Bassassin

[quote name='spinynorman' post='654180' date='Nov 14 2009, 12:55 AM']Just web search, so take it with a pinch of whatever you have to hand and wait for Jon to tell us how much is likely to be true. Bradley was the house brand of Veneman's Music Emporium in Rockville, Maryland, replacing the Kapa brand, when the factory in Hyattsville closed down. The Veneman family lived near Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda and Koob Veneman liked the name. Bradleys were made by Fuji Gen Gakki and probably also Matsumoko, Aria and other builders around the Nagoya, Japan area. Bradleys ranged in quality from starter instruments to very high quality, depending on when and where made. In the 70s and early 80s Bradleys were imported from Japan. Later on in the 90s, the guitars were made in Korea. The company and store's inventory was purchased by the Guitar Center chain in 2000, who then converted the Rockville store into a Guitar Center. There may have been more than one phase of Bradleys - earliest were Matsumoko sourced with pearloid script logo, later from unknown source with black decal script logo, including Fender copies with plastic saddles, then in the 80s either black or gold decal, and fret markers were stick-on dots. [url="http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Bass/product/Bradley/Jazz+Clone/10/1"]Reviews of Bradley Jazz Bass on Harmony Central[/url] [url="http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Bradley"]Bradley Guitar Reviews[/url] [url="http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Bass/brand/Bradley"]Other Bradley Bass Reviews[/url] [url="http://www.jvguitars.com/showproduct.pl?id=1112988402"]And here's the inevitable one made in the Ibanez factory[/url] Sources [url="http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=152280"]http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=152280[/url] [url="http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-649/f/Bradley-Rickenbacker-4003-Bass.htm"]http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-...r-4003-Bass.htm[/url] [url="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2000_April_24/ai_61614362/"]http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EI...24/ai_61614362/[/url] [url="http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-649/f/bradley-electric-guitar.htm"]http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-...tric-guitar.htm[/url][/quote] Could all be gospel - why not? All Bradley is/was is another of the thousands and thousands of generic importer rebrands there were in the 70s. We certainly had enough here in the UK - Avon, Columbus, Grant, CMI, Shaftesbury, Arbiter, Jedson, Eros, Sumbro, Saxon, Grantson... The list goes on, and that's not including the likes of CSL & Antoria which during the 70s actually [i]were[/i] "from the Ibanez factory" - these were built by Fujigen, sourced through Ibanez brand owner Hoshino, and often identical to their Ibanez counterparts - apart from the name & the price tag. And by contrast, the big giveaway of the ordinariness of the Bradley brand is the one "made by Ibanez". It's not - it's a generic plywood EB-0 copy, from the same source as the low-end tat labelled Avon & Columbus over here. I had the same bass labelled Grantson, cost me £25 from a car boot. It wasn't very good. As for the £600 Jazz, I stick by my earlier assessment - looks OK, maybe worth a couple of hundred, can't positively ID the factory - but it doesn't have typical Fujigen or Matsumoku traits, which would be odd considering it's a generic mid-70s Jazz bass copy. I'd be more inclined to think it's from one of the 30-odd other known factories which were making Fender copies at the time. Anyway - enough of that. Norman's Antoria LP is much nicer & more interesting - I've never encountered the bass version before with an Antoria brand (it's the same bass as the [url="http://www.ibanez.ru/info/catalog/1973-3/15.jpg"]Ibanez 2350B/DX[/url] - except this one has the later "post-lawsuit" headstock design. Thinking about it, I don't think I've seen a Fujigen LP bass with this headstock before. Of course it reminds me of my second-ever bass - an unbranded medium-scale black LP-alike, which I bought as a wreck off a school mate. Hope someone from BC gets this one. Jon.

Accommodation? Food? Money? Cheers for that, Mr Blob - definitely worth a look, and would give us a chance to exercise our seldom-used covers set! Jon.

I go downstairs to the basement. That's 26 paces including the steps. A few years ago in a previous band I was doing the 110-mile weekly roundtrip. I have happy memories of sitting on my own in the practice room, watching the money tick away for an hour or more, waiting for the lazy bastard guitarist & drummer to struggle their half-mile marathon from their squalid hovels. These days though, it often seems to be too much effort for a different pair of lazy bastards to manage to make a weekly free rehearsal. What's wrong with these people? Jon.

