Vintage MIJ (formerly J@pCr@p) Spotting

[Bassassin]

Different monster, imo - it's a Frankenstein, not a Godzilla. The headstock shape is similar to Harmony, the body/scratchplate/switches are some sort of OrientalCrap - seen it before but can't put my finger on it, and the pickups & bridge are from a bass bits shop.

Sort of cool for a shortscale bitsa - but you could buy this & do your own:

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Short-Scale-Bass-vintage-kay-teisco-style-60-70s_W0QQitemZ370073216853"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Short-Scale-Bass-vin...emZ370073216853[/url]

And oh - isn't that the same body shape & main scratchplate?

J.

[Ou7shined]

Ha ha Aaaand he does it again. Well done man.

One hellova crack in the horn on that Kay/Teisco btw.

[Bassassin]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='250987' date='Jul 30 2008, 02:10 AM']Ha ha Aaaand he does it again. Well done man.

One hellova crack in the horn on that Kay/Teisco btw.[/quote]

No force in the 'Verse can stop Cap'n JapCrap...

And that's no Teisco/Kay - oh no, it's...
[url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/bass/a-100_200.html"]http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/bass/a-100_200.html[/url]

...or one of the confusingly near-identical Made In Korea variants...

J.

[KevB]

With some guidance from Jon (Bassassin) I've just picked up my first piece of JapCrap in over 20 years, recent ebay entry;

It hasn't arrived yet, if it ever does I'll try to get some better pics.

Edited August 5, 2008 by KevB

[beerdragon]

[quote name='KevB' post='255342' date='Aug 5 2008, 01:15 PM']With some guidance from Jon (Bassassin) I've just picked up my first piece of JapCrap in over 20 years, recent ebay entry;

It hasn't arrived yet, if it ever does I'll try to get some better pics.[/quote]

That looks nice. dont leave it laying in the road like that bloke though.

[spinynorman]

That's a road? I thought, based on the topiary like shape at the top, he'd stuck it on the hedge. Must be going colour blind (always have been, according to my wife).

[beerdragon]

Now you have me thinking . i thought that bit at the top was the guy taking the photo highlighted by the sun behind him.

[tauzero]

Are you sure it's not Godzilla looking for his bass?

[beerdragon]

Here's a Kay. is that really the factory that made it? sounds like a bit of a p..s take.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KAY-DC-BASS-GUITAR-FROM-THE-GEKKIMEKKISPECKKI-FACTORY_W0QQitemZ280253364227QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item280253364227&_trkparms=72%3A984%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14.l1318"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KAY-DC-BASS-GUITAR-F...11.c0.m14.l1318[/url]

[Bassassin]

[quote name='beerdragon' post='258402' date='Aug 8 2008, 07:00 PM']Here's a Kay. is that really the factory that made it? sounds like a bit of a p..s take.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KAY-DC-BASS-GUITAR-FROM-THE-GEKKIMEKKISPECKKI-FACTORY_W0QQitemZ280253364227QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item280253364227&_trkparms=72%3A984%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14.l1318"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KAY-DC-BASS-GUITAR-F...11.c0.m14.l1318[/url][/quote]

His attempts at humour didn't communicate too well when he tried to sell this a month ago:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtopic=7473&view=findpost&p=230951"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&sho...st&p=230951[/url]

Not a single bid. Shame, because there's a nice through-neck Cort somewhere under the rattlecan black.

No idea what wreckage the home-made tin scratchplate's hiding, though.

J.

[beerdragon]

I thought so. i missed that thread. thanks.

[noirpunk]

Posted this on another thread. Given to me by my Great Uncle. Made in Japan stamp.
No idea what model Vox it is, hopefully someone will identify it.
Cheers

[nick]

[quote name='noirpunk' post='259462' date='Aug 10 2008, 06:41 PM']

Posted this on another thread. Given to me by my Great Uncle. Made in Japan stamp.
No idea what model Vox it is, hopefully someone will identify it.
Cheers[/quote]

No idea myself - sorry!

But you have a lovely looking bass there
Does it play & sound as good as it looks?

[noirpunk]

[quote name='nick' post='261173' date='Aug 12 2008, 09:17 PM']No idea myself - sorry!

But you have a lovely looking bass there
Does it play & sound as good as it looks?[/quote]

I have no idea , it needs a nut and a bridge. Hopefully it'll sound just as rockabilyl as it looks

Edited August 12, 2008 by noirpunk

[spinynorman]

[quote name='noirpunk' post='261198' date='Aug 12 2008, 10:07 PM']I have no idea , it needs a nut and a bridge. Hopefully it'll sound just as rockabilyl as it looks [/quote]

The nearest I can find a picture of is a Cougar, but it's not right, the controls are too far from the f hole, and the bridge is wrong. Similarly the later Lynx, judging by the guitars, is close, but not right. You might get somewhere following that as a start, also the Crucianelli connection (see fetishguitars).

Here's the links, see for yourself.

