Twincam Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 Wasn't thinking about buying a bass. Then found myself buying this 70s Antoria, fujigen made. I've kinda been a silent fan, of dare I say Japcrap instruments of the era and I fancied something different and vintage. And this one is in exceptional condition so I bought it. I believe its 73 to 75? Its pretty much all original. Came with the pu covers. Needed some standard setup work. But for a 50 year old instrument it's excellent, zero setup issues. Neck is straight with no weird ski jumps, fret board and frets perfect. Original electrics work perfectly, might of had a new jack. Hardware is half decent. Reserving judgment on tone as only played it through powered speaker no pre amp! And used strings. Slightly worried that those maxon pickups will be rubbish. Not overly heavy, but not light. What wood(s) is the body made from? I know its a chopping block construction. Made me wonder where did this fit in, on the quality hierarchy back in the day? I assume it was a more budget instrument? I'm really impressed by its quality and how well the wood in the neck has managed to not do anything weird. I've seen a lot of basses with ski jumps and all sorts at a few years old, nevermind 50 years. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 See stuff like this all the time on auction sites but never sure which are OK and which are true crap. Hope yours is the former. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 I remember the Antoria copies well from when they were around the first time. They were one of the better made Jap copies as I recall, a step or so up from satellite etc.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 Nice, cool looking jazz 👍, perhaps @Bassassin would have some info 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 1 hour ago, Reggaebass said: Nice, cool looking jazz 👍, perhaps @Bassassin would have some info 🙂 Oh aye. Early 70s - there will be dateable codes under the pickups - the big silver trc says '71/2 or I'll be slightly surprised - mid-70s versions had a small white plastic cover, and proper J type pickups. Very good quality for an early 70s copy, these were made by Fujigen Gakki and are the same instruments as the equivalent Ibanezes, even using the same Fgn factory model numbers - this is a 2365B. Not sure but this might have been refinished - looks like visible laminations on the edges & contours. These were mahogany butcher-block with birch front & back veneers, & usually sunburst. A look in the cavities will confirm or otherwise. The pickups should output the 7-8k or so you'd expect from J units - as far as I know these were used because at the time there weren't accurate copies of Fender pickups available, and these were intended to be hidden under ashtrays anyway. Like all the inaccurate details on early MIJ copies, these were gradually phased out & by the time these stopped being imported (probably 1978 or so) they were close to replica-level. I had a project Antoria a few years back which came with dead pickups - digging around, it looked like Artec mini-humbuckers were very close size-wise & should have been a drop-in replacement. Never found out as a working set of Maxons came up. So if they do sound rubbish there are options! 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 Amazing knowledge , thanks very much 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twincam Posted April 12, 2023 Author Share Posted April 12, 2023 Thank you for the info. Big thanks. Doesn't appear to be a refinish, ive had the neck off to fit a shim. Which I don't like doing but the neck had no angle at all and saddles were nearly on the deck. Actually I've had it all apart forgot to take pictures of under the pickups. Pickups cavity same colour as the body. To my surprise there was a shim already. Seen that rickenbacker pickups will fit straight in. I'm ight replace both with high gains or a high gain and a toaster. I will rework the electrics too if I do. Actually looking at the sides of the body I wonder if it is a refinish??? They did come in those colour though looking online. Hmm 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 Oh don’t spoil it with Rickenbacker parts whatever you do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twincam Posted April 14, 2023 Author Share Posted April 14, 2023 (edited) Bit more info for anyone interested in these. Bass dates to 1972. The pickups are actually single coil, 4 staple style alinco. Sound pretty good. Won't be swapping them. But you could potentially put in any single coils under the covers, might need to modify the bobbin however. This model has figured Teak caps over mahogany. The sunburst models had the birch caps, as mentioned before. Edited April 14, 2023 by Twincam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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