Bassassin

As you wish: Proper Road To Damascus sh!t right there...

Think you'd get away with it, Sonny Jim?

Thought I should give him the benefit of that on his Ebay listing:

Was I polite enough?

"Faker than the tits on a stripper" - pure class! Anyway - if you think Mateyboy would benefit from more info, I can not only confirm that it's not a Fender, but I can in fact tell you what it is - it's a Musima, made during the Cold War era in what was then East Germany. These are easily identified by the wheel-type truss adjuster (which as any fule kno, never appeared on any vintage Fender) and the use of nice quality Gotoh Res-o-lite tuners. There are loads of unbranded examples, most sellers assume/pretend they're Japanese. Never seen one masquerading as a Fender before. So as copies go, it's an interesting curiosity but not even that collectable as a knock-off - these tend to go for under £150. Nice tuners, though.

Some models are old enough that the original trademark/copyright owners are long-gone and the ownersip of the design with them. Others (like this Epi) are obscure enough that I'm guessing Eastwood are assuming the current brand owners won't bother hassling them. Some designs have likely lapsed into the public domain, from being copied previously & those copies going unchallenged. Some they clearly think they'll make enough money on before they get a C&D - like their forthcoming Yamaha SG ripoff. Rant:

That's crazy cheap for that, some nice touches like the wooden contol cover & trc. It's an ugly bugger, mind, and I'm usually a sucker for a neckthrough. Very tempted but no - don't want a 6er, I already have a 5-string which is functionally a 4 with a very long thumbrest.

Pop a shim in the neck pocket of the fretless - this will angle it back a little. A small tilt makes a fairly big difference at the bridge, and will bring the action down & give some adjustability to the saddles. Also check for relief in the neck - typically on a fretless you'll be looking to get it pretty much dead flat.

Post-US Kays were rebrands of budget instruments from several countries & manufacturers. Japanese Kays were made by Teisco, which was itself by that point owned by Kawai Gakki. Not sure of dates but production of these models was subseqently transferred to a factory in Taiwan, owned by Kawai - this will be where the Taiwanese Precision, Strat, LP and those weird shortscale Rick types came from. Later Kay electrics were made by Cort in Korea (the 1980-ish through-necks are really nice) and some acoustic models were East German, probably made by Musima. 1969 is nothing to do with the year.

Not sure what the number refers to but it's definitely not a date - accurate copies simply weren't around in 1969. If you look at the very earliest Japanese Fender copies from 1971, they didn't use proper P or J style pickups, because at that time no-one made them. I don't remember any numbers on the two I had, but I did once find a Kay Strat copy, same body & neck construction as the basses, and I *think* it had 1967 in the pocket. Chances are they're factory model numbers, or something like that.

That's a Kay KB24, made in Taiwan. These are mid 70s & later - there were no remotely accurate copies as early as 1969. I've had a couple of these, and they're certainly rough & ready, but both of mine played quite well after a setup, and sounded surprisingly good - very loud, punchy pickups. That neck construction looks weird but was quite common on budget Japanese guitars in the 60s - it's basically ply, sometimes called "strip mahogany". Apparently some early MIJ guitars were prone to necks deforming due to inadequately seasoned wood, so it seems this was used as a cheap way of making a more stable neck.

Doesn't look like it is, though - a lot of these marks look like the bass has been abused and battered - the cracking around the control area looks like it's the result of an impact, as do the big fractures on the back near the bases of top & bottom horns. Pretty confident there's wood damage there. In the unlikely event it's not been kicked half to death the only thing I can think of that would result in this sort of cracking would be use of inadequately seasoned wood, which over the years has expanded or contracted under what looks like very thick poly lacquer. Either way, it's enormously overpriced.

