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Bassassin

⭐Supporting Member⭐
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Everything posted by Bassassin

  1. Hi - probably your best bet is to ask on the [url="http://www.vintaxe.com/boards/index.php"]Vintaxe.com[/url] forum. Vintaxe is a subscription guitar porn (OK, vintage catalogue scans!) site but the owner's usually happy to help with one-off enquiries on the forum, without expecting you to sign up. These are the Fernandes catalogues he has, looks quite comprehensive: [url="http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_japanese_fernandes.htm"]http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_japanese_fernandes.htm[/url] There are a couple of Japanese sites with Fernandes scans: [url="http://brochures.yokochou.com/index.html#FERNANDES"]http://brochures.yokochou.com/index.html#FERNANDES[/url] [url="http://www.geocities.jp/guitarofworld/FernandesCATALOGUE.html"]http://www.geocities.jp/guitarofworld/Fern...sCATALOGUE.html[/url] Had a quick look, but I think these are both too early to feature your basses. Jon.
  2. [quote name='Musky' post='619360' date='Oct 7 2009, 10:09 AM']Now there's a weird thing - 6 bolt Arias. And from '77, when I thought Mat were exclusively producing for them. Or does that mean Mat were knocking out some basses with 6 bolt necks... I think I need a lie down. They don't like making IDing these things any easier do they. [/quote] I'd think they were probably from somewhere else - Matsumoku was probably pretty busy around 1977 so probably Arai contracted a different factory (or more likely, bought & badged-up their standard J-copies) to meet demand. Same thing Tokai did with Kasuga, which is why Ebay History now tells us anything with a Kasuga badge was "from the Tokai factory". J.
  3. [quote name='evilLordJuju' post='619723' date='Oct 7 2009, 04:35 PM']It's a nice colour, whatever else you want to say about it [/quote] Looks a bit rattle-can though, wouldn't you say? J.
  4. [quote name='desh' post='619952' date='Oct 7 2009, 08:47 PM']Where art thou located Bassassin?[/quote] Hi Desh - I'm in Edinburgh. Like I said, more than happy to box it up & post though. J.
  5. [quote name='Bassassin' post='619200' date='Oct 7 2009, 12:36 AM']Nut width is 42mm, don't know the weight but I'll experiment with the bathroom scales tomorrow! J.[/quote] Having done that, it's about 3.8kg / 8.4lbs. Although the scales read something different with every attempt - so consider that an approximation... J.
  6. Nut width is 42mm, don't know the weight but I'll experiment with the bathroom scales tomorrow! J.
  7. The serial number only checks out as a CIJ, and then it would be very recent - 2005 - 2006. Having said that, the neck doesn't exactly look consistent with the rest of the bass age-wise - I could easily believe they were decades apart. This is all very odd - he's trying to push the idea that the paint's an "early factory refin" but the routing for the 3 microswitches it once had was plainly done before it was refinished, since the route is painted. It looks to me like the "enlarged" neck pocket was too, but it's hard to tell. Gluing a neck into an o/s pocket would be a strange way of dealing with a sloppy fit, rather than simple shims. It would be a good way, however, of concealing any (lack of) dating evidence in the pocket or on the heel, and dissuading anyone from being sufficiently heavy handed to find out, it being such a rare & delicate old bass & all. It's a sort of fishy colour, isn't it? Quite appropriate. Jon.
  8. [quote name='Musky' post='618107' date='Oct 5 2009, 11:31 PM']You reckon that might be a Mat then Jon? I saw the six bolt neck and thought Moridaira.[/quote] Well, that's why I said Aria/Matsumoku. It's unlikely all Arias were Matsumoku-made, particularly the earlier ones like this. Also it seems Aria, or Shiro Arai Co, acted as a sort of middleman reseller for Mat & possibly other factories. If you look at the older Greco catalogues you'll see credits for Fujigen and Aria at the back - at the time their guitars came from Mat & Fujigen. I've seen the 6-bolt plate on an Aria Jazz copy - in fact it's right here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=31614&hl=aria+jazz"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...mp;hl=aria+jazz[/url] Just goes to show, in the world of JapCrap, nothing is quite what it seems. Trouble is, we don't ever know exactly what it [u]is[/u]! J.
