Bassassin

Some of the solid finish MIK Squiers have plywood bodies, had a red Strat like that years ago. If it's an E serial it'll be a Young Chang (subsequently busted for selling the same guitars under their own Fenix brand) and these are generally regarded as very good. And probably not ply. That said, 90s Arias are excellent quality & VFM, I've always fancied an IGB. So I've no idea which you should go for!

Can't tell much from that pic. Close-ups of the back of the headstock, neckplate, control cavity/neck pocket, also any markings under the pickups and on the electronics would help. I am a bit concerned it might turn out to be a recent Chinese copy - hope you didn't pay over the odds.

What model is the bass, & is the number stamped on a neckplate? The 70s 'Steel Adjustable Neck' plates have numbers which appear to be random and cannot be dated. Info & pics would help.

On the whole those budget Chinese-made paddle-headstock necks tend to be pretty decent for the money, yes.

Never underestimate the potential for some visionary to look at a perfectly good cheapo P copy and think - "I know what would improve that!" I'd think it likely a strong cocktail of alcohol & incompetence was behind this particular lightbulb moment. Also "Neckplate? We don' need no steenkin' neckplate!"

That's plausible, apart from the fact that yours & mine were made only a few months apart, & the Roadsters appear to have been discontinued in 1982. You'd expect the Roadstar II range would've been in development well before the predecessors were phased out, so you'd wonder if they'd bother with very minor changes on a near-obsolete bass! It occurs to me the 24-fret basses - Roadster, Studio & Musician, all have pretty much identical body shapes - maybe the control route templates were interchangeable between some or all of them. I suspect we'll never know!

Perfectly plausible that someone might've modded a Silver Series P to P/J.

Curiouser & curiouser. I'd be inclined to think it points to a different factory (using different router templates) manufacturing mine - or the body, at least. It tends to be assumed that all MIJ Ibanez came from Fujigen but guitar manufacture in Japan isn full of examples of outsourcing & collaborative building, no reason to think Ibanez was any different, really.

Looks like you're right, pcb screwed on like yours too. Wonder how come mine's different? It's tidy & untouched-looking enough to assume it's original. My bass is Feb '82 so just a few months later than yours. You'd think they'd be the same.

Well, they're not wrong... Wonder if someone realised there was a bit more involved in a headless conversion after they went at it with a junior hacksaw?

Yeah, definitely the same pre. Mine has the holes on the pcb that have been used to mount yours, & I think the plastic on the pots is probably additional insulation that's been added by whoever did the work, although I'm not really sure what for. I'm assuming what looks like extra taped-together wires are additional/unused wiring from the EMGs - but I'm right out of my expertise/comfort zone with this sort of thing! Really interesting that it turned out to be a re-fretted RS940 - I should probably have twigged that from the single dot at the 24th fret. Is it a pro/decent fret job?

Couple of guts pics. PCB on mine is inside the grey foam (which isn't coming off without being ripped) & everything else a lot more tidy. Looks like a lot less going on here, so inclined to think @LukeFRC's isn't original, which (if it works) isn't necessarily a bad thing. Would need to compare them properly though. Edit: Had a squint at my PCB & now inclined to think it might be original, looks like the same components as Luke's.

With @NancyJohnson's permission I don't see why not. Could maybe become a RS924/824/940 etc general thread if he's cool with that. I'll go grab a screwdriver & camera while it's still daylight!

Would know terrifying spaghetti when I saw it? 😮 Probably the only help I can offer is if I post a pic of the guts of mine, pretty sure it's all original. Probably needs a new thread.

Pretty sure they said they only did it to get 'bell end' & 'ringpiece' into a chorus. You can't really argue with that sort of motivation. This is my go-to Christmas song. Cheer up, goth etc.

Not me neither. Already got one, ain't I?

I think it's a really long neck heel/tenon - like a bolt-on through neck.

Another RS924! Needs a little bit of love, but should tidy up. Wonder if the preamp still works? Would be a bargain if it went for much under £200.

That's a proper rarity these days, hardly ever see these & the real US made originals (rather than the licensed Hondo versions) are proper rocking-horse droppings. Look forward to seeing it once it's had a hose down!

Derision, shirley? 😆

Binface gone? 😲 In fairness I'd completely forgotten it existed for at least the last ten years. Would appear I wasn't alone, which may be peripherally connected to its demise.

From the pics, Aria RSB. I admit to a natural prejudice but it's a more elegant design than the other two. Left-field suggestion - Yamaha SBV:

Holy necrothread Batman etc. Anyway, 12 years later it's a handy opportunity to remind ourselves that despite having the same name on the end, this: Is not really the same as this:

Lovely, that. Always had a little GAS for one, I'm a complete sucker for a through-neck.

Good to know. On that basis, I'll give it a swerve for my future projects.