Bassassin

[quote name='Musky' post='404047' date='Feb 9 2009, 09:31 AM']That one rings a bell - I'm sure that's been up before. It wouldn't surprise me if that goes for good money, seeing as how there are no production copies and the real thing would set you back a fortune.[/quote] I for one would love the opportunity to bring that back to life. Watching with great interest... J.

[quote name='YouMa' post='403172' date='Feb 8 2009, 03:57 AM']Even people who dont play guitar know fenders name,i bet none of them have heard of cort.[/quote] [quote name='Me']...most products can be defined by a brand or brands, and bass guitars have, over the course of their history, become synonymous with the Fender name.[/quote] Because Fender is a "name". Which sometimes appears on guitars made by Cort. J.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='403565' date='Feb 8 2009, 05:37 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ZENTA-ORIGINAL-60s-Japanese-Bass-Guitar-Short-Scale_W0QQitemZ220358382158QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item220358382158&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A10|39%3A1|240%3A1318"]Zenta SG[/url][/quote] That's an oddity. Never seen one exactly like that before. J.

How much??? Out of interest, what shop was that? Jon.

There's something very, very wrong about that. If that was propped up in the corner of my room I'd have nightmares. Disturbing. :ph34r: Jon.

If you don't mind looking further afield, sign up to [url="http://www.rickresource.com"]http://www.rickresource.com[/url] - lots of buying & selling goes on there, and they're a very informative, friendly & helpful bunch of people. Most of them are in the US, meaning that even with the current exchange rate & customs charges, you'll likely get a better deal than buying here. Jon.

[quote name='YouMa' post='402383' date='Feb 6 2009, 09:05 PM']Fender will still be around long after cort have dissapeared.[/quote] Wildly unlikely. I think it's a lot more likely that Cort will be turning out licensed Fenders & Squiers long after US Fender production is knocked on the head. Cort is one of the biggest guitar manufacturers in the world and has been producing a multitude of high-profile brands - including Fender - for nearly 40 years. To answer the original question, most products can be defined by a brand or brands, and bass guitars have, over the course of their history, become synonymous with the Fender name. They aren't the best basses ever made, but are certainly the best-known. And in such a brand-obsessed culture as the one we live in, it amounts to the same thing in most people's eyes. Personally, I have a wide & eclectic taste in basses, and there's room for a decent Jazz or even a P alongside the Tokai Talbos & Kawai Sleeklines. Jon.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='402522' date='Feb 6 2009, 11:55 PM']It's rare, though, you'll never find that in a car boot sale for 20 quid. [/quote] Wanna bet? J.

Good to see some additional pics, the seller would have been as well to put those on his listing. The other guy on the forum's info about the bass is incorrect - it's not a Fujigen, since it would be identical to the equivalent Ibanez model, and it's not from the "Hoshino factory" - since it doesn't exist. Hoshino Gakki is the trading company which owns the Ibanez brand - if they were ever involved in actual manufacture (this is pure speculation - there seems to be no historical record or other evidence) it would have been long before basses like this were being made. Lecture over, then - very interesting to get a look at the neck & headstock, and I can confirm it's a Mystery Bass! These no-brand necks, with the big split diamond inlay & zero-fret crop up all the time, both on basses and g*it*rs, and the maker's yet to be verified. They do crop up with brand names too, but nothing that's yet been pinned down to a particular factory. The "Y" symbol the guy mentions looks like this: [attachment=19871:lp_recor...y_symbol.jpg] You'd obviously have to whip the neck out of this bass to see if it has the same stamp; I'd expect it probably does. The one in the pic is from a g*it*r version of the bass we're discussing - while we're here, look at the construction of this neck - dozens of thin ply strips - this is sometimes called "strip mahogany" and was pretty common on early JapCrap, I would fully expect this bass to have the same neck construction. Usually these necks tend to be attached with 4-bolt shield-shaped plates, stamped MIJ. There's a lot of speculation that particularly in the earlier days, Japanese factories would seldom build entire instruments; bodies, necks & hardware being made in separate factories. This would account for some of the shared construction features different manufacturers' products often have. I wouldn't be too concerned about the other guy's issues with his - it's very unlikely that this one would have the same problem. Still not going to go for it myself despite liking what I see in the pics - if I give it long enough one will turn up at my local car boot for £20. They always do, eventually. J.

[quote name='bassbloke' post='401852' date='Feb 6 2009, 10:50 AM']I am a recent convert to guitar. Bass is cr*p really.[/quote] Clearly, you ain't doing it right! I've found Sounds Live to be pretty good on the few occasions I've used them, both buying online and in the shop - apart from one time I just wanted a set of strings & was served by some hostile little cock who made it abundantly apparent that I was intruding on his social life by expecting him to do his job for about 90 seconds. That was a long time ago & with luck he's dead now anyway. Jon.

There's only the one pic on the listing & none of the info you mention - has the seller sent you additional pics? If he has, could you stick 'em on here? The only thing that's a possible clue here is the 6-bolt neckplate which sometimes appears on early Moridaira copies. However that's not conclusive, it also appears on Taiwanese Kays, some pre-copy era Arias - & Stingrays! Apart from a handful of "big" names, brands on JapCrap seldom mean anything at all, least of all the manufacturer, and if it's never had a brand name, as many of them didn't, then it really ain't an "anything". Franpton is one of those obscure Japlish home-market brands, like Heerby, Goban, Gibbon, Westminster etc, and the only possible connection would be the factory of origin. That said, there were several different Triumph bass copies from a few different factories, which all tend to look pretty similar - for obvious reasons! I have been watching this but doubt I'll bid - the combination of zero-feedback, one rubbish picture & arserape postage ain't doing it for me. J.

In the wildly unlikely event I ever ended up playing a jazz gig - I'd [i]love[/i] to turn up with something looking like that! Jon.

[quote name='phil_the_bassist' post='397033' date='Feb 1 2009, 05:30 PM']f&ckin hell!! I'm very tempted to get my Gianinni on there now! ....*get the camera and logs onto fleabay*[/quote] Anyone we know? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Giannini-Japanese-Replica-Vintage-70s-Bass-Guitar_W0QQitemZ320337447809"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Giannini-Japanese-Re...emZ320337447809[/url] But "Japanese"? Really. Brazil, Phil, [i]Brazil[/i]. J.

Bloody incredible. So much for the recession / credit crunch, and this seems to be quite usual at the moment, people are spunking insane amounts of money on old 70s copies, not just RickenFakers, regardless of whether or not they're complete rubbish. Seriously if anyone's got one of these they want rid of & think they can get one through without it getting pulled - now's the time to go for it. I'm looking at my Kasuga & Matsumoku Fakers now & thinking I could raise enough for a real one & have enough change to live on Indian takeaways for a week. Just as well that's not the point, isn't it? J.

It's [b]very[/b] nice. And in answer to your question, it's probably worth about twenty quid - but out of kindness I would run to 50, just to take it off your hands... Jon.