Picked up this cheap 70's made in japan bass. Anyone know anything about it?

[rakester]

I've been the look out for a bass (still looking for something else newer) but picked this thing up unexpectedly today . I have little or no info on it, all I've been told is that it's from the 70's and the neck plate says 'made in japan' on it.

The neck is actually awesome, the fret work is very clean with no sharp edges at all and very smooth. It looks like it's made from a few pieces of maple but still very good craftsman ship on this. I didn't have a proper chance to hear what it sounded like through a bass amp since I don't own one and didn't fancy sticking it through my valve guitar amp but stuck it through my line 6 on my computer and it sounded alright and worked fine.

Anyways pics...

Edited March 26, 2010 by rakester

[Cat Burrito]

Bassassin is the one who'll know & I reckon he'll tell you everything next time he logs in, probably later on today

[rakester]

Cool, thanks for the reply

I wasn't expecting anyone to reply until later this morning since it's 1.55 in the morning haha. I was planning on removing the laquer on the neck back to bear maple. I'm gonna order up some 500k pots for it, some new strings and give it a good setup and see how it plays then

[Bloodaxe]

Those tuners look familiar, exactly the same as on my 1981 Aria TSB-400.

Edited December 16, 2009 by Bloodaxe

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='685982' date='Dec 16 2009, 01:57 AM']Those tuners look familiar, exactly the same as on my 1981 Aria TSB-400.[/quote]

And on my old ply 'Satellite' Jazz copy that I got for £50 in 1989. That thing was a terrible bass!

[rakester]

Found this quote in the 'Jap Crap Spotting Thread' (love that name haha), about a craftsman bass that was for sale on ebay a while back...

[quote name='Bassassin' post='627303' date='Oct 15 2009, 07:16 PM']Not without playing it or taking it to bits, but it looks to be a nice mid 70s JapCrap P. I've seen a couple of Craftsman-brand JapCraps come up over the last few years, but I don't know anything about the brand or who made them.

One thing - despite what the seller says, it isn't solid wood. Worst case scenario is that it's ply, if you're lucky it'll be butcher-block, or a sandwich with front & back veneers. The telltale big black oversprays on the contours are a dead giveaway.

The only other issue is a dodgy nut - this bass would have had a Gibson-type rather than the Fender style someone's bodged onto it. Simple job to sort that if you don't like the way it looks.

I'd say the £99 BIN isn't unreasonable.

Jon.[/quote]

[Bassassin]

...And that's all I know!

Can't beat vintage JapCrap at a rock-bottom bargain price - & it's good that there's still a few to be had.

Jon.