Is my bass an Ibanez?

Hello everyone!

I've just joined this board, simply to get an answer to a question I've had burning in the back of my mind for years now:

Is my bass an Ibanez? Or a Kramer? Or what is it??!!

I bought it as a pile of parts some 20+ years ago and had it re-assembled by my local guitar shop. At the time, they told me the neck was bent and had put a shim in to counter this. It's not the greatest bass in the world to play (it has a fret buzz problem on the neck towards the body, and one of the machine heads has a part missing) but it sounds nice when amped up. Also it has a natural finish, which I love.

There is no brand name on the headstock, as this had been scratched away before I bought it.


The only other identifying information on the bass is the code K801204, underneath which is written Made in Japan on a chromed neck plate.


Does anyone know of a website I can go to check the number on the neckplate? Alternatively, does anyone have an idea what make my bass might be?

 

Here's a picture of the actual bass itself:

The bridge is brass. The volume and tone knobs are black (they don't look original, to my eye) but don't work - you have to unplug the bass when not using it. The scratchplate is black plastic (and the screws are rusty). I'm not sure what the nut is made of, but the truss rod protrudes out of the neck and over the headstock. It's adjusted via a chromed allen key nut on the end of the truss rod (see headstock picture in my post, above). The machine heads are dull and appear to be generic makes.

Any help in identifying my bass is greatly appreciated!

 

That's fantastic! The guy I bought it from told me it's a Roadstar - I wasn't sure and wasn't able to check back then.

Many, many thanks for finding that for me!

 

I was thinking about that as an option. the other option is to buy a new bass I used to have a Rhino copy of a Musicman Stingray - excellent bass, fantastic to play, lovely sound - got stolen I also fancy a crack at a 5 string and, as luck has it, there is a 5-string MM copy available, in natural (my fave!) for just under £ 200 (a Stagg MB-300/5).

 

Thanks!

 

...well...

11 years later and I'm back!

So, it turns out my old bass is an Ibanez BL-700NT 'Blazer' manufactured in Japan in November 1980.

I am about to send it off to a really good luthier for refurbishment, but when I dismantled it, I found that there were no pots under the volume and tone knobs, and the pickup was wired straight to the output jack!

Has anyone got any ideas what values the pots and capacitor should have?
Also, what kind of pickup does this bass have?

Thanks again!

 

It's been in storage for nearly all of that 11 years, but when I was playing it I just assumed the pots were always "full on". The knobs were attached normally to the pot shafts, but there were no actual pots - just the shafts and the nuts and washers holding each shaft in place!

 

Yeah, I was thinking something similar - a simple P-bass set up...