gjones Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 I used to have one of these back in the day. It was the cheapest bass in the shop (Grants in Edinburgh) and I bought it for £75 back in 1980. It had cheap pickups and cheap tuners and a cheap plywood body. Just because it's old doesn't mean it's vintage, it just means it's old. If somebody actually buys it for £399.99, they'll be very disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 Got a link? Wondered if it was my first bass - a Grant shortscale, also cheapest bass in the shop (Unisound, Chatham High Street, 1978) which was £59 and an utterly functionless piece of unplayable junk! In fairness Grants imported a pretty big range at several different price points & they weren't all rubbish. There's a Grant FB group who would argue that none of them were - but they never played mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troubadour Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 You (don’t) wait 40 years then 2 come along at once . . . yours https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Grant-MIJ-Japanese-Lawsuit-Fender-Jazz-Bass-Guitar-1970-s/113662475781?hash=item1a76cfbe05:g:o~oAAOSwqaNccZKc another https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Grant-jazz-bass-lawsuit-vintage-70-s-japan/264215758930?hash=item3d847c8852:g:HOsAAOSwi5dcdbw7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 My first bass was a Columbus Jazz, and there was a very similar Grant version. It worked for me for a year or so, 'til I bought a Rickenbacker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 I don't get sellers who "invent" these so called law suits to make potential buyers think this makes the bass collectable. The other one is "rare" - sometimes this just means that the item is such a POS that they couldn't sell them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 My fist guitar was a Grant copy of a Les Paul Special - a complete pile of poo. The pickups were screwed to the flat top of the body. At home I discovered that it was impossible to tune, as the bridge was not far enough back. I took it back to the shop and managed to swap it for a Cimar Strat copy, which was much better. A couple of years later, I saw Prefab Sprout in a pub in Durham. They were not famous at the time. Paddy McAloon was playing the same Grant guitar, which fed back microphonically every time he turned it up for a solo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted March 4, 2019 Author Share Posted March 4, 2019 7 hours ago, troubadour said: You (don’t) wait 40 years then 2 come along at once . . . yours https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Grant-MIJ-Japanese-Lawsuit-Fender-Jazz-Bass-Guitar-1970-s/113662475781?hash=item1a76cfbe05:g:o~oAAOSwqaNccZKc another https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Grant-jazz-bass-lawsuit-vintage-70-s-japan/264215758930?hash=item3d847c8852:g:HOsAAOSwi5dcdbw7 That's the one! I forgot to add the link....duh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 2 hours ago, TheGreek said: I don't get sellers who "invent" these so called law suits to make potential buyers think this makes the bass collectable. The other one is "rare" - sometimes this just means that the item is such a POS that they couldn't sell them. Rare lawsuit vintage pile of poo for sale! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 6 hours ago, gjones said: That's the one! I forgot to add the link....duh. These look quite decent compared to mine! Note - that's not my actual bass - mine died a deservingly horrible death many years ago. The two on Ebay at the moment are the same thing as the Columbus Js that regularly turn up. I've had a couple of Columbuses & they're half-decent after a proper setup. The idea of asking more than £150 for something like these is bloody ridiculous though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldslapper Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 Pants are Grants. Grant’s pants maybe worth more, and despite his diet, structurally more sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Sounds like they're in the same quality group as Satellite copies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 30 minutes ago, fleabag said: Sounds like they're in the same quality group as Satellite copies From what I remember from the 70s, they were better made and looked vaguely like the instruments they were supposed to be copying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsmokebass Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 To be fair, if Westfield came back into popularity in 30 years time, I'd probably buy another for sentimental reasons because that's what I started on and stick it next to my best up original. It's probably no different with these but slapping "MIJ" on the sale to pass it off as a quality made item and selling it for more than it's worth is just bad business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Satellite you say? Crikey my first bass was a short scale Satellite which was absolute junk. Even as a beginner, it was clearly barely playable and developed a bad neck twist/warp within six months of me owning it. I remember it had a very thin, plywood body too. Hopefully in landfill by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Thing is if you sue someone for the lawsuit bass not being a lawsuit bass would that make it a lawsuit bass? To be fair, some of the MIJ guitars/basses from that era varied from very good to better than the originals (especially Tokai). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 11 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said: Satellite you say? Crikey, they were known as crap even at the time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 12 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said: Crikey, they were known as crap even at the time! Tho not by me, aged 12, unfortunately. It was the only thing I could afford at the time - a whole £60... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 On 03/03/2019 at 19:33, gjones said: Just because it's old doesn't mean it's vintage, it just means it's old. IMHO being old probably does make it vintage, but being vintage doesn't in itself make it good though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 24 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said: Tho not by me, aged 12, unfortunately. It was the only thing I could afford at the time - a whole £60... More than I paid for this Kay, which is probably even more basic... (apols for reposting this pic!) Also see https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kay-K2-T-Vintage-Guitar/264225371338?hash=item3d850f34ca:g:58sAAOSwAEFcWWCi:rk:10:pf:0 " I have seen that these guitars sell for £250-£300. No silly offers please " Another one is listed at £57 which is probably greatly over-valued! And everyone thinks they are 60s when they were late 70s (and barely more than entry-level toy guitars). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said: Thing is if you sue someone for the lawsuit bass not being a lawsuit bass would that make it a lawsuit bass? To be fair, some of the MIJ guitars/basses from that era varied from very good to better than the originals (especially Tokai). I think that the ones which bettered the original were very few. People often quote Tokai as a sort of blanket case, but actually they did a range, so it's dangerous to extrapolate the assertion that some were better than the original to all were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 FYI, I recently bought this rare sought-after vintage lawsuit era guitar. It's an ugly sod and its best feature as it stands is probably the broken tuning key, which means it is unplayable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 1 hour ago, prowla said: I think that the ones which bettered the original were very few. People often quote Tokai as a sort of blanket case, but actually they did a range, so it's dangerous to extrapolate the assertion that some were better than the original to all were. Oh I did say some, but my beautifully finished 'made in Japan' (genuine) Fender Performer probably came out of the Tokai factory in 1987 along with many other 'real' Fenders... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said: Oh I did say some, but my beautifully finished 'made in Japan' (genuine) Fender Performer probably came out of the Tokai factory in 1987 along with many other 'real' Fenders... So that'll be as good as a Fender then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 8 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said: Crikey, they were known as crap even at the time! I've owned one and speak from experience, and yes they were. Banana necks R us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikNik Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 (edited) Ahh..... Jimmy Grant's shop in Tollcross. He did have some good kit there. Indeed, I bought my first expensive bass from that shop, an Odyssey B100WS, just like the attached. Bought it on tick - £600!! I flogged it in '86 when the mortgage rate started to rocket and if anyone knows of its whereabouts, I'd love to buy it back. I spotted it, briefly, in 1999, and it had seen a bit of abuse but I began to hanker after it. So, bass sleuths, get your gumshoes on...... Grant EBO copies were ten a penny in those days. Back then, just prior to buying the Odyssey, I played a fireglow Ibby 2388B-DX with a Bill Lawrence rail-bucker where the single coil mud-bucker copy would have been. It was in getting work done on it when I answered an ad for a bassist. I told them mine was in for repair. 'Oh, don't worry', said the geezer on the other end, 'We have a bass here you can use!' Off I went, galloping like a Spring lamb, wondering what delight awaited me. My heart sank when I saw it was a Grant EBO. It sank even further when I began to play it. Effing useless POS. The shop went tits-up sometime in the early '80s. I heard later that Jimmy had busted the place (and his suppliers/creditors) and ran off to Spain with the coin. PS: does anyone from that neck of the woods remember Side Street Music, just over the road from Jimmy's? Edited March 6, 2019 by NikNik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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