  9. Yep - that's the one I thought it was. J.
  10. He's been trying to shift this for a while - it's quite interesting but much more than I'd pay for something I'd never play. Arbiter sourced a lot of stuff through Aria/Matsumoku and this one probably is too - there's a guitar version in an early 70s Aria catalogue: [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/catalogs/75_aria/75_aria_catalog_pg1.jpg.html"]http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/catal...og_pg1.jpg.html[/url] The eagle-eyed geeks amongst us may have recognised these as copies of Gibson's Kalamazoo range of budget instruments from the mid-60s. The guitar's pretty accurate but the bass should have a single mudbucker & handrest, like an EB-0. There are also 2 of these on Ebay, which have been failing to sell for a while: [url="http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=arbiter+bass&_sacat=See-All-Categories"]http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trk...-All-Categories[/url] If he dropped the price to £50 I might think about it. But probably not. Jon.
  11. [quote name='MythSte' post='617793' date='Oct 5 2009, 06:52 PM']Someone persuade him to give this to me![/quote] No bother - I'm easily persuaded. With money! J.
  12. Ladies, gentlemen & sapient treefrogs: A Squier Precision, made in Japan at Fujigen Gakki between 1985 & 1986, as denoted by the A-prefix serial number. A-serials were fourth in sequence after the original JVs and ran concurrently with most of the preceding E-numbered instruments. This one's black, with a b/w/b scratchplate and a rosewood board, which makes it all look very, well, black. And therefore rock as f*ck. This may have influenced my purchasing decision a little - did I mention that it's black? It's in very good condition for its age, great straight neck with narrow frets, negligible fretwear, trussrod works fine, a few bumps & minor dents front & back on the body, which should be clearly visible in the pics. Hardware is in great condition, with just a tiny amount of bubbling on the bridge baseplate, no rust or burring at all on the screws. Anyway, it'll be pictures you'll want: Cosmetically it's very nice - to be honest the pics, taken in bright natural light, seem to highlight the imperfections somewhat. A previous owner has presumably either used a metal pick, or maybe had a hook for a hand, resulting in the marking on the scratchplate & pup covers. Just a bit of minor buckle rash round t'back: The only real damage is this: Looks like it's been dropped or come off a strap. Just lacquer chips - the wood isn't dented. I flowed a bit of superglue around the edges to help dissuade it from further flaking. Aside from that, the only other issue it has is a slightly sticky E-string tuner. A bit of a mystery, it's not, and hasn't been bent, I took it apart to clean/lube it and worked it round for a while, which freed it up a bit, but to be honest when tuned & under string tension, it's barely noticeable. It's entirely original, aside from a couple of "modifications" I made - if you can call them that! A shim in the neck pocket, purely to allow me to raise the saddles a bit - I play with a pick sometimes & Fender saddle height adjusters have an endearing way of ripping chunks out of the side of your palm! I also found the pickup height to be very low (my shim didn't help) so I added a couple of extra foam pads to raise it up a bit. Much louder now! I quite regretted selling my SQ Squier & got this as a sort of replacement - and I actually like it much better. It's a wonderfully light bass compared to most of my JapCrap, plays really well & I'd say sounds a tad more aggressive than the SQ. It still doesn't sound "right" for my band - and I'll have to accept the fact that P's don't. The fact I also have 3 separate P projects on the go (expect to see at least 2 of them here really soon!) means I can't keep this. You don't see a great many 80s MIJ Squiers, and most are JV, SQ & E serials so I'm really unsure about price for this - however I'm going to break with the current BC fashion of expecting people to guess, and boot my metaphorical price-ball into a park named [b]£275[/b]. I'm willing to wrap it up & post it anywhere in the whole wide world. Edit - I should add that I'd prefer not to use PayPal if at all possible - this is simple, unreasoning prejudice on my part. A cheque or used notes in a greasy brown envelope would be best, and unfortunately I'm not looking for a trade, I desperately need cash towards a new car. Over to you. Jon.
