Bassassin

I have recently noticed a few new posters replying to threads started 10+ years ago by people with single-figure post-counts, then attempting to engage in dialogue with a person who only came here twice and hasn't logged in in a decade. That seems odd. Not as in suspicious, but as in the behaviour of an odd person. I say this speaking as a very, very odd person.

Ellen's a great young player - by I do get the impression there's a massive case of Pushy Dad Syndrome going on in the background. But I play videogames more than I play bass, so don't listen to me.

Early 70s Japanese, sold unbranded & with a bunch of random names, common in the UK branded Jedson, if you Google Jedson Tele bass you'll find loads of pictures & loads of info, most of which will be rubbish. Just so you know in advance - they weren't made by Teisco.

Vaguely remember these - weren't they UK-made, late 80s/early 90s, mail-order only? Might be thinking of something else.

Original bassist from Tool, played on their first EP & album, quit in 1995, well before they became massive. I'd guess as a founding member he must have retained some legal right to a proportion of their income. Doubt any of them would have expected the level of success they'd achieve, he left back when they were still playing club gigs.

More curious that the guy who quit Tool in 1995, before they had any meaningful success, and who has been very low-profile during the following 27 years, appears to be worth an obscene amount of money! And is that a Geddy Leg Jazz he's playing in the pic?

Same as my old one - wonder if it is my old one? Another great, near replica-level bass, always though with a swapped trc, neckplate & a Gibbo sticker, you almost could get away with passing it off as original. Of course if you have the Ripper, Grabber and L6S copies, you have to have an Avon Marauder to finish the set: Only one I haven't had is the Ripper.

It was a different sort of brand - both Aria & Ibanez were (are, I suppose) premium brands owned by big Japanese companies with an international reach. Kimbara was a domestic UK brand belonging to the distributor FCN Music, alongside their lower-tier marques Columbus & Satellite. Kimbara was broadly their top-quality brand & was sourced from several manufacturers, including Matsumoku, who made most Arias. @Maude's Ripper will be the same bass as the set-neck Aria LB650 - apart from the name.

It might sort of be both, in a sense. Teisco Shoji acquired a factory in Taiwan in the mid 60s, as far as I can work out that's the factory which produced Taiwanese Kays going into the 70s, many of which are the same, or slight variations, on the old Teisco designs. I'm not really that knowledgeable about 60s MIJ stuff but I don't think I've seen a Kay with the correct Tulip body, which this has. If you're lucky it'll have a silver sticker below the neckplate which will give the model number & country of origin. If it turns out to be an MIJ Teisco, then £100 is a bit of a steal.

Really pleased this turned out to be as good as I hoped it would, it does look in great condition for its age. Good to see some pics of the routing and electronics too. Unsurprised the original bridge has been replaced, the 3-points used by Matsumoku do seem to have had a habit of breaking in half! You may be reduced to filing saddle slots to get the string height down. I'd expect Tim at https://gig.ink/ would be able to sort you out with both a Ripper trc and a more, er, restrained scratchplate. I kinda like the shouty tort... Unfortunately it's long-gone, but this is very much a sibling to the Kimbara L6S copy I had years ago - I think if I still had it I'd be properly jealous!

Never fully understood why Tony didn't call these Sticky Fingers.

Paid £60 for this in a pawn shop in 2004 or 5. Expected to clean it up, stick a scratchplate on it & flip it for maybe twice what I paid - but even exactly as it looks there, it felt right. Not much left original beyond the body & neck but this is the one I'd save in a fire - best Jazz I've ever played, by a long way. I have quite a few basses, many of which I bought since finding this. To be honest I'm not entirely sure I know why.

DiMarzio DP126 P/J set, with cream covers, obvs. It's what the originals were a shameless knock off of - sorry, inspired by.

There was a decent 45 minute album lost in there somewhere. After the 3 dismal preceding albums it was good to hear them playing metal & sounding hostile again, but the absolute lack of quality control made it a chore to sit through after the first few listens. Don't think I listened to their last album (what was it called? Nope, don't care.) more than twice.

I did that myself donkey's years ago, think I used my old Fostex cassette 4-track with the tape in upside-down! Never occured to me to record it & put it on YouTube. Probably because I'd have had to invent Youtube. And the rest of the internet.

Was going to say - good luck with your new cardboard bass strings. 👍

You sure? The thread's 10 years old! And that's a model number, not a serial.

So the funny is that it denigrates, upsets and offends other people, am I getting that right?

I found the Bass Channel version of Justice about a year ago, I wouldn't listen to any other version now - Josh DuBois' playing is on the nail, fits perfectly & the mix is superb. Justice is a massively important album for me - it was my introduction to Metallica, and restored my faith in metal as a genre after the direction it took through the 80s. Along with all the horrid cheese-pop 'metal' of the 80s, I'd also been oblivious to the burgeoning underground of extreme genres, and Justice helped open my eyes & ears to that, too. I'd also suggest that it's a highly important album in the development of the progressive metal genre. The sad truth seems to be that Metallica - specifically Ulrich & Hetfield - were happy to become the very same corporate, buck-chasing sellouts that they would once have claimed to despise, and the way Jason was treated, both in 1988 and when the insulting remaster of Justice was released, is a symptom of that attitude. He was just an employee, never a band member. For me, Justice was the band at the peak of their creativity, much as I love the Cliff albums (which obviously I heard after Justice) it's a massive step forward musically & compositionally, and it's reasonable to assume Jason deserves some of the credit for that. I remember an interview with Ulrich at the time of the Black Album, he said something along the lines of Metallica facing a fork in the road after Justice - either go full on and make the next record a prog concept album - or be a little bit more like AC/DC. I'm not much of a fan of the Black Album. Anyway - funny/not funny?

Never really heard the full story of what went on with Howard Bass Doc. I'd had some dealings with him & he seemed completely on the level, friendly & helpful. Bought & sold a few bits & pieces, & he even gave me a stack of old 70s & 80s catalogues from his shop, because he knew my interest in old MIJ gear. I knew he'd stopped taking on work because of ill health, but if I remember he disappeared from BC amid allegations he'd taken payment for work he'd not done, or had instruments to work on that he hadn't returned. Seemed out-of-character from what I knew of him, but I guess one never knows.

There were Korean-made Squiers in 1988, not Fenders. 80s MIK Squiers were made by Young-Chang & had an 'E' prefix.