Help identifying a vintage japanese Jazz bass (Stagg?)

There's a current guitar company called Stagg - maybe the same one.

 

Yes, it is different than the G and is probably an O. It's one of a plethora of factory brands out of Japan. The '70s marked the "law suit" era as they were producing clones of Fender/Gibson etc as compared to their '60s output which stylistically referenced many established designs, but they were not 'clones'.

 

It's a "Stage"

 

It's from some year in the '70s based on the stylistic elements like black blocks on a maple neck which Fender incorporated in '69. So 1970 on. In this way it is "vintage", meaning it's '70s vintage - but not necessarily vintage in respect to being especially valuable. I'd say set it up nice and enjoy playing it.

 

You said you already accepted the offer of 70€ for it. Not only is that a profit of 40€, you've already accepted the offer.

 

Anyway, looks like a cool bass that's seen a lot of playing. How does it sound?

 

It is the same company. Stagg started as a japanese company in the '70s. It was bought by the belgian EMD music group in 1995.

I can't identify that particular bass, but I'm sure it's still better built than the trash Stagg is churning out now. Almost makes me ashamed to be Belgian.

 

Sometimes things like this are worth more than you ask for them. The only way to find out is to raise the price and see if somebody bites, especially with something relatively rare.

That said, rare doesn't always mean good or pricey. YMMV.

 

Re: being a Stagg instrument

I would say it's likely not based on the info I found on this site and others: The Stagg logos

"Stage" seems more likely as @Beej said.

 

I agree - not the smartest font to use as far as brand clarity goes...

 

Which was probably the point.

Yep.

 

It looks like the pickups may have been changed? I don't remember those old lawsuit bass pickups having cloth wiring?

 

So you think another Japanese company used a hard-to-read logo eluding to the Japanese company Stagg in an attempt to glean sales from their market making Fender clones? Kind of a stretch, but anything's possible I guess...

 

It looks decent but not valuable. With that neck crack I wouldn't pay over 75€ for it.

 

There is no reason to think that bass is a valuable vintage anything. It was, is, and will always be a cheap Japanese knock off. Wow...

 

The inscription inside the cavity is most likely the surname of someone who inspected the instrument. It either says Ikuma (イクマ), or Iwama (イワマ). Leaning more towards the latter. I'm not too sure what the R after the name stands for, but I'd say it's either the person's first name initial, or some other code used by the company.

 

C'mon, this is Talkbass where we have a long tradition of supporting breaking deals. Remember, cash is king and if we find out we can get more cash for it we break the deal. Unless of course we are the ones who are on the receiving end of said deal, then we complain till we're blue in the face.