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Hands up who wishes they'd bought a Rail & a Quantum (and a Super Headless & a Washburn Bantam & a Washburn Force 42 & an Aria Pro ICB Interceptor & a Riverhead Unicorn & an Ibanez Axstar AXB...) before JapCrap got popular, & people couldn't give the damn things away?

Yeah, me too... :)

J.

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[quote name='Bassassin' post='1139025' date='Feb 23 2011, 07:16 PM']Hands up who wishes they'd bought a Rail & a Quantum (and a Super Headless & a Washburn Bantam & a Washburn Force 42 & an Aria Pro ICB Interceptor & a Riverhead Unicorn & an Ibanez Axstar AXB...) before JapCrap got popular, & people couldn't give the damn things away?

Yeah, me too... :)

J.[/quote]

Wish I still had my Quantum. Did me proud. Sold it for about £100 in the early '90s.

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[quote name='matski' post='1135937' date='Feb 21 2011, 06:29 PM']I reckon BigRedX has us all beat for sheer outlandishness though![/quote]
I aim to please!

Oh and here's one I forgot about:





Fake Duke. Most likely a Hondo Alien with the sticker removed. I've upgraded the hardware, so apart form the rosewood rather than ebanol fingerboard this is pretty much at Kramer Duke spec now.

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[quote name='cocco' post='1138918' date='Feb 23 2011, 05:46 PM']One day I'll get round to buying Flat Erics rail. I love them :D[/quote]

Ha Ha. :) You'll break in the end. :)



[quote name='Bassassin' post='1139025' date='Feb 23 2011, 07:16 PM']Hands up who wishes they'd bought a Rail & a Quantum (and a Super Headless & a Washburn Bantam & a Washburn Force 42 & an Aria Pro ICB Interceptor & a Riverhead Unicorn & an Ibanez Axstar AXB...) before JapCrap got popular, & people couldn't give the damn things away?

Yeah, me too... :lol:

J.[/quote]

Rail: Tick, Tick!
Quantum: Tick!
Interceptor: Tick! :lol:

And introducing. . . . . . . .



Would love to see another one if these!

Cheers. :P

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[quote name='FlatEric' post='1139918' date='Feb 24 2011, 01:20 PM']Ha Ha. :) You'll break in the end. :)





Rail: Tick, Tick!
Quantum: Tick!
Interceptor: Tick! :lol:

And introducing. . . . . . . .



Would love to see another one if these!

Talk of the devil!

Cheers. :D[/quote]

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[quote name='FlatEric' post='1139918' date='Feb 24 2011, 01:20 PM']Ha Ha. :) You'll break in the end. :)





Rail: Tick, Tick!
Quantum: Tick!
Interceptor: Tick! :lol:

And introducing. . . . . . . .



Would love to see another one if these!


Cheers. :D[/quote]

Talk of the devil! I'm slowly getting there, recently got a headless shuker and no longer see why basses with heads continue to be built. Get with the times earth!

Edited by cocco
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Got myself a Westone Super Headless off of Gumtree yesterday.....pups need a respray but other than that, sounds and looks amazing!

Came with the original case too!
[attachment=73212:P1011420.JPG]

[attachment=73213:P1011425.JPG]

Will take more photos when I've done the pups - which i'm not in a hurry to do because re-stringing is a NIGHTMARE!!!!

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[quote name='cocco' post='1141443' date='Feb 25 2011, 04:35 PM']What's wrong with the stringing process?[/quote]

Single ball end strings - so you have to feed them through the holes at the end and pull them all at the same time to keep some tension while refitting the bar with your other hand.
It's tricky!

Unless someone knows of an easier way.....

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[quote name='chaypup' post='1141333' date='Feb 25 2011, 03:23 PM']Got myself a Westone Super Headless off of Gumtree yesterday.....pups need a respray but other than that, sounds and looks amazing!

Came with the original case too!
[attachment=73212:P1011420.JPG]

[attachment=73213:P1011425.JPG]

Will take more photos when I've done the pups - which i'm not in a hurry to do because re-stringing is a NIGHTMARE!!!![/quote]
That's stunning - don't think I've seen a better-looking Super Headless! :)

Jon.

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[quote name='chaypup' post='1141333' date='Feb 25 2011, 03:23 PM']Got myself a Westone Super Headless off of Gumtree yesterday.....pups need a respray but other than that, sounds and looks amazing!

Came with the original case too!
[attachment=73212:P1011420.JPG]

[attachment=73213:P1011425.JPG]

Will take more photos when I've done the pups - which i'm not in a hurry to do because re-stringing is a NIGHTMARE!!!![/quote]

They were great basses; played a few of those. The stringing was the same as my old Quantum. Just takes a bit of getting used to, it's not as bad as it first appears. Double ball end is far easier though!

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[quote name='cocco' post='1140069' date='Feb 24 2011, 03:35 PM']I did wonder about your pickup HJ, has it made much of a difference?[/quote]

Oops - missed this.

Without an all-original Rail to A/B against, it's hard to tell. The after-market pickup certainly works fine, but I have to say that the overall sound of this bass is way short of inspiring. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing to get the adrenaline flowing.

Having said that, put my remarks in context. Take a look at my other basses (see my sig) and you'll see that there's some very serious competition there. For a relatively cheap Jap bass from the 80's to sound good when compared to an Alleva Coppolo is a pretty unfair comparison.

On the subject of stringing, the Rail (and I suspect other headless basses using the same system) definitely benefit from using double ball-end strings. Using standard strings, there's no practical way that you can cut off the excess short enough and neatly enough to avoid having four horribly sharp points sticking out of your headstock. Not nice, not nice at all.

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  • 2 weeks later...

New toy:

[attachment=74430:cortedit1.jpg][attachment=74431:cortedit2.jpg]

Cort headless, (no idea of model name/number) from 1985/86ish. These were closely related to the Hohner B2 licensed Steinberger copies, also made by Cort, this has the same Steiny tuner/bridge. Construction's neck-through like the Hohner but the more curvy styling makes it feel more organic somehow.

I've got one of the Hohners so it's interesting to compare them - they feel quite different, I'd say the Cort's more pleasant & easier to play. This is largely due to neck shape - the Hohner is narrow (39mm) at the nut but pretty deep & chunky, while the Cort feels fairly shallow for its 42mm width - the Hohner's a little awkward-feeling by comparison. The guitar-type pickups on the Hohner also make it hard to find a comfortable thumb anchor point, but the Cort's P/Js feel instantly familiar. I'd say build & finish are not quite to the standard of the Hohner - there are a few slightly rough fret-ends & the whole thing seems a bit more untidy.

I played the Cort at practice last night, it felt & sounded excellent - the passive P/Js make it much more easy to get the sort of uncouth, barking racket I prefer than the clean, nasal sounding active EMGs in the Hohner. It's also ridiculously loud - the J pup measures nearly 12k, which is probably the hottest single-coil I've encountered.

Cosmetically the bass is pretty well-used with various chips & dents and a quite big patch worn through to the wood on the back, frets are not bad but a level & crown would improve it. I'm seriously considering stripping it to the wood & either lacquering or oiling it - I think it would look great with the neck-through construction visible.

Jon.

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Hows about the Clifton....
[attachment=74445:DSCN0850.JPG]
[attachment=74450:DSCN0857.JPG]



Mo Clifton calls this the Downright (instead of his more usual electric uprights). 36" scale, mahogany/bubinga body, maple/bubinga neck and Kent Armstrong pickups. Like a cross-bread Status/Thumb bass!

Edited by BassBod
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  • 1 year later...

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