Summat small, loud, black & yellow, & with "Markbass" written on it would be nice. Jon.

If I'd have seen them I would've gone frit. My dream rig back in 1986, that was. Jon.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='651608' date='Nov 11 2009, 01:55 PM']Ask at [url="http://bassoutpost.com"]The Last Bass Outpost[/url]. A lot of the Gibson/Epi experts hang out there.[/quote] These are JapCrap - built by Matsumoku in the early/mid 70s. Might be some info to be had from the Matsumoku forum: [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/index.php"]http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/index.php[/url] J.

[quote name='zbigniew' post='651696' date='Nov 11 2009, 03:27 PM']Thanks a bunch for your expert input !!! Forgive my ingnorance but what's the best way to tell the difference between plywood and solid wood on a painted body like this? z[/quote] Really the only way to make sure will be to look inside the body - the electronics routing under the scratchplate or the neck pocket. Ply will have visible splintery-looking lines where the edges of the layers are visible, solid timber will appear smooth. Hopefully the seller will agree to an examination like this. If there's any damage to the paint on the edges of the body, the wood might be visible there too. J.

[quote name='zbigniew' post='651674' date='Nov 11 2009, 02:56 PM']When I started playing bass in 1987 Morris was considered a really cheap and low quality brand - has that opinion changed now ?[/quote] Morris is the house-brand of Moridaira, who were (and still are) better-known for acoustic guitars. They jumped on the copy bandwagon in the 70s, like many Japanese guitar makers & woodworking businesses, and like pretty much all the rest, made instruments at a variety of different quality levels. In the late 70s & early 80s Moridaira built Hohner guitars & basses, generally these are pretty good. In fact I bought a Moridaira Hohner guitar in 1983 and it was the only guitar I used for about 20 years. I only retired it because it desperately needs a refret & I need to repair some modifications I did when I was young & stupid! Great guitar & I'd love to get it playing again. I can't tell too much from the pic, but get your friend to try & establish whether the body's solid timber or plywood - with an old MIJ P copy that's the easiest way to tell whether it's a cheapo or not. Jon.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='651307' date='Nov 11 2009, 08:33 AM']This is very nice: [url="http://cgi.ebay.it/1973-Bradley-Jazz-Bass-Vintage-HQ-Fender-Copy-beauty_W0QQitemZ310180950024QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBassi?hash=item483839b008"]http://cgi.ebay.it/1973-Bradley-Jazz-Bass-...=item483839b008[/url] I've never heard of Bradley but this looks like a very competent Jazz copy. The sunburst is a bit iffy, especially on the back, but the bass certainly looks the part. I've dealt with the vendor (Bambibau) and he's straight.[/quote] Very pretty bass but that's a [b]lot[/b] of money (nearly 600 quid!) for any Japanese copy - particularly an inaccurate one from an unspecified manufacturer, with an anonymous importer brand. It's worth £200 at a push, imo. I really can't guess who made this - I've never seen that sort of trc on a JapCrap Jazz, body is either ply or block, neck appears to be one piece with separate fretboard. Everything else looks pretty generic. Not sure why he's comparing it to a "real" Jazz - the only thing that's better is the bridge alignment. And it's still out. Jon.

Hi - your friend's close but not quite right. Roger guitars & basses were made in Germany by Wenzel Rossmeisl, who named his instrument line after his son Roger. Roger followed in his dad's footsteps as a luthier, emigrated to the US where he did indeed work for Rickenbacker, and influenced much of Rick's now iconic design. [url="http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/theroger.html"]Roger guitars[/url] Funnily enough, the only Roger I remember seeing before was a bass that came up on Ebay a couple of years back. I flagged it up here & Happy Jack bid on it, was pipped by a couple of quid, if I remember. Not sure but I think it might've been acoustic. I dunno about Roger guitars selling for £1000+, but this bass went for about £120! Although you don't find a great many genuine experts among Ebay bidders, and I'm pretty sure the seller thought it was car boot junk & listed it accordingly! Jon.

