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New (to me) Bass. 80's Ibanez Axestar. Headless Content!

S

steve21

Inactive
Nov 26, 2005
6,159
8
36
Glendale & La Jolla, CA
www.myspace.com
#1
Pretty cool lil' bass. From about 86 or so. Plays very nice. A bit weird with the headless thing, but very cool bass. It feels great and looks good.



It has active pickups, and what seems to be Blend/Volume/Tone, but the tone isn't a regular tone... seems more like a mid-shifter, cause when I roll it up and down while playing I get an amazing wah sound.

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#7
Bass Viking said:
Wow that's cool! And it's older than you are.

Funny, I don't remember that one. Back in the 80s I had an Ibanez Musician.
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From what I've read they were made only a few years in the mid/late 80s.

And yeah... it's got a solid 3-4 years on me. But she's held up damn well!

FL Knifemaker said:
Congrats Steve!! I I like the blue color. :)

I love my Axstar!!! Mine's passive but a real tone monster. I would love to try the active version. I've played or owned many small bodied, headless basses but the Axstar is the best one, IMHO. Maybe we should start an Axstar club :D
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The blue is very nice in person. The active version, from what I can tell, isn't an active preamp but active pups and a weird blend/vol/mid-shift setup. The mid-shift acts like a wah basically. It's pretty cool, I'm making riffs using it and it's interesting stuff. It sounds really huge.

And I guess it's different from yours in that it's got a double-ball setup & full out Steinberger type bridge. I've tracked down some LaBella double-ball strings at Bass Exchange, hopefully getting those soon.
 
#9
Have had this bass since 1985 and would not give it up for nothing. Only change was disconnecting the bridge pickup and adding an EMG and the neck pickup. Cleanest sound and staying in tune forever. Since owning have been using Rotosounds, last change switched to DR ultras, put them on tuned it. Lighter gauge than the Rotos - never had to intonate and stayed in tune for over month of use. At the nut, I can just get a piece of paper under the G string. The neck is slightly smaller than a regular so the strings are close, same size neck as the 4 string version. Would not give this up for nothing.
 

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