Bassassin

I think they're Schallers. The cast key & shaft are the same as M4S units, which sometimes turn up with Gibson branding.

Absolutely. I am a crushingly dull excuse for a human being, people would describe me as a walking void, but for the fact that they only register my existence as a vague sensation of unease followed by the need to bathe. However, I have, on occasion, donned ornamental headgear whilst performing, and I have never once - not once - been described as a 'boring bass player'. Stick that up your oh-so-helpful YouTube channel.

That's off a 1980-ish Kasuga. Go the same thing on my Scorpion, never seen one on anything else.

Washburn seemed to go the way of Aria - once they stopped being made in Japan in the mid/late 80s, there was a shift in the types of instruments they were producing & a narrowing of their appeal. Fashions change, & both brands moved away from boutique-looking through-neck designs and associated themselves more with the pointy headstock & garish paintjob SuperStrat market. Moving manufacture to Korea meant that for a lot of the range there would have been a drop-off in quality compared to the MIJ stuff and by the 90s, both Washburn & Aria had largely lost their high-end/pro-endorsed market & were seen as pretty much budget brands. The original late 70s/early 80s Japanese instruments, very much so. The Wing & Stage series guitars & basses particularly are increasingly sought-after, & high-end examples are getting towards the 4-figure bracket. They're pretty scarce, which helps.

oH No iTs cAncEL cuLTuRe GonE MAD!!!!!1111!!!!!!1111

I'm being proper nice, me. But I can't be held responsible for other people's absence of a sense of humour, or appreciation of irony & my clumsy, elephantine attempts at sarcasm.

If you go back read carefully, you'll find I said I'd never do any such thing. Go on - have a try.

Excuse me - is this the right room for an overreaction? However rose-tinted your recollection of these instruments may be, they were low-quality, cheaply (often badly) made, and aimed solely at undiscerning beginners. Back when I started, this sort of thing was all I could afford, and having more recently been in the business of buying, restoring & selling elderly Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese etc instruments - many of which have been decidedly low-end - I know very well of what I speak! They might be interesting, but quality musical instruments they are not. I had no intention of causing offence - but then it would never have occured to me that calling a cheap, poorly finished plywood budget guitar 'tat' would cause offence to anyone. It's really not like calling someone's Harley Davidson a clown bike. I'd never do that.

No idea how I missed this thread first time around. Guitars & basses like these - for want of a better word, tat - aren't really my thing but they're associated with many of the same manufacturers as the MIJ stuff I am into, so I've picked up the odd bit of info here & there. Very few of these budget Kay-branded instruments are Japanese, but there tends to be an assumption that every funny looking 60s & 70s guitar is MIJ. They're pretty much all from Taiwan, and products of a factory established there in the mid 60s by Kawai/Teisco. These are probably all early 70s instruments, and some designs (including the Tulip) are near-identical to the earlier MIJ Teiscos. The strip-ply neck is pretty common on 60s & early 70s MIJ guitars & the technique is very common on products from the Taiwanese Kawai factory. It's a way of avoiding warping common on single-pece necks made from available unseasoned woods.

See, that's what I'd do now: Bung in a nice set of DiMarzio Model Ps for £50 or £60 and stick the '70s Fender unit on Ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FENDER-PRECISION-BASS-1974-USED-PICKUPS-11-5-k-EXCELLENT-WORKING-CONDITION-/164632533665 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1977-Precision-Bass-Pickup-1976-Pots-Cup-and-Jack-Complete-Set-/224265520692 Free Antoria, free DiMarzio & enough change for a few pints and a pie.

And we have a winner! And I've got one, ain't I? Slightly (reversibly) modded because the original scratchplate's a bit ugly and the parts box was a bit full: Still have all the parts to put it back to stock, should I ever flog it. Which I might.

£900?? There's money in that there parts bin!

Not usually - I have an early 80s Washburn which does, but it's not really the same sort of thing. Looking at this, hard to be sure but I think it's a mod - the bridge is poorly aligned & the string spacing's a bit too narrow for the neck, so it looks replaced. The ferrules are all over the place too.

That's kinda cool, I'd pay €20 for it! Going by stuff like the tuners & neckplate it's Korean rather than MIJ. Really interesting/cool pickups and looks like the defret hasn't been too much of a hack job, as far as I can tell. But no, don't remember seeing one the same before (and I'd probably remember!) and I couldn't say who made it & when, beyond maybe Samick or Cort & probably mid/late 70s. Would like to see this pulled apart & cleaned up - I doubt all those switches & pots are original, but you never know. Anyway - buy it!

It's a bit butchered and abused. Will be curious to see what it goes for but I wouldn't touch it, even as a fixer-upper & flogger-onner. Neck like a banana & far too much you'd never be able to put back to stock.

Surprised that didn't sell on here, £350's a bit of a bargain for a tidy one of these.

It's not the Maxon I'd expect to be in a 70s Antoria. I have an idea I do know what it is, so let's see if those with bigger brains agree...

First Motorhead album. It was 1978, I was a 16 year old Stranglers fan & I'd never heard of them, but I saw this in my local record shop & had to have it. To be honest the sleeve was (still is) so awesome I wouldn't have cared if it was crap. Bit of a bonus that the actual music was life-defining!

Bitsa, with a couple of Fender-stamped bits.

Total bargain. 😎

No, they're not. But people with money seem to be able to be persuaded in parting with massive slabs of it for something functionally identical to a £99 Harley Benton. 'Fender' is one of a number of very expensive words, it would seem.

It might do. But it's not. There's some speculation these might have been Japanese-made but there appears to be no supporting evidence beyond 'stripy = Matsumoku'. Which is, of course, nonsense.

I kind of like it, nice to see a body style that owes nothing to anything else (that I've seen, at least) and it looks like it's been well done. Wouldn't pay £400 though.

It's a Camac, made by Eko in Italy. It's a blinged-up variation of Eko's BX series. These were 80s (obviously!) & very influenced by the styles of the time https://www.fetishguitars.com/eko/eko-the-final-years/eko-camac/ Brandoni Guitars in Wembley bought up all of Eko's old stock when they closed, and interestingly still have these advertised as in stock, either as neck/body or fully built bass. This one's probably a Brandoni bass, as it doesn't look 30+ years old. Should mention that I'd rather like one of these...

Was front row at a Steven Wilson gig a few years ago, right in front of Nick Beggs, which was nice. At the end he lobbed a handful of pluctrums at me (not sure if it was in appreciation or irritation) - I was minded to chuck them back at him, but I never. Think I've got three of them somewhere.