Shaftesbury bass fireglo

[Craig1]

Hello all has anyone got any information on this bass please 

[Happy Jack]

Paging @Bassassin ...

 

[Maude]

@Bassassin is your man.

 

Shaftesbury were a brand name for the Rose Morris shop in Shaftesbury Avenue, I think they were made in the Matsumoku factory. I'd assume this is a later model having a hi-gain neck pickup and non wavy grover style tuners, but I could be wrong. I have an Aria (Matsumoku) with a toaster neck pickup and wavy grover style tuners which is early 70s. One way to identify a Matsumoku build is that there will be a little indent in the pickguard by each volume/tone control, if that's the original pickguard, which it does look like as they're usual slightly translucent. 

Lovely grain in the wood. 

[BreadBin]

@prowla is pretty knowledgeable on the subject of fakers too.

Edited July 3, 2023 by BreadBin
Spleling

[SuperSeagull]

I know I lusted after one of these when I was about 15 or 16 in 1978’ish. Saw it in the window of Rose Morris but was too pricy for me and my Mum and Dad. Went for a Craftsman J-bass which was a Macaris brand - a great bass for the money but it didn’t make me look like Bruce Foxton 🙁

[prowla]

Shaftesbury, Japanese, 70's, Chushin Gakki, thru-neck.

Upsides: nice - just about at the top of the tree for fakers, pretty much as near to a real Ric as you can get for factory produced, mono and "Stereo-Sound" outputs, Ric-compatible parts (except tuners).

Downsides: the binding can start to come away on the inner edges of the neck cutaways, the tuners could/should really have been better, they are susceptible to neck-lift just like real Rics, why did they put the upper strap button there?

I used to want one of these back in the 70s too, but I managed to go straight to a Rickenbacker (which I've still got).

This is a CMI sibling I had, next to a real '78 Ric.

(Oh, and I bow to @Bassassin's knowledge on most things faker!)

Edited July 3, 2023 by prowla

[chriswareham]

The story I heard is that Rose Morris got annoyed with Rickenbacker not shipping enough instruments to meet demand, so they imported good quality fakers from Japan and sold them under their Shaftesbury brand. As well as the 4001/4003 style basses they also made a semi acoustic - a battered example, claimed to have previously been owned by Bill Wyman of the Stones - is on the wall of the Rose Morris shop in London. I owned one of the semi acoustics, and it was a nice bass with a very narrow neck.

[prowla]

6 hours ago, chriswareham said:

The story I heard is that Rose Morris got annoyed with Rickenbacker not shipping enough instruments to meet demand, so they imported good quality fakers from Japan and sold them under their Shaftesbury brand. As well as the 4001/4003 style basses they also made a semi acoustic - a battered example, claimed to have previously been owned by Bill Wyman of the Stones - is on the wall of the Rose Morris shop in London. I owned one of the semi acoustics, and it was a nice bass with a very narrow neck.

Is on the wall of the shop or was?

[Alba]

Are they full width inlays on the 78 that I see? Thought they stopped those in the transition from 72/73. 

[prowla]

4 hours ago, Alba said:

Are they full width inlays on the 78 that I see? Thought they stopped those in the transition from 72/73. 

Good spot - that's the wrong picture I posted (it's a 2010 4003)!

This is the one it was supposed to be (with the blue '78)...

 

[chriswareham]

On 04/07/2023 at 08:15, prowla said:

Is on the wall of the shop or was?

 

It was the last time I went in their, which is about a year or so ago. There's a set of stairs leading down from the ground floor to basement, and it's hanging on the wall about halfway down. It's actually in unplayable condition, with considerable damage to the body. Surprised they've not had it restored if it really is ex-Rolling Stones.

[prowla]

2 hours ago, chriswareham said:

 

It was the last time I went in their, which is about a year or so ago. There's a set of stairs leading down from the ground floor to basement, and it's hanging on the wall about halfway down. It's actually in unplayable condition, with considerable damage to the body. Surprised they've not had it restored if it really is ex-Rolling Stones.

If it was a few years ago, I bought it!
There's a picture of Bill Wyman playing one, but they didn't claim that it was actually his one.

[Happy Jack]

Actually, ALL my basses were originally played by Bill Wyman (except the ones played by Paul McCartney), but I don't like to talk about it.

 

Does anyone really fall for this sort of bovine fertiliser in 2023?

[chriswareham]

On 08/07/2023 at 19:58, prowla said:

If it was a few years ago, I bought it!
There's a picture of Bill Wyman playing one, but they didn't claim that it was actually his one.

 

 

Yup, that's the one! Sounds like the staff  member that claimed it was Wyman's was full of it then, as I can't see them not mentioning that to you if really had been his.

[prowla]

2 hours ago, chriswareham said:

Yup, that's the one! Sounds like the staff  member that claimed it was Wyman's was full of it then, as I can't see them not mentioning that to you if really had been his.

I think that the one in the picture may have just been available at that photo shoot rather than actually his.

I didn't get round to doing it up and sold it on to someone else who did a really good job of it.

TBH, I half bought it because I had promised someone one of the knobs they had, so when I sold it it had one less on it!