Bassassin

Good shout. Only Warwick I ever had a bit of GAS for. Well, that & the Bootsy Space Bass.

Quick skim through the thread, don't think anyone's answered the specific question so if boring details are your ting, here goes. MIJ - Made exclusively by Fujigen Gakki, and basically covers all Fender Japan output between 1982 and 1997. There have been a few Fujigen-built MIJ batches subsequently. CIJ - Post-Fgn production, from Dyna Gakki & Tokai Gakki. Some might've heard of one of those. Not 100% sure but there are probably a few pre-'97 CIJs in circulation. Real-world differences - a letter. High-end Japanese manufacturing consistentcy's always been incredibly good, there's never really been a "best" factory. There won't be a fag-paper between MIJ & CIJ. Just a little addendum - Fender Japan (a partnership between Kanda Shokai & retail chain Yamano Gakki) came to an end in 2015, and I don't know who's responsible for subsequent Japanese Fenders, or who makes them. I should probably find out.

Yep, would be a 3D if it still had saddles!

Looks like that could only ever have an unadjustably high action - the neck's set flat, like a bolt-on but without the ability to shim it to tweak the angle, and the fretboard's only about 5mm above the height of the body. You'd never get the saddles low enough for a particularly playable action - and if you look at the bridge, the roller saddles have been removed to try & make it a fraction lower, for that reason. I also suspect that's why it's not wearing strings for its photoshoot. Does look like whoever made it has some moderate woodworking ability, even if they haven't thought the design through. And I do wonder if that vast, ugly scratchplate is original, and if not, what routing disasters it's concealing. Bonus bitsa points for the 70s round-end MIJ Jazz pickup.

So - this is £140 for a lump of epoxy? Ebay's full of similarly sized acrylic blocks for about £6 a pop.

These are kind of cool, saw this one a few years ago, for fans of 70s Japanese peculiarities: Closest I'd be likely to get to owning an Epi Scroll bass.

Absolutely batsh!t! I would've been all the way out at £150.

I met him a few years back after a Steven Wilson gig & took the opporunity to rib him gently about the fact that, since Too Shy was the first slap part I''d ever learned, it was therefore his fault I'd spent the mid '80s shoehorning inappropriate & badly-played slap into dozens of unsuspecting songs! The poor chap seemed genuinely apologetic! A lovely gentleman and an absolutely immense player. And this is a perfect opportunity to post this again:

Thought they'd turned up here before. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/221028-artisan-bass-works/ https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/292340-you-want-ugly-ill-give-you-ugly/ Mercifully both links pre-date the forum update so there are no images attached. Their website seems to no longer exist so presumably this was not a succesful re-imagining of classic designs. Plenty of stuff turns up when Googled, including the fact that this appears to be a design philosophy to create an instrument that "holds the neck in the playing position with no effort on the part of the player" Hmm. There were also original(ish) designs, but these aren't a great deal less aesthetically challenged than their Wonk Fenders (hidden for the sake of the sensitive):

This is an RS940, a pretty uncommon fretless version of the RS924 Roadster, from 1980/81. Apart from the repaced tone control knobs it's complete, (which is quite unusual) and aside from the unknown condition of the fingerboard is in reasonable overall condition. Needs a new 3-way selector & possibly active on/off switch, although it may just be missing its nut. At this point I'd be more likely to think the wiring & lack of battery are probably why there's no output rather than the electronics themselves being the fault, but (apropos of not a lot) I have an RS924 and the active circuit doesn't add much bar volume. If it was me I'd bin the pre if it's cooked, and wire it v/v/t/t like the passive RS824. Added benefit would be the ability to balance the pickups. Without seeing it for real I can't comment of the state of the board but I can't see any huge grooves. A bit of marking from the rounds but if I was after this I'd be crossing my fingers it was mostly cosmetic muck and there were no warping/truss issues. Thing is, in good nick an RS924 is a £500-odd bass, same for the fretless version, and its scarcity makes it collectable for some folk, so maybe a bit more. If this was listed better I can see it getting £250-£300 in its present condition - in fact it still might. Needless to say if I was still in the fixing up & flogging game I'd be all over this.

Saw these - or things like these - a few years ago, so unnecessarily foul I can't imagine why they still exist. Pointless, ugly & downright wrong.

Now that's strangely familiar... I've had an Ibby or three pass through the Bass Dungeon. Some of them are still there: EDA900 - couldn't afford an Affirma AFR & this was cheaper, plastic-er and much, much oranger. Skinny SR-shape neck & piezos make it fun to play and quite odd-sounding. SR500 - I've previously owned 2x SR800s, fretted & fretless and missed having one, so I picked up a beater of an SR500, scraped off the remains of the nasty brown stain stuff & gave it a proper old Danish oiling. It's lovely but I'd swap it for a through-neck SR in a heartbeat. RS924 Roadster - I wouldn't call myself a collector buy I'd hate to part with this, despite realising I haven't played it in years. This is 40 years old and spotless, practically unplayed, not a mark on it. I have gigged it a bit, but fear of damage & the fact it's a bit of a boat anchor meant it's now been in its case for years. Should at least drag it out for a play & take some decent pics of it. BL700 Blazer Mk1 - Top of the Pile Of Shame of projects I've had waiting for years while Captain Apathy slowly dissected my excuse for a soul from the inside. 1980 Blazer that someone has stripped and smothered with a gallon of grey-blue gloop that looks like the stuff you put on garden sheds. The plan is to sand it back so the stain just enhances the grain pattern & then oil it. Will look awesome if Hell ever freezes over when I get around to doing it. Apart from that it's complete, everything works & the scratchplate just needs a small repair to the corner. I also have a Talman electro-acoustic project, which has been waiting for attention for so long that I'm sure several generations of spiders have lived and died inside it. Gone but not forgotten - 1991 SR800LF fretless, 1991 SR800LE, 1982 MC150 Musician guitar, 1978 2601 Artist acoustic, and a (familiar-looking) 1972/3 2366B Precision copy. Been through so many there might be some I have forgotten, will update if I remember anything interesting!

