Bassassin

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='785976' date='Mar 25 2010, 04:07 PM']I'm sure it was last year I first spotted that the German guy was trying to sell one of the Ibanez Artist Basses. Not quite the same model, [b]I think[/b] mine had four knobs. He's still trying to sell it. At £865. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1978-IBANEZ-ARTIST-BASS-made-in-JAPAN_W0QQitemZ120542534148QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item1c10e51a04"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1978-IBANEZ-ARTIST-B...=item1c10e51a04[/url] Edit: Would these instruments have been made in the Fujigen factory?[/quote] Yep - it's reckoned all 70s & early 80s Ibanez electrics were from there. Fujigen was used for Ibanez up to the 90s but I think they came from other factories as well later on. There are some pics of control / pickup variations on 2626B basses here: [url="http://www.ibanezregister.com/Gallery/basses/artist/gal-2626b.htm"]http://www.ibanezregister.com/Gallery/bass...t/gal-2626b.htm[/url] These all have 3 knobs but clearly specs changed from time to time so there's no reason why yours couldn't have had 4. J.

[quote name='Musicman69' post='785397' date='Mar 25 2010, 01:27 AM']Just wondering.. is any of this fine-crafted firewood worth anything? I know yis love it but any monetary value?[/quote] Depends what you mean by worth anything. With very few exceptions there's nothing that makes it into pre-CBS Fender value territory, but as the esteemed Mr Twit says, most JapCrap commonly sells in the £100 - £400 (ish) bracket. Where it becomes interesting is when this stuff (still commonly regarded as old, cheap & throwaway junk by the people who find it in their lofts & garages) turns up at car boots, charity shops, on Gumtree etc for buttons, which allows 'orrible gyppos like me the opportunity to buy (for example) 2 old guitars for £35, run them under the tap & then collectively Ebay them for £320. There aren't too many bargains on Ebay any more because it's overrun by the sort of people who will pay pretty decent money for JapCrap, and plenty of people with their grimy car boot Avon Les Pauls, insisting they're "Lawsuit Ibanez with a different name". Fun & games. Wanna buy a Matsumoku L6S copy? J.

[quote name='tazza1' post='785367' date='Mar 25 2010, 12:13 AM']I had a Kasuga EB3 copy (made in the same factory as Tokais were I believe)[/quote] Sort of - it seems that when Tokai started exporting to the US in the early 70s, initially they couldn't meet demand with their own production facility & outsourced to Kasuga Gakki, who were able to manufacture to the necessary replica-level standard. Lots of Ebay spin stories about Kasuga being "made in the Tokai factory" have evolved from this! J.

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='785264' date='Mar 24 2010, 10:29 PM']Those machine heads remind me of Yahamas - budget range from one of their factories perhaps? Mention is made of them being slack and that's the usual complaint until you discover how to adjust the tension - Yamaha used to supply a special tool for this.[/quote] Good spot sir - the Yam ones are identical apart from having nice cast keys. I doubt they were made in-house, Gotoh supplied a lot of hardware to Jap factories, as did other light-engineering concerns like Chushin. I've never had the adjusting tool for mine (I also have a Cimar P/J thing with the same ones) but finger-tight seems to hold 'em OK. I think it looks like it would be straightforward enough to improvise/bodge a tool though. Might have a go tomorrow. J.

Not encountered "Yasuki" before but it'll probably be some random importer's own brand. This being the case, it's unlikely that it'll be possible to nail this one to a specific manufacturer. Although we can have a go. The neckplate with the MIJ stamp on the lower half appears on basses from Fujigen Gakki - it also appears randomly on a few other JapCraps but not with the same consistency. However a few circumstantial things are pointing me that way. I have CSL-branded Fujigen J copy, mine's a few years later than this and has the early Ibanez Blazer shape headstock. My CSL has the same tuners (if they're slack, the tension's adjustable using the collars on the shafts), same round-end pickups, plus I've seen another CSL Jazz with those same very white inlays. All just circumstantial but there might be more - on mine, the control cavity route is longer than usual & extends under the scratchplate by a couple of cm - pop off your scratchplate & see if it's the same. All the other routing is normal on mine - close routes for the pups & wiring drilled between the cavities rather than a channel. Also mine's a one-piece mahogany body, it'd be interesting to find out what's under the paint. Do you think the finish is original? Not sure I remember seeing a white 70s JapCrap J before. Anyway, it's a fine looking beast. Was this on Ebay a couple of weeks back? Jon.

[quote name='Bassistclem' post='784984' date='Mar 24 2010, 06:48 PM']I was lucky enough to find a Westone Thunder 1A at a car boot for only £12. The guy was asking £15 but I still felt the need to barter him down. Not a bad bass either.[/quote] It's your duty! My Westy Thunder 1 guitar (bit of a project, admittedly) was £7 - I got him down from a tenner. As you do. Jon.