  13. I've said before - a gentleman is a man who can play slap bass. And doesn't. So I've voted "can but don't". A bit disingenuous, tbh, I can slap a bit, & like many other young bassists in the 80s I worshipped at the altar of Mark King, and was quite prone to punctuating songs with flurries of sloppy machine-gun triplets, with scant regard for either taste or suitability. It was just a phase and I never got that good at it, I simply didn't have the dedication to put in the work to get it spot-on, probably because the music I was playing didn't actually call for it. These days it's purely a sitting-at-home-noodling technique I find myself occasionally mucking about with, and within the last few years I've experimented with double-thumbing, just to suss out how it works. Again, I haven't developed the technique because it doesn't have any real place in the music I write & play. But yes - I like slap when done well and in context - and to be entirely honest I harbour a secret desire to be able to play like King, Marcus, Victor & all those slapmonster stunt bassists on YouTube. In the privacy of my own room, of course. Jon.
  14. It's all good experience. As you're resigned to binning the neck, why not squirt some WD40 down the truss channel and see if you can get the rod loosened? I'd never suggest doing this with something halfway decent (WD40 contains solvents & isn't recommended around glued joints) but if you can get the bow out you'll at least have a playable fretted neck until you get a new one. J.
  15. If the neck has a back bow, seized truss rod & a twist then I'd consider just replacing it, considering the bass was a freebie to start with. I suppose if you could get the truss rod loosened then it might straighten out, but a twist is pretty much unfixable, and you'll never get a perfect setup. Cheap P necks come up on Ebay all the time & you should be able to find a replacement for not much cash. I've got a '97 Squier P neck in very good nick, but it's a rosewood board so probably not what you're looking for. Jon.
  16. [quote name='mr pablo' post='617182' date='Oct 5 2009, 10:51 AM']I got this a few months back with the intention of refinishing the body and giving it a general make over, but a change of circumstances is forcing me to sell it on. pics will be put up after i get home from work, condition wise the body has a few dinks as expected of a 29 year old bass although when i took of the gastly blue finish that was on before i got a lot of them out, i stained the wody black and have put 2 coats of tung oil on as i was planning an oil finish. The neck is also in realy good nick the frets are in pretty good nick and although stiff the truss rod works fine. Soundwise it's a big beefy pbass sound not much else i can say about that. Price wise looking for about £100 posted or i'll sell it of in its relative bits.[/quote] Interested in this, especially if it's the earlier model with the 4-pole pickup. I'm just over the bridge from you so you wouldn't have to post. Expect a PM when you get pics up. Jon.
  17. [quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='616460' date='Oct 4 2009, 01:10 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HONDO-70S-BASS-GUITAR-4001-4003-TOKAI-FACTORY-FIREGLO_W0QQitemZ120476572370QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item1c0cf69ad2&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]Hondo[/url][/quote] £475 BIN. Wow. And [quote]THESE WERE MADE IN THE TOKAI FACTORY[/quote] I think the appropriate response is "my arse!" Jon.
  18. Have a bump on me. If that was black/aluminium you'd be minus an arm! Jon.
  19. I think it looks incongruous - I think they'd have made it far more interesting (and appealing) by styling it along the lines of the Stratacoustic: As it is it looks like a Photoshop experiment. Jon.
  20. [quote name='razze06' post='613656' date='Oct 1 2009, 10:52 AM']I'm now the proud new owner of this fantastic piece of kit! Thanks Jon![/quote] My pleasure Marco - glad it's gone to somebody from BC who'll appreciate it & use it! Jon.
  21. [quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='612467' date='Sep 29 2009, 09:01 PM']Thinking back, some Mexis had the strat knobs, but the covered contour is usually reserved for block and board/ply basses.[/quote] You'd expect to see it on the front as well, though. Odd. I like the reason for sale - "in need of being sold for financial pupose". What, instead of for a bucket of fish? Jon.
  22. Bassassin

    Mr. Foxen

    Bought a rather nice JapCrap Strat scratchplate & jack from Oli - bargain price & well-packed. One of the Good Guys. Jon.
  23. [quote name='MB1' post='610373' date='Sep 27 2009, 09:55 PM']MB1. ...I dont even T Cut my car!....but this i could happily spend hours on!....Bloody Hippies! [/quote] I bet if you took off the "art" you'd find it's stained the finish underneath - there'd be a permanent ghost image on the Rick's finish.. Bit of a shame because these early 80s white/black trim Ricks are pretty damn cool - and a bit rare too. J.
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