Bassassin

I'm a big fan of the aesthetics of a neck-through build - I own several - but I don't think the construction makes any appreciable difference to tone. Conversely there are various reasons (many of which have been mentioned already) why a bolt neck is a more practical & versatile choice. I've owned & seen several through-necks where a low action was either difficult or impossible to achieve, either because of a poor construction decision (insufficient height between body & top of fretboard) or because a neck has moved over time. Early Rick 4001s are prone to this - the position of the neck pickup route creates a weak spot where string tension can cause the bass to effectively bend at this point. These issues don't affect bolt-necks because the neck angle can always be changed with a shim; or in extreme cases, the neck can be replaced.

Presumably because there's not a F*cking Stupid Guitars FB group. Yet.

Can't see the "H" but otherwise might be just the thing for a church bassist...

They'd only take it down on that basis in response to a complaint from the brand owner. Ebay doesn't know it's not a Fender any more than half the people who've bid on the various listings for it do.

I remember being gobsmacked by the sheer awfulness of that "devil girl" mess at a guitar show probably 15 or so years ago. The other thing is OK by the usual standard of wonky home-made stuff. Looks like a competent woodworker's been having a go at basic luthiery. A few things make you go "why?", considering how easily available decent, inexpensive components are, but otherwise it's a good effort. About £200 too dear, mind.

Wonder why he's now decided it's 80s rather than 70s? That's the only bit that was right in the previous ad.

Related to that one - @fleabag posted the Reverb link & I dug up that thread in response. Seller is a conscience-free gouger who paid a woman £400 for her dead husband's unique bass & is now trying to flip it for £2500.

Why has the thread about this in the Ebay folder appear to have been deleted? Weird...

Always though a guitar/bass double neck is really only any use for showing the guitarist what he's supposed to be playing. So - actually very useful indeed, then.

Eros was a UK importer brand owned by Rosetti, and sourced instruments from several manufacturers. Early Eros were Japanese, I've had two that were Matsumoku builds and one that was a Fujigen. Later examples - such as this - were Korean, so clearly nothing to do with Matsumoku or any other Japanese manufacturer. Likely to be late 70s/early 80s and from Cort or Samick. As far as value's concerned - this is plainly a low-end beginner's bass. I'd say £80 for something as crude as this is wildly over the odds & probably about twice what it's worth. However if you really like it, knock yourself out!

Like many of us I've gone past the point of finding a whole lot of new music that makes me go "wow". However a couple of years back a mate dragged me along to see these guys: Forgive me if I've banged on about Lifesigns before (which I have) but blown away was an understatement! Quite exceptional to see musicians of this calibre playing such gorgeous, expansive music in a local pub that I've played dozens of times myself. They're probably my current favourite band - and thoroughly lovely human beings to boot.

Guess I'll be hanging on to my stoopid bright orange plastic EDA900 after all. And I'm absolutely fine with that!

Scroll down to basses, links to big pics: https://www.ibanez.com/usa/news/detail/20181217190604.html But "affordable"? https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/ibanez-premium-afr-4-affirma-flamed-maple-top-natural-flat?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw-u0_srM3wIV7bztCh0Y0QmWEAYYASABEgJs-fD_BwE Also @alembic1989 sadly looks like there's no fretless version.

Speaking as a man (of sorts), I can say with confidence that I am far, far better than any, and I mean ANY woman, at urinating whilst standing up. And... er... that's it.

You might want to specify it's for string-through. The similar but larger rings around your tuner posts are also called ferrules.

Not overrated, but definitely overpriced. New ones (in fact, all of them post '84, I think) come with all the John Hall baggage and for that reason I don't think I'll ever own one. Big fan of the 70s MIJ copies - many of them, through use of modern finishes, components and adhesives improve upon their genuine 70s contemporaries and eliminate many of the flaws of older Ricks, for a fraction of the price. And quadruple the cool, IMO.

I was actually quite impressed by the control panels. I think it must take a lot of skill and patience, when lacking the correct tools, to be able to chew the plastic into a suitable shape.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-built-electric-bass-guitar/264100454606 You could buy an intact example of this mid-80s plywood cheapo for about £60, and saw the horns into ugly shapes yourself - but why go to all that effort when this generous Ebayer has done all the work for you?

Wonder if that's the hit single paradox. Kayleigh, Lavender etc turned them into a chart act, despite the songs being part of a concept album - which was a pretty much unthinkable idea in 1985. I suppose though that hit singles became an expectation from the label/management and that affected the way they wrote subsequently. Fish-era Marillion was a band that (at the time) I liked despite thinking I probably shouldn't - them being as old-school prog as they were circa Script. My then-girlfriend was a massive fan & I saw them on the Fugazi tour at the Hammy O, front row. Absolutely blew me away, made me a fan in the space of a few minutes. Saw them again on the next tour when they played what - at the time - was unreleased new material, which Fish introduced as "a track from our next album - this one's called 'Side One'". That being half of Misplaced Childhood. I had a live recording from the radio of one of those shows, so was familiar with the early versions of the new songs for a long time before the album was finally released. The finished versions were insipid compared to the way they'd been played six months or so earlier, and quite different in many respects - the lyrics & vocal melody to Kayleigh were completely changed, and I remember Heart Of Lothian having some lovely vocal harmonies (from bassist Pete Trewavas) which were absent from the finished version. Never liked the album, and after the rather dreadful follow-up, Clutching At Straws, I really lost any interest in them. Which was a shame - because 25-odd years later, in a somewhat different life, I rediscovered Hogarth-era Marillion. Slowly working my way through the back-catalogue in (mostly) reverse order and finding them rather delightful! I may have rambled a little, if so I apologise, but it's Christmas and there is alcohol present.

Dead Leper were never as good, or rather, never any good - after the Getcha Rocks Off EP.

This. That era (Permanent Waves in particular) is the point where they stopped being a mishmash of plagiarised influences and defined their own sound, to my ears. Never been one for picking "best" or even "favourite" tracks but if I wanted to play a track that represented Rush to someone who didn't know them, it would be Free Will from PW. Hits every defining Rush feature, for me. Re: the article itself - a bit of a shame that even after Rush being validated by an outrageously successful 40-year career, the Grauniad writer can't get past the sneery put-downs - "widdly-woo music" and the inevitable implication that musicianship & technically complex music are intrinsically valueless. Seems some dismal & dated music hack tropes are destined to never go away...

If I bought a car where someone had covered the Lada badge with a bit of tape and scribbled "Porsche" on it, then yes, I would - quite rightly - feel like a complete tw@t, and deserve to have people pointing and laughing! The fakery of this bass is akin to that. It has features that have never been present on any Fender, ever, but are common on the majority of Japanese copies from the 70s. It's not like the buyer will get a dreadful shock & surprise when it turns up.

You and your faith in human nature! A lot more realistically, it's someone who thinks the seller doesn't know what they have, and they'll be getting a rare vintage Fender for a song. This buyer's under the impression they're ripping off the seller! You'd be including a significant proportion of the BC membership in that cohort, then! Seriously, if someone's too lazy to do an elementary Google search, then they will learn the hard way. And there are doubtless plenty more lazy mugs out there they can punt it on to, once they work it out.

I know - I contacted him myself and told him exactly what it was - and of course what it wasn't. However, the ad that resulted in the sale does not claim it to be something it's not. Heartless bah-humbugger I might be, but I can't feel anything resembling sympathy for someone who could be taken in by something as blatantly a knackered copy as this thing is. Research isn't hard, a simple Google search and some actual looking and comparing shouldn't be beyond most people!