Hi I'm totally new and can't play yet, I've bought a Washburn amp but waiting for a lead. The bass is very heavy
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Is my Bass any good???
- Thread starter Ashbell1980
- Start date
I used to see those pickups all the time on the super cheap-o 70's Japanese copies -- the bodies were usually that soft wood or plywood - tiny shafts on the crappy tuning machines. Yours looks like the body might be real wood though - hard to tell from pics.
Does it make a bass noise when you pluck the strings?
Yes?
Tone and volume controls work?
Then it's good.
From that point on everything else is subjective.
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Well - that is a personal question. To me, it wouldn't be worth anything. But those 70's instruments that I thought were crap (and still think so) are sometimes sought after as collector items today. I wouldn't dream of playing a Teisco bass - but people pay collector money for them now. I never cared for Dan Electro back in the day either.
I took a bass very much like the one you have and put good pickups and good tuning machines on it, I pulled the cheesy frets and leveled the fretboard and even took out the plastic fret markers and inlaid coral and turquoise and silver markers (I was experimenting and trying things out). And refretted with good frets. The bass played OK - but nothing I would call "good" (compared to something like a Yamaha BB 300 that you could find used for little money). I gave it for free to a young player that needed an instrument and he played it for years - but I wouldn't have been able to (wouldn't have felt good about) selling it. (mind you at the same time I had a Peavey T-40 that I couldn't sell for $100 - I think I had to give that away too - things go in and out of favor)
If the neck is straight and it plays - those pickups don't really sound "bad" - then you should be able to play it. But I wouldn't think it has much resale value.
To learn to play bass, it should be fine if the neck is straight and the frets are level so the string height is playable.
I took a bass very much like the one you have and put good pickups and good tuning machines on it, I pulled the cheesy frets and leveled the fretboard and even took out the plastic fret markers and inlaid coral and turquoise and silver markers (I was experimenting and trying things out). And refretted with good frets. The bass played OK - but nothing I would call "good" (compared to something like a Yamaha BB 300 that you could find used for little money). I gave it for free to a young player that needed an instrument and he played it for years - but I wouldn't have been able to (wouldn't have felt good about) selling it. (mind you at the same time I had a Peavey T-40 that I couldn't sell for $100 - I think I had to give that away too - things go in and out of favor)
If the neck is straight and it plays - those pickups don't really sound "bad" - then you should be able to play it. But I wouldn't think it has much resale value.
To learn to play bass, it should be fine if the neck is straight and the frets are level so the string height is playable.
If this is your very first bass, and you're just starting to play...then i would say it looks plenty good. You may have some small fixes and get it set up to its best. Play it ...play it..play it until its not good enough for you...then you'll buy something better. That appears to be a fine starter bass. Yes, a Japanese 70s copy.
It's a hard question to answer. Back in the 70's everyone in the USA thought that anything Japanese was utter rubbish. I'm a sax player and people believed that Yamaha and Yanigasawa saxes were trash - but those old instruments are now considered to be some of the finest instruments around (they got better and better at building instruments - really quickly - but it took a long time for the opinions to change).Thanks
Anyway ... that bass should be fine to learn on. I'm just saying it isn't some vintage masterpiece worth oodles of money.
It looks a lot nicer than my first bass, and that bass took me a long way.
Exactly right.
Exactly right.
looks like a perfectly good starter bass to me and I don't think you overpaid as long as everything works.
Japanese copy, defiantly a good starter bass. Especially for the money you spent.
Do look into replacing the bridge, with the locknut holding onto the E string I would guess that the hole holding the ball end of the string is too large.
If replacing the bridge is not an option, go to a hardware store and find a washer that will perform the same function, keeping ball end from pulling through the bridge.
Do look into replacing the bridge, with the locknut holding onto the E string I would guess that the hole holding the ball end of the string is too large.
If replacing the bridge is not an option, go to a hardware store and find a washer that will perform the same function, keeping ball end from pulling through the bridge.
It is certainly better than my first bass.
I would think it is worth it's price at 40 pounds.
The most important thing IMHO for a beginner is to have good string height (action). My first bass's strings seemed a mile above the fretboard. In retrospect, this helped me to develop finger strength rather quickly, but it was frustrating and at times a painful journey. Since then, I have had the pleasure of playing some instruments that almost fret themselves in comparison.
Have fun learning about the wonderful world of bass.
I would think it is worth it's price at 40 pounds.
The most important thing IMHO for a beginner is to have good string height (action). My first bass's strings seemed a mile above the fretboard. In retrospect, this helped me to develop finger strength rather quickly, but it was frustrating and at times a painful journey. Since then, I have had the pleasure of playing some instruments that almost fret themselves in comparison.
Have fun learning about the wonderful world of bass.
You could be right - but my best guess was that it was used so the silks wouldn't be riding on the saddle. If that's the case, you could just trim the silks on the E string back a little and remove that little spacer on the E string. The bridge looks fine to me otherwise - since we're talking about a starter bass here, I wouldn't spend the money on replacing the bridge.
It's very likely about as good a bass as you can get at that price point.
The pus are cheapo Japanese 70s ripoffs of Gibson bass pickups, pretty much on of their more "standard issue" configurations, not often seen on this style of bass. Nothing to do with Status Graphite, long before they even existed.
For the equivalent of about $70 USD, if the neck is playable and it makes a "bass noise" you did fine.
You have what is known as a Made in Japan (MIJ) lawsuit era bass. Back in the day Japan was making a ton of copies of American basses, in this case a Fender Jazz. Some of those copies are very good. It's even how some great companies got started, see Ibanez and Fernades. There were a lot of other names placed on headstocks that didn't end up becoming huge companies but were still great basses, and in some cases made in the same factories as the greats. Eventually the MIJ's got so popular Fender decided, "Well if you can't beat em, join em." and actually started producing basses in Japan.
I have never heard of Status, and don't know how your bass measures up to some of the great MIJ's but it looks super cool, and is certainly a great starter bass. If bass is something you keep doing you probably will eventually buy another bass. Not because yours isn't good enough, but because everyone here has owned more than one bass, it's an addictive hobby. In the meantime your bass is fine. Rock out!
I have never heard of Status, and don't know how your bass measures up to some of the great MIJ's but it looks super cool, and is certainly a great starter bass. If bass is something you keep doing you probably will eventually buy another bass. Not because yours isn't good enough, but because everyone here has owned more than one bass, it's an addictive hobby. In the meantime your bass is fine. Rock out!
