Bassassin

[quote name='nick' post='186974' date='Apr 28 2008, 08:11 AM']Love the new avatar Jon.[/quote] I think you'll like the bass it's destined for too, once it's finished. [quote name='nick' post='186974' date='Apr 28 2008, 08:11 AM']Ha, vigilant's not the word. They've just removed my listing - despite not mentioning at all make or model, & only using a close up photo of the fretboard! :wacko: May challenge this, especially as they have reported me as a "Repeat Offender", which is bollocks. Love the last line about ebay being 'safe & reputable' [/quote] The bottom line is that Ebay can & will remove any listing they please - although it's arguable whether even the reason they give here is legally valid in the UK. I doubt you'll get anywhere - but it might be worth challenging it just to see what spurious justifications they can come up with. Repeat offender? Guilty, several times over, M'lud! I've been canned a number of times for trying to sell Precision copies, Les Paul copies & Strat copies - and daring to state openly that that's what they are. Although it's interesting to see high turnover Ebay shops using the exact same trademark-violating descriptions with impunity - one rule for them, I guess. Unfortunately Ebay's increasingly f@cked up & unfair these days - and that's why I'm sitting on a whole bunch of stuff I need to sell, but finding it hard to face the inevitable hassle I'll get when i do.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='185910' date='Apr 26 2008, 01:35 PM']Ah... well I've learned something then I was going to ask what you thought of the price, but I take it you don't approve! [/quote] I think it's absolute madness that any of these things go for over £200! But that's market forces, innit? They're rare because a: they're 30 odd years old & were generally treated as throwaway crap back in the day; and b: Rickenbacker & their ever-vigilant supporter's club won't let us buy them! Rickenbacker's massive price hikes won't have exactly helped, either. I think this looks like a nice one - CMI (which was a Marshall sub-brand, Cleartone Musical Instruments) were mostly good-quality copies, sourced from factories which included Moridaira, Kasuga & (I think) Fujigen, all of which had a good rep & made quality instruments. It's got a couple of issues he mentions - I don't like the sound of the dodgy bridge pup - but realistically what he's asking is about the ballpark these days for a good condition neckthrough. J.

I'd say yes - although in practice it won't make any difference, I doubt we can force them - but at least it's demonstrating a bit of courtesy & making a token effort. Jon.

[quote name='The Burpster' post='185784' date='Apr 26 2008, 10:15 AM']If the managers noty prepared to shift it then you point out that you'll just have to buy from Thomans then...[/quote] And that, for me, is the way forward. If shops can't be competitive (particularly on beat up shop-floor junk) then they're fine for trying before you buy - at suitably knock-down online prices. Jon.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='185780' date='Apr 26 2008, 10:12 AM']Ibanez/CMI [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CMI-Ibanez-Bass-Guitar-70s-Through-Neck-Vintage-Japan_W0QQitemZ140227792402QQihZ004QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CMI-Ibanez-Bass-Guit...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url][/quote] Just a CMI. There's no connection whatsoever between the brands. And isn't that CMI awfully like the one that was pulled a few weeks ago? An off-Ebay deal, I think, & I bet he paid less than £300 for it... J.

I've shared lead vocal duties in a couple of bands, one of which was originals, and I tried to have a strictly no-compromise attitude to my bass parts. These days it's just BVs, but I've got to the point I can sing over pretty much anything - after enough practice! I'm the first to admit I don't have much of a voice, I can keep tune & have a decent enough range, but I'm one of life's natural backing singers (oh dear, bit of a subconscious metaphor? ) & have no particular wish to front a band. Jon.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='184308' date='Apr 24 2008, 09:07 AM']My Columbus EB-3 has a square-end fingerboard. No zero fret though...[/quote] Interesting - got any pics? Just goes to show - there are no rules in JapCrap! J.

Can't be sure from the photo, might be a Kay neck, but the headstock profile looks like a Gibson type open book - which I don't think ever featured on a Kay bass - their EB-ish thing had a sort of shallow V cut headstock. It's got a square-end fingerboard & zero fret, which means it's not from a Columbus/Avon or similar trash-end JapCrap. Pickup definitely looks like it's from a Kay, and I dread to think what's lurking under that ashtray instead of a bridge! Anyway - whatever it is, I'm not buying it just to find out! J.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='183744' date='Apr 23 2008, 12:57 PM']Even I wouldn't buy this: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BASS-GUITAR-Old-1970s-Spares-or-renovation-WO20678_W0QQitemZ260231428576QQihZ016QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BASS-GUITAR-Old-1970...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url][/quote] Interesting - short-scale Korean (by the looks of it) weirdo. This is very similar - apart from the proportions - to a Franconia Jazz I had recently. I'd pay the tenner it's currently at, but not a great deal more. The "Hoffnar" is one of the current/recent crop of copies, probably Chinese rather than Jap. So I'm boycotting it. J.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='183723' date='Apr 23 2008, 12:42 PM']What's this. it looks home made? Have questioned the seller, he's round the corner..... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bass-Guitar_W0QQitemZ260233089328QQihZ016QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bass-Guitar_W0QQitem...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url][/quote] Definitely looks like a B&Qenbacker to me! Looks like an old EB-0 copy neck on a home-made body. Bless. J.

Reserve's a ton, if anyone's interested. He shouldn't have re-shaped the body & headstock, but I [i]love[/i] the white board/black block neck. Jon.