[quote name='silddx' post='784510' date='Mar 24 2010, 11:12 AM'][/quote] Afraid I can't take credit for that - I think that's courtesy of Mr Foxen. However: Badly Engineered Hopeless Ripoffs Involving No German Electronic Reliability. J.

I won't touch anything with a neck twist - unless it's cheap enough to just have it for parts. Most neck profile issues are just badly-adjusted truss rods and I've so far only encountered one that wouldn't correct out of probably a hundred or more guitars & basses I've worked on. Frets that are too worn to be levelled are a no-no as well. Pretty much anything else can be sorted out, and it's surprising how restoreable dirty & corroded hardware can be. I don't mind honest wear & tear, in fact I quite like it on the 30+ year-old JapCrap I tend to play. Neglect , abuse and "relicing" aren't the same though. Don't really mind a bit of grime - when I get a new-to-me bass or guitar, the first thing I do is strip it, thoroughly clean it, spray pots & switches, level frets if necessary & set it up anyway. Sorry about the guitar content - but it can't be said I don't like a challenge: [attachment=45519:l6sorigcond.jpg] Beautiful! Several gallons of acetone & 1000 cubic meters of toxic fumes later: [attachment=45520:l6sstripped.jpg] Of course I could've left it as it was & Ebayed it as Noel Gallagher's first guitar. Jon.

Let's not forget: Horrible American Rubbish That Keeps Exploding. Jon.

Pile of badly cobbled-together trash. So what - did Gibson get so hacked off at all those bloody Jap copies that they thought they'd best 'em at their own game - & make a crude ripoff of this: And after scratching their collective heads, decided the best way to achieve end this was to bodge an old Guild neck onto some sort of Rickenbacker copy body, which had been modified (by Gibson's bandsaw-operating blind chimp, evidently) presumably in order to avoid legal action! Are we honestly expected to believe that the neck & body are in any way related? [quote name='Ebay bloke flogging junk bass']This one was never made other than this one. So similar to a Gibson Moderne only this is much rarer.[/quote] I'm no Gibbo expert but as far as I know there was never a Moderne "prototype" built so that would hardly make this rarer, in the wildly unlikely event that it wasn't a bodged-together travesty . The Moderne was part of a planned trio of bizarre guitars from the 50s - the other two were the Flying V & Explorer. For whatever reason only a design blueprint for the Moderne ever existed from that era - the guitar itself wasn't actually built until the 80s. At least, not by Gibson. There were Ibanez & Greco examples (can't really call them copies!) built in the mid 70s based on pics of the body shape from the old 50s blueprint, which had been published in music mags - for this reason the Moderne copies had conventional 3-a-side headstocks instead of the rather rubbish-looking paddle of the "original". Jon.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='783984' date='Mar 23 2010, 09:02 PM']Do you know which factory my Cimar Rickenfaker is likely to be from?[/quote] So far these are something of a mystery - no idea where they're from but it doesn't look like any of the usual suspects - Fujigen, ,Matsumoku, Kasuga etc. Cimars, judging by the [url="http://www.ibanez.co.jp/anniversary/index.html"]catalogues on the Ibanez site[/url] seem to go across a broad spectrum of quality - at the one end the crude budget stuff like many of [url="http://www.ibanez.co.jp/anniversary/2/3.jpg"]these[/url] and at the other, high quality near-replicas like your 'Faker or the set-neck LP [url="http://www.ibanez.co.jp/anniversary/14/2.jpg"]here[/url]. It's quite possible Cimars were sourced from several factories. Really the only way we'll be able to find out where yours (or any of the others) came from is if an identical instrument comes up with a factory brand, or with an importer brand which we already know was sourced from a specific factory. J.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='783811' date='Mar 23 2010, 06:50 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1976-Antoria-Les-Paul-Bass-Guitar-Japan-Fuji-Gen-Relic_W0QQitemZ260574013293QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item3cab6be76d"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1976-Antoria-Les-Pau...=item3cab6be76d[/url] Antoria Les Paul-ish bass. How well respected are the 70s Antoria basses and guitars? Being Fuji-gen, I'd expect good quality. But, someone who was a guitar shop worker in the 60s was reminiscing on the MLP forums, and he said that the CSL instruments, when they came out, were a real step up from the Antorias (etc.) that were being sold before then. So, how good does that make the Antoria instruments? Edit: What an unusual looking bridge: [/quote] Got a link to the post? Seems like an odd thing to say, because 70s Antorias were the exact same guitars as their Ibanez counterparts, right down to the model numbers. CSL was the house-brand of Charles Summerfield Ltd in Gateshead, who were UK importer for Ibanez at that point, so very likely they sourced their planks through Hoshini Gakki, Ibanez brand owner/exporter. Antoria was owned & imported by J.T Coppock Ltd in Leeds - they traded with Hoshino to source 70s Antorias (according to an ex-Coppock employee who posts on the ICW board) and the guitars were identical to Ibanez but were significantly less expensive. If there's a pecking order of UK-market Fujigen JapCrap it generally goes Ibanez >> Antoria >> CSL. I would expect 70s CSLs to be pretty much exactly the same basic instruments as Antoria, with possibly some finish & detail differences on some models. I've got a late 70s/early 80s CSL Jazz, but it was produced after Antoria changed hands & production went to Korea. Interestingly it's identical to a Cimar J copy which is from the era when Cimar was sourced from Fujigen and either owned or controlled by Hoshino. J.