[url="http://www.voxamps.co.uk/museum/guitar2.asp"]Vox Museum[/url] (Lynx guitar)

[url="http://www.fetishguitars.com/index/vox.html"]Fetish Guitars[/url] (see Cougar basses and Lynx guitars under Crucianelli)

[url="http://www.voxshowroom.com/us/guitar/cougar.html"]Vox Showroom[/url] (Cougar bass)

[url="http://www.voxguitar.net/gpage1.html"]Voxguitar.net[/url]

Edited August 13, 2008 by spinynorman

[Bassassin]

I think the big difference here is that the Crucianelli versions are quite definitively Italian - styling details, construction, hardware - and Noirpunk's bass is just as specifically Japanese!

I don't remember seeing those pickups on anything else before, but other than that it's a nice-but-generic late 60s/early 70s Jap EB2 copy, with Vox on the end!

I'm assuming it's a bolt-on here - what shape's the neckplate, is there anything inside the body (a label or writing), and while it's got no strings, whip off the neck & see if there's anything stamped on it/in the pocket.

There were a lot of "mystery guitars" coming out of Japan in the late 60s/early 70s so it may not be possible to work out where it was made, but it's probably reasonable to assume that some Vox brand instruments were sourced from Japan in the same era as they were being made in Italy - therefore I think your bass is probably a Vox Cougar, just sourced from a different factory to the more common versions. There's a precedent for this - Shaftesbury sourced Rickenbacker-ish semi-acoustic basses, and Tele-esque medium scale basses both from Japanese factories, and from Eko in Italy.

J.

[KevB]

A bit late in the day from when it appeared earlier in the thread but here's that Columbus SG copy I picked up. My camera went down so I've just bought a new one and this is really a quick test snap to see if that was working more than actually photo'ing the bass! I was worried it was a dubious purple colour from the eBay photo but in reality it's that grubby brown that seems to suit Gibsons. Action isn't great but it's playable, reasonable intonation considering. About 20 years worth of other peoples skin residue all over the frets but came up OK with a good scrub and a dose of lemon oil. Never going to be porn but for a foray into short scale it'll do. Electrics surprisingly crackle/earth hum-free, both PU's actually working!

[Bassassin]

Looks pretty tidy to me - these things often seem to be beaten to hell. Is the body solid timber or ply, and what's that it's got instead of a bridge?

If you can't get the bridge any lower, you can always shim the neck to get the action down - fretwork on these old Jap things is usually good, so hopefully it shouldn't be too rattly.

J.

[KevB]

Not sure about wood, probably ply. It seems extremely light (about half the weight of my Jap P copy which i think is ply)but then it's a fairly small body. God knows what happened with the bridge. I'm wondering if that brass strip screwed onto it started life as a nut blank. There's no way the strings would sit above the PU's without something there. Might look around for some sort of alternative bridge but to be honest it's not worth spendng a lot of time or money on. Might have a shimming session if I get bored over the Xmas hols.

[Mr. Foxen]

Westone thunder still at a low price with 2 hours to go, no. 300249575653

[Mr. Foxen]

This one I was going to try and cheekily BIN as its local to my parents, but somone got a bid in whilst I ummed and ahhed, and I'm not gonna be 'that guy'.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120295992334&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=002"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=002[/url]

120295992334

[kevbass]

This is a nice looking piece of kit, I am sorely tempted myself but I cant help but feel its over priced [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120297964635&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:GB:1123"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...E:X:AAQ:GB:1123[/url]

[sgt-pluck]

[quote name='kevbass' post='270548' date='Aug 26 2008, 08:14 PM']This is a nice looking piece of kit, I am sorely tempted myself but I cant help but feel its over priced [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120297964635&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:GB:1123"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...E:X:AAQ:GB:1123[/url][/quote]

Well I don't know what the experts think ( and an expert I certainly aint! ), but that bass looks odd. I can't believe it's '70's - looks way too clean to me - not enough yellowing on the neck, hardware too lacking in 'patina' etc. But the body looks like it might be two ( ? ) pieces of wood although no idea what wood it might be - I'd assume it's been stained. Couldn't find anything on 'Melody' as a brand. Nothing on the smaller-than-usual neckplate. Home-made maybe? Interesting.... I agree though, might be worth a punt if it were a bit cheaper.

Pluck

[kevbass]

[quote name='sgt-pluck' post='270563' date='Aug 26 2008, 09:05 PM']Well I don't know what the experts think ( and an expert I certainly aint! ), but that bass looks odd. I can't believe it's '70's - looks way too clean to me - not enough yellowing on the neck, hardware too lacking in 'patina' etc. But the body looks like it might be two ( ? ) pieces of wood although no idea what wood it might be - I'd assume it's been stained. Couldn't find anything on 'Melody' as a brand. Nothing on the smaller-than-usual neckplate. Home-made maybe? Interesting.... I agree though, might be worth a punt if it were a bit cheaper.

Pluck[/quote]

I got in touch with the guy asking how original the bass was. I got a reply telling me it was all original as far as he knows apart from the bridge cover which is a fender one. I suppose its plausable its a "Bitsa" bass or the hardware has been given a really good clean, Its still a nice looker, it was hard for me to not hit that buy it now button.

[SJA]

that neck's interesting- looks strangely un-aged- yet it's very 70's copy-style in construction- 3 piece, with a gibson-style nut, and a wheel trussrod adjuster at the body end.
you wouldn't find a new replacement neck like that.

maybe the machineheads have been replaced at some point.

Edited August 26, 2008 by SJA