Bassassin

I've owned a bunch of Squiers (still have an '87-ish E serial MIJ Strat) but never owned anything with a Fender sticker on the end, and it's unlikely I ever will. I've played a bunch of Japanese Fenders, usually in shops (the original CIJ Geddy sig was superb) but have been racking my brains to think of any US Fenders I've been within sniffing distance of. Back in the very early 80s, a mate had a butchered, badly refinished old Strat, so I probably plonked around on that, and I remember trying a Jaco sig in a shop, maybe 15 years back. I think that was probably a US Custom Shop version (the price was ludicrous) but my main recollection was that it was one of the worst set-up basses I'd ever picked up, and was borderline unplayable. The Irony, I suppose, is, that if I had to pick just one bass for ever it'd be a Jazz - the sound, feel and look tick all of my boxes. Stroke of luck then, to have picked up a stunningly good late 70s MIJ copy for £60 in a pawn shop. 😎

Mine neither - it's pretty much gathered dust since this thread was posted. Maybe time to put it back to stock, curb the sentimentality, and find it a new home.

Steven Wilson at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall last night. First half of the set was his new 2-track, 40 minute concept piece, in which he essentially meditates upon the Total Perspective Vortex from the Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I've been struggling to properly get into the album despite repeated listens, but with the volume & full-length visual accompaniment it made a lot more sense - in fact it could be argued that the presence of a band on the stage underneath the enormous screen might've been a bit of a distraction... That was probably my favourite part of the gig, the remainder of the set was picked from his back catalogue, including very early Porcupine Tree days. Broadly I like SW but not sure I consider him the towering genius many prog fans do. He's certainly prolific & not afraid to move out of his lane, but I can't help having an underlying feeling that a lot (not all) of his music doesn't quite achieve the substance & gravity he's aiming for. Stevo's band comprised the superb stalwarts of (an uncharacteristically subdued-looking) Nick Beggs, Craig Blundell - probably my favourite prog drummer at the moment - and Adam Holzman on keys, with the guitarist revolving door occupied this time around by Randy McStine, who is every bit as versatile & technically accomplished as his predecessors. When Wilson joked that he always made sure he was the worst musician in his band, he wasn't necessarily being that self-deprecating! Photography opportunities were fairly limited but I'm quite pleased with this one.

These were sold branded Satellite in the UK, they were Korean-made budget instruments and unfortunately nothing to do with Matsumoku or any other Japanese manufacturer. These appeared around 1980 and were around 1/3 of the price of similar-looking Japanese instruments. They're not terrible - I had one as a cheap project around 12 years ago, it was very heavy, with a massively thick neck but playable enough with a bit of work. If it was priced around €150 it might be worth a look but as it is it's very, very overpriced! Here's an old cutting of a review of one from back in the day!

LIke buses, presumably! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/306090339623 Japanese dealer so no idea if the eye-watering (£3800!) price is in any way realistic. Both have Schaller M4 tuners which would suggest mid 70s or later. I'm aware of the brand but know nothing about it, in fact I don't think I've ever seen one before just now. And now I've seen two.

I'm pretty confident that I could design an aesthetically pleasing & functional 15-string bass, within the significant constraints of the design parameters imposed by that specification. I am similarly confident that it would be fitted with eleven strings that were never touched.

Three years ago, right here! You'd have had to fight me for it. If I hadn't missed it too.

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That's a bit rubbish. Fair enough if it'd been £300 but nearly £900 for that's a joke. It looks like a generic budget P type (check out the glued-on maple board) with Tbird pickups bodged on - I guarantee the cheap-looking surrounds are to cover chopped-out routing for the bridge unit, & the original P cutout on the pickguard. The headstock sticker's the most custom thing on offer. I think it'd be a fun & quite straightforward project to build a far more accurate replica of Pino's than this thing. I bet you could do it for a good bit less too - including getting the body properly routed & a pickguard made.

Naah! The 'Made In Italy' sticker's likely right. I think it's probably a Gherson - a quick Google for 'Gherson JB' shows a bunch of different versions, none identical but with a lot of the same details across them. I think the bridge pickup's not original, looks like a new-ish DiMarzio with those black hex poles. Looks like the tuners also may have been changed, the way the D unit's hanging off the headstock doesn't exactly look 'factory'! Do you have a neckplate pic? Anyway, I think it's pretty cool, I'm a sucker for a bound dot board on a J.

Happy birthday!!! I had no idea, but it turns out I too am a Grand Master. That's bait.

Wavy Grovers! Split pickguard! Extra tailpiece screws! Lovely example of an early 4003, and it looks pretty much unplayed!

Good score. These were broadly mid '80s - mid '90s, made in Korea by Cort, and very nice quality. Lots of P/J versions turn up but not too many single Ps around.

We don't have a guitarist, drummer or keyboard player. We never perform live. We manage to write approximately one song a year. In a good decade. Beat that.

A reverse image search chucks up a few Reverb listings & a bunch of pics from a TalkBass Skjold thread, showing 4 & 5 string Drakkars with this string anchor system. No clear pics of exactly how it works, but it does appear to be pins, similar to how guitar strings are anchored to a Bigsby trem system.

Pete's also a member of Kino, one of the many creative outlets of one-man UK prog scene John Mitchell (It Bites, Arena, Frost*, Lonely Robot, John Wetton, Karmakanic, Asia, David Cross Band etc etc...).

To be fair, if it was a 4-string (there doesn't seem to be one) & £100-odd cheaper, it could be the basis for an interesting project.

Amazing - I've been making Rick-type TRCs for years from clear acrylic, & head-scratching over how to add custom logos - usually ending up printed on a bit of paper trapped underneath. Absolutely never thought of this! Chapeau - you are a genius! 😎

I can see that, maybe both share a Chris Squire/John Entwistle influence despite their music being quite different. And known for using Ricks early on, of course. I was definitely a Foxton fan in my early days, Tube Station was an excellent challenge when I was starting out.

It's almost like they forget: "What do you want to do when you grow up?" "I wanna play in a rock band!" "You can't do both."

100% agree - having rediscovered them & dug into the early Hogarth era, Seasons End is a classic & a superb debut for h. If Easter had been the lead single I'm sure I would have picked it up. Still kicking myself for all the tours I misssed out on.

Big fan - saw them a bunch of times in the Fish era, I was initially highly skeptical but got dragged along by a girlfriend to see them. Front row at Hammersmith on the Real To Reel tour sort of changed my mind! I lost interest after Fish left - I hadn't liked much of Clutching At Straws, and when I heard Hooks In You, the first release with h, I thought they'd been railroaded down a commercial pop-rock route & didn't bother listening to them for a very, very long time! Anyway they played locally to me in 2011, I thought it would be rude not to go - and for the second time seeing them live blew me away. I'd say I far prefer the h era now, Hogarth is such an expressive, captivating vocalist & frontman, and lyrically & musically the band's scope is so much broader than the early years. I find much of the Fish stuff pretty uncomfortable to listen to now - so much embittered misogyny in his lyrics. Apropos of nothing - the very first time I saw them Pete was playing an Aria Pro RSB Deluxe II, which was what I had at the time. Last time I saw them was at the Berlin Weekend in 2023, and here he is playing a Yamaha BB400S fretless, just like one I had a couple of years ago!

I really, really hope they're called 'Licker'. Because as a pal of mine said when he heard Load - "well, they ain't f*ckin' metal any more!"