Bassassin

In other cheap new guitar news, late last year I paid £110 for this from Gear4Music: OK - £159 list, reduced to £139 in a sale & a subsequent £30 refunded because it arrived a bit bashed up. Mild cosmetic damage that I didn't mind because I'm modding it. Been GASing for a hardtail HSS or HSH Strat-ish thing for ages but the new options seem to be limited to a Charvel San Dimas Strat or a couple of Ibanez Prestige things, all with prices getting on for 4 figures. Thought about building something but counterintuitively, a hardtail Strat body actually costs significantly more than one routed for a trem. And typically - more than the whole thing pictured above! This thing's a mess of contradictions & obvious cost-cutting - the humbuckers are garbage (doesn't matter because I want splittable ones & they're not), the bridge top-loads meaning the E & A won't intonate perfectly because the string itself fouls saddle travel (again, doesn't matter because it'll get drilled for through-body stringing & a new bridge) and the finish on the neck's weird. It's sold as roasted maple but I'm pretty sure it's dyed, the 'satin' finish on the back of the neck is poly that's been roughed with coarse abrasives to the extent it feels like unfinished wood - and I'm pretty certain the fretboard IS unfinished wood! On the other hand - it has a real flamed maple top, fully bound body, neck & headstock - and a quite excellent fret job, very smooth & level, nicely profiled with no sharp ends, and despite a ridiculously high-cut nut it's quite lovely to play. It's currently in bits having its issues dealt with, and about £70 of slightly better cheapo parts waiting to be nailed on. Will start a thread in the builds folder when there's more to report.

Never had one of these but I've had 2x Kay KB24 P copies & a K32 Strat - and they're not particularly well-made or nice to play. The necks, made from mahogany ply, were fat, heavy and badly fretted with thin, sharp-ended wire. Like a lot of ultra-budget stuff from this era I expect it's pot luck whether you'd get a playable/fixable one or a firewood dog - and it's not like there's much choice with these, they're mercifully rare! It's not quite cheap & cheerful (£495) but Retrovibe have this appealing little (30.5") shorty, seems reasonably light at 7.4lbs too: https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-rc30-lil-richard-short-scale-bass-30-6-scale-with-stinger-preamp/

Callen? As in Ned?

I do like a bit of out-there 50s/60s Italian design, and have a bit of affection for these. Me being me though - I'd have to go Japanese. And why stop at one neck?

So he paid £600 for it 10 years ago and now he wants £800? Not sure he's quite got his head around selling used stuff.

From what I've read, I think Antonio Tsai is a sort of Thai Tony Zemaitis - there's a relative handful of original Tsais in circulation, but the huge majority of fancy, pearly-inlaid 'Antonitsais' are knockoffs, or possibly made under license. I've not looked into it enough to have the slightest idea which is which, but if this acoustic (and the inlay work's gorgeous) is a verified original, it may be, much like Zemaitis, the collector market does command eye-watering prices.

Gorgeous - and I'm ever so slightly envious. Used to have this pic stuck on the wall, back in the Long, Long Ago & The Far, Far Away.

That's a proper rarity. Could say the same for Kawai basses in general. I have their rather odd-looking Sleekline (mildy & reversibly modded) which is basically a funny-shaped Jazz with a chunky P-ish neck. Kawai was a manufacturer in its own right during their guitar-making era (obvs they're still around as a piano/keyboard producer) and in fact most of the 60s MIJ guitars that Ebay sellers insist are Teiscos likely came from Kawai Gakki. Particularly the ones dating from after Kawai bought Teisco! The brand disappeared during the 70s (although they would still have been manufacturing for other brands) but re-emerged in the late 70s with (mostly) original designs, to compete with the likes of Ibanez, Greco & Aria Pro etc. Some blurbs here, including a couple of Aquarius range catalogues - the AQB500 is in the 1983 edition.

Funnily, that's not the first one of these that's come up with an absurdly eye-watering price tag.

Possibly, but not necessarily. These things are beyond the remit of science and deep within the realms of numinosity. Ineffable, innit?

Tokai (and Fernandes, Greco, ESP/Navigator etc) & their replica-standard copies were the reason Fender launched Fender Japan/Squier, but Tokai didn't get involved themselves until the late 90s CIJ era. In 1982 Fender did a deal with Kanda Shokai to produce Japanese Fenders at Fujigen Gakki, which meant Kanda stopped producing their Greco-branded Fender clones. Anecdotally the very first JV Fenders & Squiers started their trip down the production line as Grecos.

Black works better. White always looks a bit cheapo to me.

I like that - it's a variation on the batwing design from the Thinline Tele. And what's weird is that the Thinline Tele was designed by Roger Rossmeisl after he left Rickenbacker!

I'd argue ('cos that's how I'm wired) there's nothing remotely unusual about a standard Tele-shaped plate - originally fitted to the world's first mass-produced electric guitar! I do quite like that Kay design though. I can be a bit weird about scratchplates - for example the standard Rickenbacker 4001/4003 shape looks like a slapped-on afterthought & is far less integrated & sympathetic to the design of the bass than the original 50s plate. I'd bet a quid Roger Rossmeisl had nowt to do with the redesign!

That's an awesome colour. That scratchplate looks like a home-made bodge, though. Not sure what they were thinking.

Is this the look you're aiming for?

BassChat would be nothing without MDP. He doesn't know it (indeed, he probably has no idea we even exist) and I suspect few of us appreciate his significance - but I am convinced that in some strange, ineffable way, he is the glue which binds the very fabric of this community together.

That looks the business! Happy to have had a hand in this, & glad the Schaller's been liberated from my spares drawer!

Cheers, sorry for the late response, only just seen your post. 👍

It's useful to remember alt-0252 if you want the Nanny Filter to just fück off. 👍

I'd expect so. Never played a Armstrong or Armstrong copy, but I have an acrylic-bodied Precision and it's insanely heavy.

Same bass was on Reverb 4 years ago & didn't sell then, despite a massively less optimistic price tag: https://reverb.com/uk/item/31288796-ibanez-musician-mc-924-limited-edition-bass-guitar-1980-flight-case It does look like a very well-looked after example of a 924 LE, considering the ballpark for standard MC924s is high hundreds these days, the Reverb price doesn't seem too wild. There was an even more fancy MC924LE with extended upper fretboard & big inlays, but this ain't that.

There were a few variations on the different MIJ copies of these - this CSL's a Fujigen model 2364B. The 2x Maxon 'buckers were standard, but the slightly wonky & tarnished brass scratchplate not so much! The original scratchplate should be tasteful wood-effect Formica, to match the head & trc. This is cool but a bit tatty/unoriginal - £800 is probably a little over-the-odds.

I've had one of these for years, one of my favourite basses. Looks awesome, sounds like a Jazz on steroids, great player, pretty lightweight & balances a lot better than you'd think. Only a couple of changes from stock - I'm not a fan of a white scratchplate so I made the red pearl one, & the hi-mass bridge was gathering dust in my spares box, bunged it on for the hell of it. Not sure it makes any difference but looks nice! Got mine aaaages ago from a BC member (can't remember who, sorry!) who went through an odd phase of attempting to collect every model variant (including the ultra-rare Blue Jeans 5-string, if I remember), every colour, and the original 60s/70s SB5s & SB7s etc. Mine was one of several duplicates he ended up with!