It does appear to be a re-badged 90s Cort A6 - this looks 100% identical to me, timber's a bit prettier on the TW but that's it. These pics are from a TB thread - apparently the s/n puts it at 1998, which sounds right for the Tanglewood. Hard to find much info on the early A6 Corts to get an idea of price, but I'd assume same bass, same ballpark.

Always thought these looked awesome. Not so sure about the rest of the bass, though:

Kent Armstrong do Jazz lippys: https://www.wdmusic.com/kent-armstrong-split-tube-series-chrome-hot-lips-pickup-for-fender-jazz-bass-details.html 10.3k, so hotter than most J units. Also Warwick sell these by MEC, can't see any specs: https://shop.warwick.de/en/parts-for-instruments/warwick-spare-parts/pickups-spare-parts/17713/mec-lipstick-single-coil-bass-pickup-4-5-string-chrome

You need a time machine to go back to February: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/405787-fs-fernandes-fpm-80-double-precision-sold/ I kick myself every time I think about this - @Beedster gave me first dibs and I politely declined because I knew it'd just be a wall-hanger, as I'm not gigging these days. What a tw@t.

Fascinating stuff, never heard of O'Hagan before... And after going for a little nosy around myself - it turns out Prince's original pair of Cloud guitars were modified O'Hagans. https://www.fretboardjournal.com/features/the-origin-of-princes-cloud-guitar/

These are lovely, I particularly like the single P, aesthetically. They do, but I don't think they're MIJ. Too many quirks, like the truss cover at the heel end, and the fact hardware & electronics is Schaller/DiMarzio. Realistically Alembic's to blame for these & the similar Japanese stuff.

@Franchement - have you seen this? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1980-OHagan-Nightwatch-Special-Sunburst-Thru-Neck-USA-Bass-Guitar-OHSC/124297319396 A bit dearer than most suggestions - but I think it's stunning!

It's a 2-pickup, which I think puts it out of the running. These are nice for budget basses though, made by Cort in Korea around 1980-ish - if you look closely you'll see it has the same triple-dot brass inlays as the Lotus I posted earlier, which is a nice touch. I had one of these a few years back, unfortunately it had a somewhat twisted neck. Other than that it was a nicely made bass, on a par with much of the Japanese stuff from the same era. If the OP was up for a project, modifying one of these for a single pickup migh be fun.

I'm no Rick expert but that seems like a good price for an early 4003 these days. 2-piece pickguard & wavy Grovers are rare features on these, I think.

No, but it's related - same control layout & scratchplate, same shaped trc, zero-fret etc. I think the pickup used on the Zentas linked earlier & Hooky's is the same - pre-serial Maxon humbucker by the looks - unlike the mock-mudbuckers on most MIJ EB clones. Shame it's not visible in @Chris Dow's pic. As I mentioned these basses were sold with numerous headstock names and none at all - @prowla's Zenta is exactly the same as the Jedson I posted earlier, and also the same as this: As you can see, these basses have a matching guitar version (I own an unbranded one) and the theory is that they were made by Sakai, which was a manufacturer which used its own brand. The guitars turn up branded Sakai: So I went to see if I could find a Sakai-branded 2-pickup EB type - but instead I found this: And that, my friends, answers the question as far as I'm concerned. It's the same bass as @Chris Dow's (and Hooky's): same distinctive scratchplate, same control & jack positioning, same chrome handrest, same bridge, same tuners, same distinctive truss rod cover, zero-fret, inlays and so on. The bass was made in Japan by Sakai Mokko, a manufacturer established just outside Nagoya City in 1923, and which became very successful during the 60s Japanese guitar boom, continuing building instruments into the 70s. From the type of features we see on MIJ instruments I'm confident the bass is early 70s, probably no later than 1973. It's odd that Hooky would've thought his was an Eko, but he's clearly mistaken.

They're not absolutely identical but the Nova looks very much like a set of these mounted on a baseplate: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-Bridge-Precision-5-String-Bass-Metal-Single-Headless-Round-Bar-Bridge-Kit/233307037073 Bought a set for a project (that I've yet to get around to) after seeing this thread: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/402221-headless-explorer/ And they're tiny! Interesting to catch up on that build to see that @DarkHeart eventually opted to use one of the Hohner clone units rather than these, and they do look like they'd be more suited to a guitar build than a bass. I'll persevere (eventually) as the individual units will actually overhang the end of the body I'm using to the extent I'll not need to route or modify it. Not convinced E string thickness won't be an issue but we'll see. Looks like the Nova intonates in the same way - each unit slides on the baseplate to adjust string length.

Might say that but this: ...is not an Eko. If you want to check out vintage Ekos this is the best/only resource online. There are some EB types but you won't find any the same as Hooky's & the Zentas or the pic at the top of the thread.

It's neither, I'm afraid. Yamaha never did an EB copy, and there is no 70s Ibanez at all like this. Both brands are incredibly well-documented & there aren't any models that collectors & vintage MIJ enthusiasts don't know about. It's the same as the Peter Hook bass & the Zentas, whatever it said on the headstock.