lace Helix fits like a glove, sounds great, and in my opinion looks extraordinary. I'm sure people with more conservative tastes would think it looks vile. Jon.

Wonder if this one will go for a bargain price? It's presently at £350 and has passed its reserve - this suggests to me that the seller isn't particularly sure it's genuine. Might go for a Faker price... J.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='790077' date='Mar 29 2010, 10:42 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vantage-VS-695B-Bass-Matsumoku-Japan-Not-Westone_W0QQitemZ390176491946QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item5ad854c9aa"]Vantage[/url] Might be Korean though.[/quote] That's a 1980-ish Matsumoku one. By the time production shifted to Korea (about 1986) the "stripy" look wasn't very fashionable any more & Korean Vantages are much more conventional-looking. The Korean stuff that looks like this Vantage (like the Kay that's been talked about a few times recently) is from the same late 70s/early 80s era.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='790279' date='Mar 30 2010, 09:33 AM']I find it really annoying that on certain forums (HC *cough*) people seem to say that it doesn't matter how many times sellers say "I'M SELLING MY FENDER BASS" "THIS IS A FENDER BASS" provided that somewhere way down in the listing it says "oh, by the way, this is a copy".[/quote] If it's an Ebay listing, even mentioning the word "Fender" (or even "Precision" or "Jazz" because in this context they are registered trademarks) technically breaks their rules on trademark infringement, and they can remove it. You can say "copy", "fake", "replica", "knock-off" etc as much & as clearly as you want and they can still yank it off. So to speak. Most of these listings don't usually get removed, so I think this one's now gone because it's been reported. J.

You can see the ghost of the old logo under the pikey headstock label. Jon.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='789762' date='Mar 29 2010, 06:57 PM']How can that Precision pickup be a "genuine Rickenbacker part"?[/quote] The only parts I can see on that that are Rick bits are the bridge pickup (which is old enough that all the paint's worn off - original to the bass, probably) the pup surround & knobs. The bridge is a copy, the tuners aren't the Schallers fitted on modern 4003s & the scratchplate is a 2 or 3-ply - never fitted to Ricks. Fortunately it would be very simple to at least aesthetically return this to original spec - you'd bin the p pup, its controls & the scratchplate, then just bung a 4000 scratchplate on it to cover whatever tunnelling & excavations have gone on under the plate. J.

[quote name='2x18' post='789548' date='Mar 29 2010, 03:59 PM']A Ricky ??????? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rickenbacker-Bass-Guitar_W0QQitemZ180487498132QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item2a05e4a994"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rickenbacker-Bass-Gu...=item2a05e4a994[/url][/quote] Yep - and the RickResource boys will be crying blood tears over that. It's a 4000 - set neck (not through neck) dot board, unbound, would originally just have had a single pickup. It's got a mix & match of real parts & not - the bridge is a copy part but the pickup's genuine, tuners don't look original. It's had a refin too, by the looks. J.

Interesting idea but I'm not sure who he thinks will see his ad - apart from other bassists. Jon.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='788722' date='Mar 28 2010, 06:22 PM']aye cos you've got them all![/quote] I'm working on it! J.

Never under the influence of anything! Don't do any substances any more, but any time I tried writing when high the results were utter, utter crap in the cold light of sobriety! A composition will usually develop from a guitar idea (I've never found composing on bass to be productive - it's much easier for me to put a bass part to a guitar riff than vice-versa) and as the structure comes together, so the arrangement will come together in my head. I get to the point where I can "hear" a full song & play it through in my head, so recording it basically becomes a matter of trying to replicate that with instruments. I'm not much of a lyricist (preferring to leave that to the literate!) and as I work with an incredibly talented vocalist I try not to have too much influence on vocal melody & arrangements. Sometimes I'll be given a lyric or vocal idea, & suggestions for style, tempo, feel etc & that can be a very symbiotic process. The most recent project we've worked on (and to be honest, it's taken a few years to come together coherently) ended up with numerous recurring melodic, rhythmic & lyrical themes over the course of 9 songs/50-odd minutes of music. Jon.

[quote name='spongebob' post='788558' date='Mar 28 2010, 03:18 PM']I'd save a few £££ and buy a 2nd hand real one. When it comes to a Ric, and re-sale value, it's your best bet. Believe me, when you've played a real one, anything else is just, I'm sorry, not worth bothering with.[/quote] You haven't played a good Japanese copy. J.

There was a Lincoln similar to this - these were Japanese-made (Kawai, I think) and had proper "Hippy Sandwich" bodies as well as the through necks. Those turn up with a million other names too. A few more names from Memory Lane: Shaftesbury CMI Kimbara Eros Sakai CSL Satellite Arbiter Jedson Grant Bloody loads of 'em! J.

This is my old one: [attachment=45901:front.jpg] J.

[quote name='witterth' post='788518' date='Mar 28 2010, 02:13 PM']A Vantage? possibly? still means a Kay Though.[/quote] No - not a Vantage - all the through-necks were Japanese, made by Matsumoku. Vantage was actually a Canadian brand, some of which got exported, which is why a few turn up in the UK. No connection with the Kay brand. J.

It's a Cort, made in Korea late 70s/early 80s, and sold in the UK as Kay, and a million other names around the globe. I think if you unscrew the TRC on this, it will probably have a Kay logo on the other side! There's one on the Bay right now: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330415794177"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=330415794177[/url] Cort did dozens of variations on this particular neckthrough template, all of which are identifiable by the rather sexy triple brass dot inlays - I've seen Alembic-shaped basses, flying V guitars, the "Cort 45" travel guitar & bass, Washburn Wing series ripoffs. Anyway I've had the bass version the same as this, very nicely-made instrument, actually had great-sounding pups in mine - in fact the sticker on this one is telling you it has "Powersound" pickups! . The only real problem (which is common on budget through-necks) was an unadjustably high action - saddles won't go low enough & obviously you can't shim the neck. I've seen some of these where the bridge has been sunk into the body to get it low enough. Jon.

[quote name='firstkingofleon' post='788246' date='Mar 27 2010, 10:18 PM']Weird question, but has anyone near suffolk got a Rickenbacker/Rickenbacker copy i could test out? i'm in the midst of possibly buying a copy and just want to make sure i get along with the body shape/neck and everything else. any help would be greatly appriciated cheers, Adam[/quote] What are you buying? If it's one of the modern copies (Rockinbetter, Jayro, Shine, Indie etc) they have more conventionally-shaped necks than Ricks or 70s MIJ copies. Rickenbacker necks are more or less parallel - they're not a whole lot wider at the body-end than the nut, and this makes string spacing pretty tight. Modern copies have a more normal neck shape with standard string spacing. Jon.

Very nice example and £400 is a fair price for a neckthrough in this condition. Unless they've been swapped, pickups won't be real Rick ones, just good copies. The hi-gain style neck pup suggests your bass is a probably 75 - onwards, earlier ones had toasters. If the pups have a big ink-stamped serial/model number underneath, they'll probably be from Nisshin Onpa, who made the Maxon & Super 70s pups that JapCrap nerds wet themselves over. The loose wire might be for the bridge pup capacitor - just like real Ricks, the 70s MIJ copies had an extra .047 cap in the bridge pup circuit, which cuts a lot of the low-end output from the pup. Lots of people simply disconnect it to liberate the full output of the bridge unit, possibly if your bass all works properly, this is what's been done. Current Ricks have a push-pull tone pot switch to turn the circuit on & off. Anyway check out [url="http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/default.htm"]Joey's Bass Notes[/url] for everything you want to know about Rick wiring. Be warned though - Joey don't like Rickenfakers! Don't know if you know but CMI was Cleartone Musical Instruments - a brand used by Marshall Amplification in the 70s to broaden their product range - and to sidestep a dodgy distribution deal that Marshall was tied up in at the time... So no swapping your TRC for a fakey Rick one - CMI's much more interesting! Jon.

Never seen a Hoyer like yours before - it's a bit of a beast! I'd speculate that it's a 70s bass, based on the fact it shares a bridge with Hoyer's strangely erotic Rickenbacker copy: If you don't mind shelling out for a subscription to month's worth of guitar porn, it might be in one of the catalogues on the Vintaxe site: [url="http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_european_hoyer.htm"]http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_european_hoyer.htm[/url] Otherwise, sign up to the forum there & post some pics - the guy that runs the site is a genuine enthusiast & will probably ID it for you if it's in one of his catalogues. Jon.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='786445' date='Mar 25 2010, 10:54 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GRANTSON-JAZZ-BASS-GUITAR-COPY_W0QQitemZ220578293021QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item335b7da51d"]Grantson J[/url] - block and bound, '70s position pup and (wait for it) "Gigged only once" [/quote] If anyone's interested, reserve's a ton on that. Can't tell too much from the pics but from what I can see & what I know of the brand, it'll be the same as the Columbus J copies - decent neck, OK hardware & a ply body. Nice early Ibanez Blazer here, being advertised by the one living soul who has never seen a Precision: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260574311883"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=260574311883[/url] And not a JapCrap (and not a "vintige 1970 ts merlin marlin" either, whatever that's meant to mean) but an Italian Melody M5000: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290418006777"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=290418006777[/url] - which is what [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UNUSUAL-VINTAGE-BASS-GUITAR-HOME-MADE-PROJECT_W0QQitemZ320499932030"]this[/url] would once have looked like, before some drooling maniac mutilated it with a bandsaw. J.

[quote name='theosd' post='786492' date='Mar 25 2010, 11:42 PM']I had to change to bridge too though, weird curved thing it was![/quote] That'll be because the originals seem to be made from chewing gum & bend under string tension. This was mine when I got it: [attachment=45688:trackbridge.jpg] I've seen quite a few which have done this, seems to be a rare quality oversight from Matsumoku. I managed to find an older, more solid base/body fro mine, from Howard Bass Doc. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=56477"]Anyway read all about it here.[/url]. J.