Bassassin

Just looking at it makes me want to take a rasp to it.

Oh, I have. And I'm aware of his 'novel'. All part of The Game, never doubt it...

I'm inclined to think it's influenced a bit by those slabby-looking Burns-Weill things from the 60s - Riverhead robbed the shape of their Unicorn headless from the Burns Flyte, after all.

I am increasingly leaning towards the theory that the gentleman in question is a member here - possibly a long-standing, well-known, well-respected contributor, even - and these listings are actually small, incremental components of one long and very complex wind-up - at our expense. I'm not saying "let the witch-hunt commence", but...

Not quite £30 but I didn't exactly pay top whack... Had this one for 12 or 13 years - picked it up from Gumtree back when I was buying & selling to earn a crust. The guy was from Aus & basically selling up before he went back - oddly it turned out he was a friend & former bandmate of my band's guitarist. The pics hadn't shown much so I had no expectations of the bass, expected it to be a bit beat-up & was amazed to find it in near-new condition in its original case. It had been gigged, there are some tiny marks here & there on the body, but clearly really well looked-after. It ended up being one of those basses I bought to wipe down & sell on, but ended up falling in love with. Used it plenty for gigs & recording, the only downside being it's a hefty sod. And it genuinely was at the back of a cupboard, where it (and one or two others) got stashed when we moved, seven years ago.

Looking forward to seeing how the Crimson lacquer turns out - I have a few projects needing refins & that's on the list, I've had good success with Danish Oil but it never cures to a completely hard finish. Anyway - look what I found at the back of a cupboard!

Seems to be the case that with the MIJ Squiers, the older they are the more you pay, while quality remains broadly similar. Never had a 90s example but I'd expect them to be on a level with the 80s SQ, E & A serials I've had. If it's around the £300 mark and all in good order then that's probably a pretty good deal.

Piece of nasty plywood Korean or Taiwanese garbage from the mid 70s. That's the £350 one I'm talking about. I wouldn't pay more than £60 for that (£30 at a car boot), the other one I'd just chuck back in the skip.

My motorbike is a spectacular colour called 'Nuclear Red' by Triumph. However I have seen this shade referred to as 'Dog C**k Pink' on Triumph owners' forums.

It's also wildly inaccurate. He's much darker.

We wouldn't be talking about it and fewer people would be aware of these basses. It's good marketing - I'd never seen it before & I think it looks great - if I was in the market I'd want to try one. Assuming that price is a typo and it's meant to be £365, that is. Excellent memory! Unfortunately it wasn't my bass, but it'd be a struggle to find a more appropriate name for that particular green/yellow burst! I think @prowla on here has got one, or did at one point.

Both Greco & Fernandes are long-established and well-respected Japanese brands with a reputation for high quality. You don't say where you're posting from but I'd guess it's not the UK - Greco and Fernandes are both brands mostly sold on the Japanese domestic market, particularly with 80s era instruments like the ones you're asking about, and that means it's quite unlikely BC members will have had any direct experience of the two basses you're looking at. Old Japanese basses are very much my 'thing' but sadly I don't know anything about the ones you're interested in. However if they're well-priced, in good condition and fit your needs, then given both brands' reputations, either one will likely be a good purchase. There's a very comprehensive Fernandes catalogue archive here, where you'll probably be able to find some info about the FRB, and a collection of Greco catalogues here, which cover the mid/late 80s period. The text will be in Japanese but electronics/hardware specs and dimensions should be clear if you can't read kanji.

Boring answer - technically yes, nothing on this bass contravenes Rickenbacker's trademarks. The bridge's a copy of a Hipshot & the scratchplate shape isn't trademarked. Everything else is just generic stuff sort of arranged in a Rick-ish fashion. Of course something like this shouldn't be sold anywhere. Just buried at midnight, under a full moon in unconsecrated ground.

This bass seems to exist to make it abundantly clear that the only thing remotely interesting/attractive about a Rickenbacker is the body/headstock shape. Everything else just looks like a pile of junk. And that bridge isn't even a real Hipshot.

Separated at birth?

The 924 is v & t (both pickups), 3-way selector. active on/off, then bass boost/cut & treble boost/cut. I prefer the passive tone but the inability to blend pickups makes it a bit inflexible. The 824's v/t, v/t & selector. Nice quality trcs can be had from https://reproguitarparts.com/ in the States. I had one for a Musician & you would need to examine it through a magnifying glass to know it wasn't genuine.

Cream DiMarzios, wire it passive & paint it black so it becomes an RS824, like the one played by Steve 'Arris in the Run To The Hills vid.

Interesting to see a Cimar, black finish & r/w board are unusual but otherwise the details are the same as the maple Avon I had years ago. Looks pretty beaten to hell & back tbh, and not sure what's going on with those gargantuan, idiotic knobs & saddles that appear to have been carved from bits of soap. Not sure I'd call £200 a bargain in that state!

John Wesley's not involved, unfortunately. He's been quite diplomatic but from what he's posted on FB it appears there might be some bad blood. Can't help wondering if it's the same with Colin Edwin. Porcupine Three, then.

I like the new song, definitely the best thing I've heard from Wilson since Hand Cannot Erase, and the prospect of a new album under the PT name is worth looking forward to as well. Not so bothered about the gigs, I've seen PT numerous times in theatre-sized venues, often half-empty at that, and the prospect of paying eye-watering money to be at the back of some cavernous enormodrome with the acoustics of a warehouse doesn't really appeal. Particularly as I'd have to trek to the other end of the country - or to another one altogether - in order to go. I think it's interesting to remember PT started out as a solo Wilson project & if you look at the credits of any of the albums, he's usually responsible for a lot more than just vocals, guitar & production (including most of the bass on Deadwing), plus he's the sole composer of pretty much everything. For that reason I've largely found it hard to draw much distinction between PT & his solo stuff, and a lot of the Raven & HCE material would have worked perfectly well with PT. As far as the absence of Colin Edwin (and the hugely talented John Wesley from the live band) is concerned, it seems Wilson is a rather James Brown-like bandleader in that there's one way to play his material, and that's his way. So I'd expect whoever's playing bass with PT will play Edwin's lines to the last detail.

That's genuinely incomprehensible.

Nexus Guitars by Jacek Kobylski. http://www.nexus-guitars.com/ Not really my kind of thing, but looks beautifully put together. Think the one you're looking at is a Duke. http://www.nexus-guitars.com/old/bmduke.html

The sum total of Jack Excrement, unfortunately. Although we can make a reasonable assumption it's a decent generic P clone, similar to those in a million other MIJ basses of the era and possibly made by Maxon. And if it turns out to be guff, a reasonably inexpensive, simple (and easily reversible when flog-it time comes) upgrade.