Bassassin

If it doesn't have to be pointy, just weird - Ibby EDA905? Pretty light, very well-balanced, and a 5er. Also - plastic ('Luthite') body, piezo bridges and it's bright metallic orange. Or silver. Or blue.

Eh?

Wait - what - he has non-ridiculous items?

Would've gone straight to CheesyGuitars myself but @BigRedX beat me to it - and nailed it. I'd probably hand over the £15 any self-respecting car booter would want for that, but £154?

Struggling & failing to think of a suitable pun - but I don't like cricket. Oh no.

Seen it, liked it! Can't beat a 70s Fujigen build!

Blimey, the things you miss when you're not paying attention! That looks like it's in amazing condition. So to do my duty - RB620NT, from August 1983, made by Fujigen Gakki. I could reel off a spec list but to save the copy-typing, here's the official blurb: Crazy bargain for £180, especially in that condition.

Still trying to understand how this works as a front for people trafficking or selling crystal meth, or whatever his real business is.

Because obviously those stupid people at Fendre can't spell!

For some reason the 90s MIJs go for a fair bit less than any of the 80s Squiers, including the later E & A serials. Would think quality-wise they're exactly the same, maybe the 80s were just 'special'. Would still think £350 for a Fujigen Jazz is pretty good. They won't lose value.

I have very scant knowledge of 60s era MIJ guitars other than what I've picked up peripherally, or from Frank Meyers' excellent History Of Japanese Electric Guitars book. However I know enough to be very confident it's not a Teisco - apart from in the sense that somehow every wonky little 60s/70s starter guitar's somehow a Teisco... Norma maybe, Teisco, nah. A bit of digging uncovered this, apparently from 1972: The 'National' bass second from the right is a Sakai - and after consulting the aforementioned Big Frank's Useful Book, so, it would seem, is the wonky little guitar next to it. So yes - despite knowing borderline bugger-all about old tat like this, a bit of detectiving estabishes the guitar in question appears to be a Sakai. Norma's a US brand name & as it's unbranded, it seems reasonable to call it a Sakai EG300, as Sakai Mokko was a manufacturer. Unless... Curiously, there are several versions of the Sakai bass design, some of which are Korean, not Japanese. It's not unrealistic to assume versions of the guitar were also made in Korea or elsewhere - there are minor differences (the pickup being one) from the one in the catalogue. This type of guitar continued to be made in Korean & Taiwanese factories through the 70s & into the 80s.

That & weapons-grade incompetence.

As it happens, I quite like 'em, apart from that scratchplate which is an ugly, design-free, afterthought botch. Would never own a real one, mind.

As I understand it, John Hall's been wheeled off to a quiet little room with soft walls where he can't hurt himself (or anyone else) and I think a younger Hall (a son? I dunno) is now running the show. This can be seen in almost-sane product developments such as a bridge that intonates mounted on a tailpiece that doesn't bend in half, and the adoption of those weird, crazy & radical single truss rods used by those rule-breaking futurists at Fender, Gibson and everywhere else in the world circa 1955. It's also quite possible that they no longer have the same dementedly litiginous attitudes to people trying to sell on 45 year old Rick-shaped Japanese basses. Although I'd continue to support the ban on sales of Rick copies and real Ricks here, because they're still a bunch of tw@ts..

Looks like a decent spec bitsa with a sticker. €300 would be a bit more realistic though. Tuners look like the ones used on Italia basses.

I had first refusal on that. I knocked it back. AND NOW I DON'T KNOW WHY!!!

Apart from the fretboard material it appears to be the same bass as the OP's - obviously at the very opposite extreme of condition, but it seems to have all the same build details and hardware, so it's logical to assume it's from the same manufacturer. If you've read through the thread (and I hope you have!) then you'll know it's not at all clear who that was, and unfortunately I have nothing new to add to what was discussed upthread. As far as "brand" is concerned,it could be anything - or indeed nothing, as unbranded instruments were very common. With instruments from this era, more often than not the name on the end, if there is one, tells us little or nothing, which is why trying to discern an actual manufacturer is of more interest.

Was never a huge Quo fan but I played a lot of AL's lines in my first little school bands, and The Quo were the first band I ever saw in a stadium - Wembley, 1979. RIP Mr Lancaster.

I was literally about to post - it's like someone saw the MM sig J & thought - "that's just not ugly enough!"

I had an Avon Grabber a few years ago, given that Avon had a reputation for being the cheap & tatty end of the market, this was a really good bass & a very accurate copy. Could almost have been passed off as original, with a few hardware swaps & a new headstock sticker.

Interesting - never seen a Columbus Ripper, but they did have a Marauder guitar copy so that was probably sold as its bass couterpart.

There were both. The set necks were far less common. The Melody & Avon copies were Grabbers, not Rippers, and from different factories. Melody was an Italian manufacturer.

Of course. It's right in between the 'h' and 'r' of 'hairdrier'. ...sorry.

I still quite like the old Bogseat. That said I've always thought it looks unfinished - a couple of slight changes would give the design a lot more flow & integrity while retaining the shape. And I'd ditch the stoopid scratchplate.