Digital game sales massively outstrip physical copies these days - in fact Microsoft has recently launched a digital-only version of its current XBox & it's expected that other manufacturers will follow suit with the next console generation. The industry in general is very much in favour of moving towards digital-only, for various reasons, not least of which is the elimination of the secondhand market & retail discounts, which clearly only apply to physical product. The music business unfortunately remained stuck in the 20th century while the world moved on & has failed to capitalise on any of the potentials the digital market might have offered.

If my experience of "rock" was limited to the sort of slobbering, 4-chord badboy-wannabe, smackhead-chic moronic cliche garbage that seems to have typified Mr Gillespie's contribution to the genre, then I think I'd be inclined to agree with him wholeheartedly. It's probably not unreasonable to assume that this is what informs his opinion in the first place. I'm no expert (and neither am I a hater) but rap, grime & drill are all sub-genres of hip hop, which is a musical genre whose origins can be traced back to the early 70s. As somebody currently quietly despairing at the ravages of time and encroaching decrepitude, I take a little personal comfort & reassurance knowing that the pioneers of what's apparently the cutting edge of contemporary musical culture (according to Bobby G) must all have their bus passes by now...

These tuners were really common on Japanese basses from the 70s and early 80s, sets & individuals turn up on Ebay from time to time, I've even seen a couple of OEM sets in their original Gotoh packaging. They did come with two different sized backplates - the ones on your Epi are the smaller type. Some Korean basses had identical-looking tuners but these have chromed plastic buttons instead of the cast metal originals - these break quite easily so it's worth making sure what you're getting! If you don't need them to be the original style but just fit the original holes, these look like they might do - but measure up first: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-a-side-Vintage-Electric-Bass-Guitar-Tuners-No15/132288733875

Yep, always fancied a Rail. And a Quantum - should've picked them up a few years back when you'd get change from £200 for both...

Would appear that answers the question posed by the OP. He's still The Boss. And he's coming.

If it's bridge/tuner parts you're looking for, I think these are an exact copy of the Steinberger licensed units used by Hohner. Little bit cheaper too. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-4-String-Electric-Bass-Tailpiece-Bridge-System-for-Headless-Bass-Accs/282265918865

These are cool, always had a bit of GAS for one. Very uncommon though. But - how much??? That's twice what I expected it to be!

Hard to say for several reasons - Greco is a Japanese domestic brand and has never been officially exported anywhere. Also Greco Fakers were around for a very long time, so there will be a lot of model variations - they first appeared in Greco catalogues in around 1972 and were still available as late as 1997. This means that there will be plenty of used examples in Japan, where I don't think RIC are as proactive with copies as elsewhere. However this means that prices are going to be subject to big shipping costs, import duties and CITES. That said, dunno why it would have to be a Greco, as Greco, like most Japanese brands, has never been a manufacturer. Early Greco catalogues show both Fujigen & Matsumoku Fakers (they sourced from both factories) and subsequently they moved exclusively to Fujigen, and for various reasons I'm inclined to think that's where all subsequent ones came from. So, since Mat & Fgn built Fakers with lots of different names, maybe get one of those instead, as it's the same thing.

Nothing special - the oil was applied direct from the can to the bare, sanded wood (mahogany) using a microfibre cloth. I took my time - 10+ coats, one per day, then sanding the second-last coat before applying a very light final layer. Apart from using a cloth for application, pretty much the same technique I'd use for varnishing timber around the house. It didn't need any subsequent treatment - the gloss is maybe a consequence of using so many coats, the reason I did that was to let the finish build up in the very coarse grain of the wood.

No experience of Tru-oil but this is Danish oil (more coats than I can remember) on my Ibby SR500: Very happy it turned out a lot glossier than I expected. Me like shiny thing.

@NikNik - in fairness to Prowla, he does own several MIJ and MIK Fakers as well as his Ricks so his opinion is pretty objective. Despite him being a proper Rickenbacker fanboy!

Never mind the lack of markings - that looks 100% like a Matsumoku 3-point to me. Original on my Mat-built Westbury: