Bassassin

I sometimes wonder if I've been playing bass with no inspiration at all for 40-odd years...

Some of his other prices might raise a smile, or an eyebrow: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Musical-Instruments/619/m.html?item=283818071046&_ssn=steveok2011 I thought it was the same t!t who was trying to flip a Shaftesbury Rick copy for £1300!

C'est un Matsumoku-related brand, sub-brand de Vantage: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/vantage/catalogs/atak-manhattan/pg5.html Dunno what that is, but pretty sure it's not MIJ. Possibly Italian, maybe a Gherson or Melody or somesuch. A bit shonky-looking, whatever it is but quite interesting. Would be a lot more interesting if it was £400 less.

Hi @Duncan Hutchinson - please post some pics of your Romaxe, hardly any of these around! Given the going rate for these is £56, can I put in an offer of £60 for yours, should you choose to sell? Clearly that's including a generous adjustment for inflation!

Amazing - MDP almost "makes" a sensible bass. Of course he still had to wonk up the (unmatched) tuners. And ruin the nut. Easily £217 too expensive.

That's proper MIJ collector geek material. Not for me, then.

I don't have your bass but feel your pain. I had two early 90s Fujigen SR800s, fretted & fretless, sold them both. And often wish I hadn't.

Don't understand why anyone would spend eye-watering money on instruments that are at best a hit-or-miss mixup of random parts. You could chuck this (and the rather better-looking Contour Bass posted by @AndyTravis) together in an afternoon for about £200's worth of decent Ebay parts. And it wouldn't looked like it had been kicked down the street. Are people just buying the sticker on the end, or what?

I know, it's a nightmare...

That looks great* - did it have a top veneer? Looks like solid mahogany. *Apart from the fact it's HERESY!

It'll be mahogany butcher-block with front & back veneers - more common than ply on midrange 70s MIJ basses. Don't think I've ever seen a Fujigen that was ply, actually. @Blind Lemon - doubt you'll find an original Slack Beagle scratchplate in anyone's parts drawers but there have been repros, like this one that's (helpfully) not presently available: https://www.etsy.com/listing/185572608/ibanez-black-eagle-replica-jazz-bass I'd expect Tim Allen at https://www.gig.ink/ would be able to sort you out, though.

Worth a few quid for the Schallers & DiMarzio Model Js. Bridge looks like an 80s MIJ brass thing, probably quite good. Looks like it's been made with a degree of thought, so it might even play. However I'd chuck it on the fire on principle, just to rid the world of the stuck-on f-holes.

Not if you compare it to its equivalent on a Rickenbacker - and that genuinely is a slapped-on afterthought. Roger Rossmeisl's original design followed the form of the instrument in a way the current "design" doesn't. I think I've only seen a couple of singlecuts that aren't foul. I really have no idea why anyone thinks it's a good idea to add an extra 2kg of timber to a bass and make it look like this: And once you see it, that's all you can see...

I don't think you should have deleted the article, although IMO a thread about instruments for sale on Ebay wasn't necessarily the right place for it. Regarding comments about "lawsuits" - it's difficult enough with the amount of misinformation online, I suppose I found it particularly galling that someone involved in the business at the time would contribute to perpetuating the myth. For clarity, Fender never sued anyone over anything, and certainly not Kanda, with whom they formed a business partnership in Fender Japan. Gibson's parent company threatened legal action against Hoshino Gakki's US operation, Elger Hoshino, but no action took place. I'm sorry but this is something that rubs me up the wrong way - I admit I was probably a bit harsh about his input on the Greco bass! Would you re-post the article please - it's otherwise interesting and I'd like to check out the band in question.

So he "helped to design" an exact copy of a Fender Precision? And Fender & Gibson sued Fujigen & Kanda Shokai? Right. Well - it was a long time ago, maybe his memory isn't what it once was.

Close - but not quite. Your authentic 80s rock beast P requires cream DiMarzio Model Ps: /thread.

Maybe this one:

I love Js, my no.1 is a Jazz (well, a very, very good MIJ copy) and much as I'm drawn to Ps, I've never found one I really got on with, either soundwise or playing. If only there existed a through-neck P style bass with J neck proportions and 2x P pickups, preferably made in Japan in the late 70s/early 80s, with maple fingerboard and a natural finish... Oh, bugger.

Commodores were Matsumoku, so yes those would've been the same as Aria. I've seen plenty of Commodore semis but honestly can't remember whether I've seen am EB or not. It's pretty likely they did one.

Still my £60 pawn shop special. Best neck on any bass I've ever played. Admittedly it didn't come with the DiMarzios, Schaller bridge, stack knobs or vulgar scratchplate.

It's not a vintage Tokai, whatever it is, and in fairness the guy's not suggesting it is. And (in my opinion) if it's not an 80s Hamamatsu-made replica, it doesn't really matter what the sticker on the end says. Pretty colour, though.

There are, but (as far as old MIJ stuff goes) they're much less common. If I remember there was a Fujigen-made EB3L, longscale, slot-headstock that was set-neck. Never seen one in real life & I don't remember seeing a set-neck shortscale (which is what @Paul S is after) at all. Should've mentioned Greco among the Fujigen rebrands. Not many around though as it's a Japanese domestic brand never officially exported. Ishibashi might be worth a look though. Edit - couldn't help myself! Orville EB3 on Ishibashi Hopefully the link will work, Ishibashi can be odd. Not cheap at 56000 yen (about £430) plus shipping & customs. Also don't know much about it, Orville's a licensed brand so maybe just a glorified MIJ Epiphone!

Now that's odd. Another dealer selling the same bass @Paul S linked to, but for an even more eye-wateringly ridiculous price. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Japanese-Made-70s-EB3-Bass/283813920521 Not really doing much to dispel the notion that Ebay's a cesspit of gougers and scammers, is it? And I don't even sell there any more...