Bassassin

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.

It is - Laurus use individual clamps behind the headstock for the string ends. I thought about doing something like that with my block clamp on the back & the strings going through ferrules like the Laurus, but I don't think there would be the physical space for it.

Probably a bit beyond my skills - and more importantly the tools & equipment I have to hand! A big part of doing this mod is to scratch a headless/full-size body bass itch. I've actually got 3x 80s era Steinberger style headlesses (they don't take up much room!) but don't have a full-sized one. Since I'm not realistically going to pick up a Status S2000 from the car boot, or even a Hohner Jack for the £150-odd they used to go for, it's Bastille Day for this one... A bit of a progress update - fitted the string clamp thingy yesterday, & trimmed the truss cover to fit under it. I then became preoccupied with ideas for re-shaping the headstump into something that would look pleasing and maybe in-keeping with the look of the bass. Imagine if the otherwise-stunning Laurus Quasar had a headstock (or whatever that is) that followed the lines of the instrument, that looked like a continuation of the design, rather than an incongrous, wonky lump of plank stuck on the end? It can be done. I'm certain of it.

They're similar to the ones I have, but not identical. The individual units look significantly smaller and more like these guitar-sized ones, which are all over Ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225011987719 Not identical but pretty close, the diminutive size means that you have to intonate these by moving the entire unit. Mine have conventional saddles mounted inside the units. Here's the Ebay ad I got mine from: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203735338271

Gotcha. Unfortunately too late now as I've drilled, & created rebates for the underside saddle screws I mentioned. Filling holes & re-drilling wouldn't be much hassle but the rebates are another matter! Although having compensated for the original incorrect positioning, it should all intonate correctly as long as I don't go crazy with extreme gauges - which I don't intend to do. Btw I'm a little embarrassed to admit I didn't know that, considering how long I've been mutilating basses & guitars - thanks for the info & I'll know better next time I swap a bridge! They're somewhat bigger - internal diameter would need to be 13mm, external no more than 16 to avoid potentially fouling the body, so they're very specific. I did spend an hour or so searching for compatible bearings but with no luck. No need to do any reshaping on mine as the tuners overhang by a few cm. I presume that despite the Rickish shape, the proportions & relation between body & neck on mine are quite different to those two. Comparing the Wesley to one of my MIJ Fakers (which is probably pretty close to the original), the Wesley body's somewhat scaled down and the fretboard heel set back a little. It's also 34" rather than the correct 33.25, which 2 out of 3 of my MIJ Fakers are. Anyway, today I will be mostly working out optimum positioning for the string clamp thingy, and might even screw some bits on & string it up. If the thread becomes ominously quiet, take that as a sign that I've bu99ered it all up in a monumentally catastrophic way, and bunged the lot in a skip...

I'll try not to disappoint anyone by getting bored & wandering off again. That might be a challenge... Anyway, some drilling has happened, also some gluing a bit of scrap wood inside the battery compartment, as the front screwholes for the D & G tuners just happen to be right over the route! Fortunately there's enough space under the battery box to add an extra 5mm for the screws. Speaking of screws - I have every expectation the ones provided will be made of cheese, so has anyone got a source for decent raised countersunk Phillips types? Stainless might be nice... @SpondonBassed - if I understand you correctly, that's exactly where I am with the positioning of my new units - 17" from the 12th fret is exactly in the middle of the saddle range. The original bridge was a little too far back (although the G intonation was pretty much right) and the new ones are 5mm forward to compensate. @PaulThePlug - sorry to disappoint - but it's going! As it is, I already have 3x 70s MIJ Fakers and a glittery pink Retrovibe, all of which have proper Rick-shaped headstocks, so something a bit different appeals more than what would (IMO, obviously) be a bit of turd-polishing exercise. What you're suggesting would, I think, end up looking like the weird headstock used on the Shine RK2000 Faker - back when Faker makers thought a 'non-infringing' headstock would make them immune from John Hall's C&D letters: I'd assume Wesley thought the same... As it happens, I've come across a couple of other headless Fakers over the years, both of which are custom one-offs rather than modded basses like mine: Both of these are bolt-on & feature carbon graphite necks - and IMO great examples of Rick-inspired basses that aren't really copies.