can’t say how much I understand your situation, @PeteP … exact same here 
but yeah this JB is just too cool 
a true shoegaze dream
5 Likes
Just heard from the shop: it’s for sale. It’s not expensive.
Oh crikey! 
2 Likes
not expensive like what ?
2 Likes
Yeah, horrible - you never want to hear those two sentences next to each other 
6 Likes
Opening ask is £100. A pal has suggested avoiding it at all costs. He’s been playing for a long time and knows a fair bit about basses, but then he prefers things that work in the first place and I like things that have potential. It may be a silly move though so I’ll have to think about it. It’s the lack of any info on the internet that keeps drawing me in. Why is it so rare and unmentioned despite being quite radical? Was it always just always so terrible?
2 Likes
Interesting that we have a thread on this very idea being implemented by one of our own.
Unfortunately, @bottomfeeder had to go quiet on it when he started looking into patenting what he was working on.
Yes, it’s cool. Yes, I’m drawn to it. It just looks like such a fun mess to sort out.
3 Likes
I don’t think it looks terrible at all. I think it looks unique and cool.
Bear in mind that this was a Jazz copy made in Japan at a time when Japan was often making better Fender copies than Fender was making originals. (Which is still true in some cases for a price, but back in the late '70s US manufacturers were in a serious quality slump, which is what led to the lawsuit era being such a problem for them).
I’m not familiar with this brand, but there’s a bunch of tiny guitar makers here that basically make really high quality Fender clones, and you rarely hear of them outside of Japan. Vellmor, Deviser, Atelier, etc. So not sure if this was one or not. Lists of these manufacturers are large and complex and usually incomplete. For example:
So this one may be junk or it may be a hidden gem, but I wouldn’t rule it out due to era or not being a Fender. There’s a lot of super high quality Fender style guitars made in Japan, including MIJ Fenders.
6 Likes
nooooooooooo!
That’s the part that makes it cool 
4 Likes
Yeah. Trying to figure all that out and getting it working again would be pretty awesome. 
1 Like
I’m swinging from “walk away, you don’t need it and don’t have the resources/skills to do it justice” to “I can get it now and see how far I can take it, and maybe it’ll be something special”.
I figure it could be a nice 70s Japanese-built jazz bass if I only get the bog-standard electronics repaired/replaced, and keep the ‘fancy stuff’ for another time. One bad thing about it is that the cover is cracked and badly repaired, but I figured it’d be part of it’s ‘relic’ status if I just make a better repair. I’d probably follow the kintsugi philosophy (or possibly wabi sabi), which is something I apply to some ceramic and glass repairs I do, and even some lighting projects.
@eric.kiser, I did think about @bottomfeeder when I was looking at it, and I know we have a few other hotshot electronics folk around here (if I could pick their brains). The owner says he hasn’t tried to repair it so doesn’t know what’s wrong, and doesn’t have any history of it - he ‘inherited it’, which given he owns a music shop probably means it was traded in or given to him by somebody who had been left with it.
Seems like a gamble which would leave me with an interesting wall hanging, at worst, and a playable almost-unique bass worth something, at best. Watch this space.
6 Likes
You’ve already made up your mind. Stop fooling yourself and just go get it already. 
An old jazz bass made in Japan is worth it even if not working.
6 Likes
See if they will take 50 for it. You might be surprised 
5 Likes
The third page has a shot of the electronics. With a very, very old school solder trace circuit board.
3 Likes
Ah, the voice of reason. 
I’m kind of thinking more like…
4 Likes
If you can get the electronics working it will be one of the coolest basses ever.
Even if you can’t and you just replace them without the effects, it’s still a lawsuit-era Japanese Fender clone and it will probably sound awesome.
You could also rip the guts out of a distortion and phaser pedal and replace the old electronics, if they are hopeless
2 Likes
starting to set up the thing for the huge 65/130 strings : I have to drill the bridge because the 130 string is too wide to fit all the way in 
I will also have to modify the saddle. things are starting to get interesting 
8 Likes
Haha, yes, the 130 B string end piece just barely got through the hole in the bridge on my 5 string - and there you are meant to have a B string 
3 Likes
yeah it’s really a big piece of wire 
2 Likes
widened saddle slot. might not be easy to see, but at least we see a different color because the chrome has been removed where the 130 string will sit. also, now we know these are brass saddles.
3 Likes
This project is coming along nicely. Can’t wait for the finished product.
If (ok, who am I kidding, when) I upgrade my Rockbass to a German teambuilt, it is not unlikely I will end up with a 4 string in BEAD. I’d say 50/50 given the numbers of 5s vs 4s on the used market. There’s one big advantage to the 4-strings - they are very light.
I miss my B string. I hope they hurry with the warranty service. I actually like the thing quite a bit, really high quality other than its rats nest wiring
5 Likes