Bassassin

I'm frankly amazed to find myself to be the only person to make a helpful suggestion such as: Sell your old S2000, buy a Streamline. /Coat.

Few things about Greco. Japanese domestic brand, which means they're rare in the UK. I think some may have been unofficially exported to the US & Australia but I don't think they were ever sold in the UK or EU. Absolutely not a "Lawsuit Brand". 70s Grecos were made initially simultaneously by Matsumoku & Fujigen - the Fujigens are the same instruments as the equivalent Ibanez, which, again, were the same as equivalent Antoria, which was a UK brand. So if it's a toss-up between an expensive Greco & a less expensive Antoria, then yes, they're 99% likely to be exactly the same. There's nothing special about the "Gneco" logo examples, except they're older, rarer so more collectable for MIJ anoraks. It's worth remembering that later copy-era guitars were better built & more accurate than most early ones. While most Japanese export brands all pretty much phased out their copy ranges in favour of originals by the late 70s, it wasn't the case with domestic market instruments - although you won't find any Greco-badged Fender copies made after 1982. This is because Fender Japan was set up by Fender and Kanda Shokai, who own Greco, and the deal stipulated that Kanda drop the Fender fakes. Anecdotally the first run of JV Squiers & Fenders started production as Grecos - so it goes without saying if you have a choice between an eye-wateringly expensive JV and an early 80s Greco, buy the Greco.

That's been on before. It's a body from some weird pointy '80s shred guitar, the bodged-on neck from a '70s MIJ Grant shortscale starter bass, and a bunch of random and inappropriate parts-box components. I would be amazed if it didn't sound & play worse than it looks.

Perhaps you read this:

How about: Buy a sunburst P or P/J body. Buy a maple neck with the dimensions of your choice. Buy a white scratchplate. Buy some pickups/pots/tuners/bridge etc of your choice. Buy some screws, string, superglue, sticky-tape, nails, a hammer, an angle-grinder and an oxyacetalyne blowtorch. Build the exact bass you want. Easy!

Seen this a few times in the last couple of days. Fortunately, if you look closely, in the text of the fob-off the word "listing" is actually a link back to the original item. Still a frustrating pain in the ar$e though. I'm guessing there's a rationale behind this, not including an obvious link & making the actual link inconspicuous, but it's anyone's guess what it is. Just another step in the ongoing process of making Ebay hostile, awkward, unintuitive and irritating.

If I ever have a custom bass built, it will have colour-changing LED dots/inlays. I love the idea (that I just had) of LED (or maybe fibre optic) lines on a fretless. Vulgar & garish? I should hope so!

Well personally I'm all about those flat silver thongs - but moving swiftly on... We've had one right here back in '07 - the seller (Tinman, who I don't think comes here any more), managed to dig up what looks like official specs, calls it a 505 (despite it being a 4) and I assume bought it new: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/863-aria-sb505/ Formatting's a bit mangled following the site update but pics are intact plus a fair bit of discussion & info. Also found a 5-string 404, which might (or might not) be called a 404/5. Googling SB405 finds lots of pics of this and very little sandalage. http://www.chorder.com/electric-bass-guitars/aria/sb4045-5212

Interesting, this one. These were early '00s, as far as I remember. The S suffix on the serial probably means Samick, Korea. Occasional BCer FlatEric has a 5-string version of this in his blog (same build & control layout), which he names as an SB505: http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.com/2011/04/aria-sb-505-and-little-bit-of-jaydee.html So typical naming conventions might suggest the 4 string should be an Aria SB504. However, performing an image search for this term yields lots of pics of womens' sandals. I found that peculiar.

They are - a drummer mate I occasionally jam with has one lying around at his place - I stopped bothering to take my own bass after I played it. Awesome bargains for the 50-odd quid they go for.

Happy to (sometimes, at least) do wot it says on the tin! All a matter of personal taste - and I'm entirely aware of the fact I possess none. No offence intended!

My two bob's worth: would buy & regularly wear a £10 (+ p&p) t-shirt. Would need to be black. Would not be seen dead, ever, in something as spectacularly naff as an embroidered polio shirt, regardless of the superlativity (is that a word?) of its quality. So yeah, sell me a cheapshit BC t-shirt & I'll be happy.

I think someone's '90s Harley chop wants its paintjob back. Happily, a spot of acetone should get that mess off the bass in a jiffy.

If you're OK with Jazz neck dimensions you won't go far wrong with a Squier VMJ, nice used ones turn up for around £150 - £200. Still kicking myself for selling mine.

Just make sure you don't take it back to the wood - pretty unlikely unless you go mad with a belt sander though. The finish will easily T-Cut back to factory-standard gloss if you want to sell later.

Odd. The ST300 is a guitar, so despite the fact BC is an enormous suppository of information and knowledge about most things under the sun, asking about it here isn't the most obvious choice. For the benefit of the most recent enquirer, the best place to ask will be one of the vintage Ibanez FB groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ibanezvintageguitars/ The 50s 60s and 70s Ibanez Fan and Collectors Club

AKA So-Called Ruler Of The United States (SCROTUS)

Good advice. We'll erect a lamp post in her name.

What about felch? Can we still say felch? Edit - yep, we can say felch.

Don't know a lot about Orville, (or Gibson, for that matter) so I did a bit of reading! Orville was a Japan-market brand & seemingly a collaboration between Gibson & Yamano Gakki (distributor/retailer) from the off. So pretty much the same deal as Fender Japan, which was set up between Fender & Kanda Shokai. Didn't know Orville was Japan-only, although plenty of Japanese domestic-brand isntruments end up being unofficially exported - Greco being a good example. Regarding Fender Japan, I *think* Squiers were always intended for export while initially MIJ Fenders were home-market only. I also think I'm correct that JV Squiers & Fenders were the same apart from the branding - the earliest Squiers having the big Fender/small Squier logo to differentiate them from home-market Fender JVs. Export MIJ Fenders might've started when Fender changed ownership in the mid 80s but I'm not certain. This is both off-topic & dull as ditchwater so I'll STFU now.

What's interesting is that Orville was an official Gibson brand - high-end Epiphones, if you like. Seems a lot of people don't associate Gibson & Orville. As far as I know Orvilles stopped production in the late 90s & I guess Gibson attempted to fill that hole in their range with "affordable" USA Gibsons. Which, as I understand it, are a bit rubbish.

If that was true Rickenbacker should've folded 40 years ago. Ricks have always fallen to bits if you look at them funny. Maybe Trump will succeed where John Hall's bloodyminded incompetence has failed. Probably because Fenders were designed to be mass-produced inexpensively & they've sensibly decided to maximise the cheap & cheerful end of their product range for the last 35 years or so. Can't help thinking their cleverest trick might have been to persuade some people it's worth paying £3000+ for a bass/guitar that's fundamentally identical to a £200 one with Squier on the end.

Not massively over the odds but IMO it would need to be as-new to justify that. They go for a fair range of prices but as I said, £150 is pretty much the median. Ebay sold listings.

Great basses with excellent build quality - as has been mentioned, hefty, and with a slight neck-divey tendency, but a bona fide 80s MIJ classic. Don't pay £200+ Ebay BIN wishful thinking prices - because these were built like tanks & good players out of the box, there are still loads around. Sensible prices have sat around the £150 mark for years & that's still pretty much what you should pay. Badly listed Ebay auctions often go for a fair bit less.