Worryingly tempted by the 2x15. I was supposed to be going smaller & lighter but this is just up t'road from me, and I've always liked those shiny metal cones... Must resist. Must. Jon.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='782105' date='Mar 21 2010, 09:03 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HONDO-ll-ELECTRIC-BASS-GUITAR-70s-lawsuit-japan-bass_W0QQitemZ190382668045QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item2c53b0f90d"]Argh, forgot what this was called.[/url][/quote] It's a Horrible Hondo. Someone dropped lucky at the car boot, presumably, because he reckons he only got it today. Looks pretty tidy. J.

Unless it comes with a free DeLorean it can't be an '81 - Fender Japan didn't exist until 1982! Jon.

I'm strangely attracted to: Squier VMJ fretless Ibanez Jet King Ibanez ATK Italia Rimini Aria Diamond Mosrite copy ...amongst others. But all my basses are cheap rubbish anyway. Jon.

[quote name='Kyron' post='781112' date='Mar 20 2010, 08:01 PM']Well- I paid £120 for it 2 years ago (recommended by a friend to house the westone hardware). I've got no problem letting it go for the same price- on one condition... I get to see the bass finished! hehe Let me know what you think, Cheers[/quote] That's a bit outside of my impulse range at the moment, I'm afraid - sorry! If you've still got it when I've sorted out the necessary purchases (like a cab that doesn't sound like it's had a dodgy kebab!) I'll give you a shout. J.

Peaches - The Stranglers. Arguably I bought a bass specifically to learn to play Peaches - I had no idea how to tune a bass at the time, so when a more knowledgeable friend showed me what I was doing wrong, I had to re-learn the song... I then went on to learn the entire Rattus Norvegicus album, so that was OK. Jon.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='781024' date='Mar 20 2010, 06:39 PM']Neck through fretless precision bass with a vaguely SB1000 style colour scheme. I like it! [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/P-Bass-style-fretless-guitar-Early-Japan-built-classic_W0QQitemZ270550188555QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item3efe0c420b"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/P-Bass-style-fretles...=item3efe0c420b[/url][/quote] I've got a project one of these (fretted, maple board) which I bought from BCer Geoffbyrne last year. These are Satellites and almost certainly Korean, not MIJ. I'm ancient enough to remember these first appearing in the shops in 1980 and being quite impressed at a neck-through for £99! I was way too much of a snob to consider buying anything with "Satellite" written on it, though... J.

...and somebody just paid £100 for it. J.

[quote name='benebass' post='781021' date='Mar 20 2010, 06:37 PM']I reckon yours is a BX7 that was never routed for a Jazz pickup near the bridge - they did come with a maple board[/quote] I think you're right about that - the pup spacing looks like there should be something between the bridge & P route, if not the existing one would be more central. Kyron - if you have some idea of what you'd like for it, let me know! I'm supposed top be putting a bit aside for a new rig at the moment so unfortunately I'm not too flush, which means if I were to go for it, it would have to be impulse-buy cheap! Based on the fact you bought it originally, I'm guessing you have a specific minimum amount in mind... From what I've read about Brandoni they bought up all of Eko's stock when the company folded in the 80s, so this will doubtless be part of the factory's original output. Clearly it's been built up as a complete bass at some point, but it's hard to tell what kind of condition it's in & what play wear there is. Looks like a few knocks & bumps on it but that might just be flash glare/reflections. Hard to say. J.

No idea of value but I might interested if the price is going to be sensible - always loved these & fancy a bit of Italian for the collection! Here's the Eko P/J variant: [url="http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/eko/finalyears/bx7.html"]http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/eko/finalyears/bx7.html[/url] Jon.

If the pup in this is an old DiMarzio Model P (which it looks like) they can fetch £40-odd alone. I'm almost tempted... :blush: Edit: In the (unlikely) event anyone gives a sh!t what it was before its appointment with the bandsaw - it was an Italian Melody: [url="http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/recanati-castelfidardo/melody/melody70/m5000.html"]http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/recanati...dy70/m5000.html[/url] The neck's the giveaway - 3-piece, protruding heel-end truss adjuster, dots to 17th fret & that strange skinny neckplate. Shame, 'cos you don't see too many of these. J.