1983 Ibanez Roadstar rb620
Here’s another ebay find for ya.
Arrived stinking dirty, high action due to a bit of bend in the neck, siezed up intonation and saddle height screws and a snappled off plec guard end by the jack socket. There is a bit of a rattle on the G when played open and the strings had seen better days. Body roadworn, neck good, sh*t soft case.
So, strings off for a good clean and the bridge got a good soaking with wd40. The crud came off the neck pretty easily and the bridge cleaned up too thanks to the penetrating fluid. Frets look pretty good and got a light rub with brasso.
A quick turn on the truss rod pulled the neck back into shape and the action and intonation was adjusted. I have got the old strings on again for the meantime.
The nuts on the pots and jack socket were nipped up as they were a bit slack. Electrics seem fine and the super p4 pickups are great.
I had ordered a new blank 1 ply piece of pickguard but I think I may not bother now as the screws are all still in place and the damage is only cosmetic. The body looks like someone has used it for a cricket bat so I’ll not worry too muck about the missing half inch of pick guard… its a common fault apparently.
The only thing I havent fettled yet is the buzz off the open G. I have an idea though..
A few years back I bought a similar bass, an rb750tb. It suffered from the same rattle. Infact when I got it someone had fitted a vibration damper… some little rubber thing that slipped onto the strings between the tuners and the nut. I tried all sorts with it but when I fitted new strings with plenty of windings around the peg, which created a sharper angle over the nut, the buzz disappeared.
I have some stainless medium gauge Rotosounds on order so am hoping the same approach with the strings will sort the issue. They should arrive tomorrow.
Kinsman rigid foam case arrived from Amazon already. All in all a decent result, me thinks.
Anyway, keep well fellow bassists…
keep it japanese!
Columbus Hollowbody bass
Heres a recent ebay purchase of mine.
I know Columbus made budget equipment but their jazz and p basses are usually pretty good especially after a few easy mods like replacing tuners and pickups. I’m a big fan of Japanese stuff so I took a gamble.
This is a 335 style short scale bass which was probably made in the seventies. It looks the part and seems to have suffered surprisingly little during its long life. One of the tuners is slightly bent but the body, neck and electrics are great. It sounds really woody…
dead vintage. Its not what you would call ‘fast’ but you wouldn’t expect it to be
I cant seem to find any info on the interweb about these so would love to hear from you if you know any more.
Cheers.
1980s MIJ anyone?
Im a big fan of Japanese stuff. I like the functionality, reliability and the fact that the price is often reasonable is a deal clincher. I have a bit of a collecting disorder, which combined with a limited budget makes 1980s Japanese basses the logical choice for me.
Sure, I’d love a Wal or an Alembic but not being much more than a keen amateur I find it hard to justify the expense.
So what about MIA kit? Sure,.. but is the quality much (or infact any) better than Japanese? Is it twice as good? MIA tends to cost approximately twice the price of MIJ. My contention is that it is not and as this is far from an original idea I would suggest that many others think similarly.
So here are a couple of my little puppies.
The Washburn b20 looks the business although the neck dive that most explorers suffer from is a bit of a pain.
The Ibanez though is hard to fault. It sounds great, plays beautifully and has a distinctive 80s look which you either love or hate. It is my go to bass and easily out-performs much more expensive kit.
So there you go. Obviously, everyone has different opinions which I value, but this is mine. If you can find a tidy 1980s jap guitar or bass, buy it. You wont get much better value for your money.
Kawai Sleekline project
So I bought an old Sleekline off ebay and soon found out that the truss rod was bust…Gutted.
What to do? Keep it standard and put with a stupid bendy neck and high action or fix it? I went for the latter. Then I imagined the Sleekline with a Geddy Lee neck and couldnt move on from this idea.
I bought a new neck from the states and thought a vintage tint would suit. Big mistake. I was like that fake tan thing that was popular a few years ago… just wrong. It didnt look vintage at all.. just a cool old vintage bass with an essex girls leg for a neck. This meant it was going to get even trickier.
I bit the bullet and got the sandpaper out. Getting in and around the frets was a bugger as I didnt want to leave any ‘tan’ but was keen to leave all the original wood. Anyway, about 3 days later I stained it to match the body and gave it a few coats of lacquer. I got a Kawai Sleekline waterslide made but split it applying it. I might have another go at some stage.
It plays great and the slightly thinner jazz neck is a joy. The pickups are sweeet!
So, did I do right? I suppose I could have sent the neck off to be fixed but I didnt. Its now not original but looks cool (imho) and plays well.
Laterz bassists.
all things bass
So this is a blog for the rock solid, much overlooked heavy bottom end of the band.
Post your gear pics, thoughts and insights into bass guitars and associated gear.
All input welcome,..
basspace 