Never owned one myself, but ET280s are fairly common, and not too expensive. Which means they're likely to be even more common & cheaper in the US, that being the way of things. It's a medium-scale bass so I'd be inclined to think it's the sort of thing you'd have for a bit of variety & quirkiness rather than a replacement for a Precision. Good luck finding one - just keep an eye on Ebay & Craigslist & such and one will turn up. Jon.

I think the most important thing to remember here is that MIA, MIJ, MIM, Squiers & the numerous Fender copies [u]all[/u] have different hole patterns, and you can't expect any of them to be interchangeable. Quite often they're slightly different sizes too so it's not even a matter of re-drilling your bass. You need to make sure you're buying a plate that's intended for your specific bass. Jon.

[quote name='witterth' post='648493' date='Nov 8 2009, 01:27 AM']OOpps.. er.. sorry, J,I took things out of context eh..?..hope things are better in the morning or later on e.c.t. Atb W [/quote] My fault, sorry I was a bit short. Band problems, you know what it's like. Grrr. J.

Good find - if I was you I'd leave these in the bass, good vintage pups & I doubt replacements will sound any better. Jon.

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='648325' date='Nov 7 2009, 07:45 PM']Suggest £40 - anyone agree?[/quote] I do - in fact I paid £40 for an old P copy simply for the DiMarzio. Turned out the bass was pretty decent too. Oli - the one from your Westy Thunder will likely be decent Japanese DiMarzio copies. DiMarzios should have black/white/red/green wiring, likely will be different on the Jap pup. Jon.

[quote name='witterth' post='648472' date='Nov 8 2009, 12:23 AM']....Well...no.... thats not what I meant...is it? [/quote] Probably not. But I'm not exactly having the best evening of my life... J.

[quote name='witterth' post='648457' date='Nov 8 2009, 12:07 AM']Where's the decimal point in that £595? Both guitar and bass looked like some "crack converter" stuff that would have gone dusty/faded in the shop window to me![/quote] Well, y'know, if it doesn't say "Fender" on it it MUST be a piece of worthless sh!t, eh? J.

Giving it a miss this year for the first time since its inception. A bit sad really but it's increasingly becoming a small, shallow, over-expensive, corporate, bass & bargain-free disappointment. They really need to bite the bullet & either call it a day or radically re-think & re-structure it. And tacking a dodgy has-beens & no-marks metalfest onto it ([url="http://www.hellfirefestival.com/?page=lineup"]Hellfire[/url]) isn't the way to do that. Jon.

Snoopy bass. Curse you, Red Baron!! Jon.

[quote name='rapscallion' post='645889' date='Nov 5 2009, 12:17 AM']Any tips for staining a headstock Bassassin?[/quote] Sorry, never done that - but I'd be interested in how to replicate an age-darkened maple look if anyone else knows. J.

Easy job - I have refin'd a few headstocks & it's dead easy to get a pro-level finish, even using cheap rattle can paint. If you're going for natural, black or white I recommend Screwfix own brand spray paint / lacquer. First, I roughen/flatten the original surface with light sandpaper, say 600 grit, then mask off the edges & nut/fretboard. Next I build up successive light coats of my base colour until it's completely opaque. I dry each coat with a hairdryer, which means the process is quite quick. This would be the point to apply a decal if you're using one. Then build up successive coats of lacquer in the same way, hairdryering between each coat. I tend to spray about 10 - 15 coats, because it's going to need some cutting back to get a good finish. The boring bit's next - put your neck in a safe place and leave it there for 10 days or so. You'll have a fairly rough, orange-peely surface to your lacquer, so next, gently sand it with very light paper - I use 1200 grit for this. Once it looks smooth & even all over, break out the T-Cut until you can see your face in it. This is my old Grabber copy (which I wish I hadn't sold!) which got a refin because the original brand (whatever it was) had been sanded off, & someone had attempted to draw a Gibson logo on in marker pen - which of course had sunk deep into the grain of the wood. Everyone loves a genius! [attachment=35744:grabberhead.jpg] Jon.