[quote name='Carl' post='182685' date='Apr 22 2008, 12:02 PM'][b]Yer like the dudes that like wipped him so bad and just beated the holy crap out of him.And were laughing at him and banged a few nails threw his hands/wrists,and feet and left him to die a slow agonising death on the cross. But hey if he can forgive him them i`m sure he can forgive everyone even satanists.[/b][/quote] Spare a thought for Tecuciztecatl, though - he got upstaged by Tonatuih & turned himself into a second sun. But the other gods threw a rabbit at his face & transformed him into the moon! Imagine how he must have felt! I'm entirely self-taught, started by copying records (first bass riff was very probably [i]Peaches[/i]!), learned a bit of technique (positional playing, one-finger-per-string etc) from watching other bassists. Played in bedroom bands for 3 years, so by the time I played my first gig I'd found my way around the fretboard fairly well. If I was starting now, I wouldn't do it that way - what it took me months, years in some cases, to work out for myself, a good teacher could show/tell in half an hour. Jon.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='182243' date='Apr 21 2008, 09:01 PM']You may continue mocking me now.... [/quote] Not at all! It's speculation really that it's a Hondo - unless the seller's got the original trc (I'd message them & ask for it to be included - as well as the one on the bass, if they have) they likely won't have a clue what brand it was. An added bonus will be if it's a real Rick trc - pretty unlikely, but it does happen. That'd be half your money back on that alone. Anyway, lots of pics when you get it please! J.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='181825' date='Apr 21 2008, 01:48 PM']I anticipate a bidding war with that Hondo. It keeps going up by a few quid and there's a good few hours to go yet. The Tokai went for BIN.[/quote] Utter madness - it went from £180 (which was bad enough) to £335 in the last 3 minutes. J.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='181814' date='Apr 21 2008, 01:37 PM']It's a different one isn't it? Tort plate, three knobs? Previous was black with two unless I skipped a post?[/quote] This is the original auction: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220214885649"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=220214885649[/url] Paul posted a link to my auction for a Grabber copy (black plate & 2 knobs) from a month or so ago - so mebbe that's the one you saw! J.

The bodyshape was ever so slightly ripped off in the early 80s for this: Jon.

Not a lot to choose between those two P-alikes. And you might be right, some Grecos came from Matsumoku. The guy selling the Ripper, Ashdigits, is a dealer & it's no surprise to me he's put it up straight away, wouldn't read anything into it, just surprised he didn't go for a BIN. J.

[quote name='paul, the' post='174689' date='Apr 11 2008, 05:00 PM']Lusting for a [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/catalogs/1977_slick/77_slick_electrics.jpg.html"]PE200[/url][/quote] That Shaftesbury that sold last week's back already: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=140225768621"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=140225768621[/url] Same as that Yamaha in the Pete,Young's post - at least if I buy something cheap off Ebay I have the decency to wait until the old listing's expired before punting it back! No bloody manners!! J.

[quote name='nick' post='181324' date='Apr 20 2008, 08:44 PM']John Birch copy in my local freeads, described as 'a project requiring pick-ups & strings' : £50![/quote] x ∞ That motivated me to check Gumtree, really fast... And made me stop feeling so miffed about the old JapCrap Les Paul copy I missed by about 4 minutes at my local car boot this morning. J.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='181259' date='Apr 20 2008, 07:44 PM']But you're still wondering what the reserve is, right? [/quote] An enquiry has been made... I also asked him what he used for the "inlays" - I've got an old Squier P neck sitting 'round, just begging to be experimented on... :brow: J.

This, like many other of the ludicrous "instruments" this lot punt, is a rip-off of a similarly ludicrous one-off: [url="http://www.microphoneheaven.com/guitarbass/"]http://www.microphoneheaven.com/guitarbass/[/url] This was originally a topic of some bemusement, headshaking & hilarity back in the old BW days - and there are several threads devoted to its inbred, genetically challenged halfwit cousins in the Ebay forum! Jon.

That [i]almost[/i] works - if only he'd stuck to the refin & holes, and not tried to re-shape the body, it would have been great. The body just looks malproportioned & wrong. Shame. Jon.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='180683' date='Apr 19 2008, 07:57 PM']That's the one. There was one in Milton Keynes Sound Control up until recently. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I dont. The one I really want is Montezuma brown, but the one on ebay at the mo' is taking the p*ss. We shall see. But I've made my mind up. I've waited 15 years, no more. I will have one in my hands or on order by the end of the year...... (or a copy )[/quote] The only copy you'll find in Monty Brown (aka Sh!tglo) is a Jolana D - but those crazy Czechs went & put P/J pups in it rather than proper Ricky copy ones. What were they thinking? I'm still smarting over missing out on the one that went for £170 delivered, last October. J.

This one? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rickenbacker-4003-BlueBoy-w-Pickguardian-Appointments_W0QQitemZ320241452898"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rickenbacker-4003-Bl...emZ320241452898[/url] I think that's lovely - the BB isn't my favourite colour but it works really well with the pearl plate & surround. Fairly silly price for a ltd. ed. colour, too. That's about 3 miles down the road from me. J.

[quote name='thedarxide' post='180494' date='Apr 19 2008, 02:22 PM']Although, I'm strongly considering ordering one, and paying for it in installments. Reidy's are doing them for £999. It'll be paid for by the time it arrives... [/quote] I take it we're talking [i]real[/i] Ricks here - if so, that's a great price, however long it takes. Did you know the current production run for 4003s has full-width inlays, for the first time since 1973? Order & be damned!! Although I'd have been happy to sell my gizzard & gonads to medical science for this: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250235946235"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=250235946235[/url] :wub: :wub: :wub: Jon.