CSL Jazz copy

[Jom]

Just bought a CSL Jazz copy 1972 from ebay.
I've had my eye on one of these for a while & the bass lives up to it's reputation as a nice player.
I've put some pics on here for you.

I was going to upgrade the pickups but after a little bit of work they're sounding great. The bridge pup wasn't too great at first but after taking it out & shielding the cavities, jiggling it a little & moving it further towards the strings it's working great now with lovely tone & lots of variety.

I removed the ashtrays & thumb rest, they just get in the way for me.
Added some good strap lock buttons.
Replaced the plastic knobs with some metal ones (don't like the look of the plastic ones & I don't actually need a dial to reference my tone just use my ears!)
& decide not to add a brass nut (can't see the point)

Just picked up a Hohner P bass (1972) from ebay as well. I'm going to keep the P bass more in line with a vintage Fender look & keep the ashtrays, finger grab rest thing & get some nice metal buttons asap. Nice to make little additions to these old basses & keep playing them.

Can't afford a vintage Fender so I have to settle for these instead!

[LemonCello]

Is that the one that was for sale from Scotland? Very nice, I have the same bass and it is a lovely thing! I too have shielded the cavity and fitted some Wilkinson Alnico pup's and changed the control plate for a black one, 500K pots and new drop cap. As Jazzes go, it has the classic burpy jazz sound and I like it a lot. At over 10lbs it's not for weak backs, but I don't mind heavy basses!

[Jom]

It was the one from Scotland yes.
I quite like the weight, got a nice wide padded strap. It's not an issue really as I rarely play for over an hour in one go.

I've done a little audio sample of it for you to listen to.
Straight into my usb soundcard with no preamp and getting some ground hum from somewhere, will need further investigation as it doesn't do this through my amp (maybe I'm sat right in front of the soundcard & the laptop & stereo amp with single coil pups?).

Sounds are as follows;
(Tone pot is always fully open)
neck = 0 bridge =0
neck = 100 bridge = 100
neck = 70 bridge = 100 (my faveourite tone to dial in)
played with pick
played with fingers
(didn't do any slapping as I refuse to do that without compression & pre amp mid cut)

[Bassassin]

One of these has been my no.1 bass for about the last 10 or so years now.

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:66973]

Mine's been somewhat modified over the time I've had it - DiMarzio Model Js, Schaller 3D bridge, stacked pots & vulgar scratchplate - but the main thing's the neck. It's still the best-playing bass I've had my mitts on, and the one I'd grab first if the house was on fire!

These actually date from around 1980 and were also sold branded as Cimar:

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:15345]

Cimar was owned by Hoshino Gakki, who also own the Ibanez brand. At this point Hoshino were positioning Cimar as a sub-brand of Ibanez, so they share some features with Ibby designs of this era. The headsock on these CSL/Cimars is the same as the Mk1 Ibanez Blazer (which was also sold as the Cimar Stinger!) and when the Blazer was redesigned, the Cimars got the same headstock:



The Ibanez association tends to make people assume that Cimars/CSLs were made by Fujigen, but in the case of these basses, I'm not so sure. Nothing to do with the quality and more to do with the hardware & details - on a post-'75 Fujigen, I'd expect a serial number on the neckplate. Fujigen didn't tend to use those rounded-end J pups, even on their "lawsuit era" copies, also the torque-adjustable 3-screw tuners don't appear on any Fujigen builds I'm aware of. However they do appear on Tokais of the early 80s era, and (I think) some Kawai-built basses.

Anyway - regardless of who made them, these are great basses and it's good to see another one turn up on BC.

Jon.

[Bassassin]

[quote name='Jom' timestamp='1443875315' post='2878368']
Just picked up a Hohner P bass (1972) from ebay as well.
[/quote]

This one? It was also for sale on here.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/265389-nbd-hohner-70s-p-bass/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/265389-nbd-hohner-70s-p-bass/[/url]

That's a 1976 Moridaira build, if so, reliably dated from the Maxon pickup code. Very nice & original - don't mod it too much!

J.

[Jom]

Hi Jon,
Yep that's the Hohner bass. The neck plate has some faded details about the previous owner (which seem to be acid etched ono the plate???) who lived in Canada I believe. The pickup is great sounds really crisp with lots of bottom end.
I put a matching pup cover on, some straplocks & metal knobs all in chrome, looks very smart & in keeping with it's original look.
I was downsizing my collection & just wanted a Pbass & a Jbass. Very happy with my 2 Japcrap basses.

My CSL bridge pup gave up the ghost (output was down to 0.3K!!!!) so I swapped it for an old squire pup for now. Doesn't quite fit into the case but has
been gently convinced to fit in temporarily.
Does anybody know which kind of pups will fit the old rounded end type covers?
I like Seymour Duncan, Fender, MEC Warwick & Barts, would be nice to get them into the original covers & will be keeping it passive.
Was also wondering exactly how the sloppiness of the tuners is tightened up? Can't seem to work out how this is done? Have been looking for a grub screw or a tensioner but can't find one anywhere, would prefer a little more tension on it.

The Hohner will be kept as is until something fails on it as it's just a secondary P bass to play gigs with at festivals etc.....
The CSL will get the best mods I can afford to throw at it, not missing my German Warwick at all in comparison. If all goes well will be using it to record an album over Xmas with.
Smiles al round.
Thanks for the help & advice

[el borracho]

My first guitar was a CSL Strat like the one on the left of the picture - same finish as OP's bass. Cost me £95 new from Rock City in 1982. At the time it was looked on, by me and others as a cheap starter guitar and I ended up leaving it at an ex girlfriends. Wish I still had it now!

[Bassassin]

Hi Jom. The tuner tension is adjusted with the collar from which the key itself protrudes, and tightening it down should reduce sloppiness. They look like there should be a tool to fit them - there's a tiny hole where a pin might engage - but mine tighten fine by grabbing & twisting!

These round-end pickups were very common on various MIJ basses in the 70s & 80s, and I've had to deal with a few duds. Unfortunately the pole spacing is wrong to line up with standard sized J poles, so I've not been able to simply swap covers. On my CSL I did find that standard-sized DiMarzios fitted into the routes without modding either the bass or the pups, and the rounded shape of the route isn't obvious once they're in.

On a different MIJ Jazz I went to great lengths once to graft the top of a replacement cover onto the bottom half of a black round-end cover - worked pretty well but, it would be trickier to match cream ones, I expect. If you want to retain the look, I'd just get standard cream covers for your pups of choice - in my experience, they'll fit OK.

I did once try black covers/pearl plate on mine but didn't like it as much:

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:71584]

Jon.

[Jom]

Hi Jon,
So will standard dimarzios fit in no problem?
have been looking at the body routing & wondering if square pickups will fit. I'm good with a router but there is no way that blade is going anywhere near my bass!
I've had my eye on some of those cream EMG's for a while now but if they don't fit it's a total waste of time.

I've attached a picture of the Hohner too, much better with a matching pickup guard. Had to take the thumb anchor thing off too, still don't understand how people can play with those things.
Thanks,
Jim.

[Bassassin]

Yes - my DiMarzios dropped straight in. I'd expect any standard size set would do the same.

J.