BIG.J Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) Hi, Looking for some info on this Bass. Picked it up this morning and it is superb, Only found 1 x Oakland Bass & 1 x Oakland Guitar on the net and they were in the US priced around $2500? Oakland Fretless Bass Specs = Neck through construction! Ibanez Musician Styled head stock / neck Original tuning pegs replaced with New Schaller M4S Series Tunning pegs (2+2) Brass Nut Passive electronics 4 x pots 1 x set of Precision neck pickups 1 x Jazz Bridge pickup 1 x 3 way toggle switch Jazz / Precision style bridge with Brass Saddles Westone styled body! I am curently thinking of having frets installed, This would make a lovely Bass. Any ideas, help or advice would be very much welcomed. Cheers Justin Edited April 23, 2009 by xverminate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wotnwhy Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 "This would make a lovely Bass." so you don't think it's a bass if it hasn't got frets? if you don't mind saying, how much did you get it for? if it was a bargain, i wouldn't advise fretting it, you might regret it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG.J Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) [quote name='wotnwhy' post='417773' date='Feb 23 2009, 07:54 PM']"This would make a lovely Bass." so you don't think it's a bass if it hasn't got frets? if you don't mind saying, how much did you get it for? if it was a bargain, i wouldn't advise fretting it, you might regret it [/quote] It sounds amazing even acousticly, Just haven't master'd the art of playing fretless. Just thought it would have made things a little easier for my playing if i had it lined / fretted etc? I am not specificly looking for that fretless sound, Just thought it was to good to miss out on buying, Having sold an old Westone Thunder Bass and played my old mans Ibanez Musician, This seemed a mixture of the two and i loved using both of them. Cheers Justin. Edited April 23, 2009 by xverminate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wotnwhy Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 if it's something special then i would personally advise against a fret job. but of course it's not mine, it's yours. so its up to you at the end of the day fretless (especially un-lined) can take a while to get used to, so i'd give a while before making a final decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG.J Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 [quote name='wotnwhy' post='417798' date='Feb 23 2009, 08:17 PM']if it's something special then i would personally advise against a fret job. but of course it's not mine, it's yours. so its up to you at the end of the day fretless (especially un-lined) can take a while to get used to, so i'd give a while before making a final decision.[/quote] Good point! After all i wouldn't want to de-value it! Looks like i will have to get practicing with it for now. Thanks Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hubrad Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 [quote name='wotnwhy' post='417798' date='Feb 23 2009, 08:17 PM']fretless (especially un-lined) can take a while to get used to, so i'd give a while before making a final decision.[/quote] ..so play nothing else for a while! Once you have it, you can do everything (even metal, believe it or not) on a fretless. It's a state of being. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG.J Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 [quote name='hubrad' post='417851' date='Feb 23 2009, 09:00 PM']..so play nothing else for a while! Once you have it, you can do everything (even metal, believe it or not) on a fretless. It's a state of being.[/quote] Nice one fella!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG.J Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 Daily Bump!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorick Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 I saw a few Oaklands in the 80s. Can't remember where they were made, but they of a similar quality to Marlins and Hohners. Fairly generic styling. The last one i saw was a str@t type, but with a metallic pink flake paint job. Very 80s glam metal!!! Depending on the asking price, it looks quite a nice tool. Definitely worth a punt on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 Oakland seems to be a non-defined (ie we don't know anything about them!) JapCrap/KoreaDiarrhoea brand from the early 80s. Yours is the first neck-through I've noticed, but I've seen a few basses & g*it*rs go through Ebay which were very closely based on Ibanez Blazers. One of the Blazer-esque basses was indeed glittery metallic pink - and I was gutted when I was outbid! Anyway there's a bit of info - although this thread on ICW doesn't help much: [url="http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/vintage-and-custom-electrics-and401970s-onlyand41/oakland-ibanez/"]http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/vint...oakland-ibanez/[/url] But I think we can reasonably assume they "borrowed" some Ibanez-esque designs rather than actually being connected in any way. This thread on the Mat board seems to be fairy certain they're Japanese, and possibly Matsumoku: [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1408"]http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/viewtopic...f=19&t=1408[/url] The thread's about 4 years old & there's been a [i]lot[/i] of research in the JapCrap field since then - we know a lot more about Japanese & Korean manufacturing & quality standards now - and the way both designs & building techniques were "borrowed" so liberally - and likely wouldn't jump to the same conclusions so quickly. The more you know the less you understand. Anyway - it's a very nice bass, I would definitely leave it fretless, both from the perspective of learning the technique, and leaving a very unusual vintage bass in original condition. Jon. Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG.J Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 Thanks Jon, Thats a great help. It's a cross between an Ibanez Musician & a Westone thunder ll - lll. Spoted one photograph of a Westone Thunder l guitar on your links which had = OAKLAND by westone on the headstock!! Anyway looks like i will have to get to grips with it now. Cheers Justin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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