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Japanese second-hand Basses really that cheap?

S

studioanimation

Sep 24, 2023
5
0
#1
Ive been browsing a Japanese auction site to just see whats out there,
im not sure if im missing something but these are crazy low prices

most sellers don't know much about the bass and sell it as-is which I guess is why its cheaper that usual
upload_2023-11-20_23-19-57.png

(if anybody's looking for a greco Japanese rick)
Ive seen basses go for way lower, like 40 cents low, and I know its an auction site but am I missing something here? Im wondering if Ive found a goldmine
 
#4
studioanimation said:
Ive been browsing a Japanese auction site to just see whats out there,
im not sure if im missing something but these are crazy low prices

most sellers don't know much about the bass and sell it as-is which I guess is why its cheaper that usual
View attachment 5258131
(if anybody's looking for a greco Japanese rick)
Ive seen basses go for way lower, like 40 cents low, and I know its an auction site but am I missing something here? Im wondering if Ive found a goldmine
Click to expand...

If you're going to buy things from Japan, the time is now since the yen pretty much has no value.
But Japanese tend to know what they have and know the value in them. In fact a lot of Japanese sellers double the prices on gear that can be commonly found cheaper new on ebay.
On sites like yahoo sellers will bid on their own items to drive prices back up. I don't know if ebay does this, but on yahoo if there is like a min left on an item and people are actively bidding, the time will extend, so the seller can be actively bidding on his own item. That's what usually happens when prices seem too good to be true.
 
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#6
MIJ instruments used to be a bargain but the "secret" has been out for decades and prices have gone up. They can still be decent value though, if you care more about the quality of the instrument than the name on the headstock. Many of the Japanese factories made REALLY good guitars/basses from cirka mid 70s and onwards, when they had figured out how to make good quality instruments. Earlier MIJs are usually rather poor, but often in a cool, quirky way. The quality improved once they started copying Fender/Gibson but the cool, quirky designs disappeared.

That Greco-Rick could definitely be a bargain, if that's where the auction actually ended.... and if you live in Japan. If not, it might not be such a bargain after you've paid the shipping costs, customs processing fees, import tax/VAT... (depending on your location). Japanese sellers are usually professionals who know what they're selling. And they often find a way to overcharge international buyers, like the "middlemen" on ebay, where lots of different sellers list the exact same instrument. If you buy it, they buy the actual instrument from a store (that won't/can't do international shipping) at a significantly lower price and ship it to you. Ebay has been more or less ruined because of this IMO. Do a search for almost ANY guitar/bass and the first pages will be significantly overpriced items from Japan. It's a shame, because there are many interesting guitars that are/were only available for the Japanese market, like many cool instruments from Fender Japan. But Japanese dealers aren't allowed to export the. If you want them you'll either have to travel to Japan or pay the middleman.
 
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#9
studioanimation said:
Ive been browsing a Japanese auction site to just see whats out there,
im not sure if im missing something but these are crazy low prices

most sellers don't know much about the bass and sell it as-is which I guess is why its cheaper that usual
View attachment 5258131
(if anybody's looking for a greco Japanese rick)
Ive seen basses go for way lower, like 40 cents low, and I know its an auction site but am I missing something here? Im wondering if Ive found a goldmine
Click to expand...
Either a goldmine or a ripoff. Smart money is on the latter.
 
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#12
J Wilson said:
Every 'lawsuit era' copy axe from those days I ever saw said GRECO or IBANEZ, etc. I've never seen one of them where they actually used the genuine brand name.
Click to expand...
A TR cover isn't expensive or complicated to get made, and with it on, very few would be able to tell the difference between a factory US and MIJ lawsuit. I've seen a few over the years where this is done, but a check of the SN usually confirms that it's legit or not.
 
#13
Some lawsuit basses still fly under the radar, but the usual Matsumoku suspects have all been “discovered” … I even had the bassist from zz top buy my old Kawai EB when they played here a year ago, a bass I couldn’t even give away when I tried selling it locally. So people know about Kawai, but there may be a great Cortez or Fresher going for peanuts!
 
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#14
studioanimation said:
Ive been browsing a Japanese auction site to just see whats out there,
im not sure if im missing something but these are crazy low prices

most sellers don't know much about the bass and sell it as-is which I guess is why its cheaper that usual
View attachment 5258131
(if anybody's looking for a greco Japanese rick)
Ive seen basses go for way lower, like 40 cents low, and I know its an auction site but am I missing something here? Im wondering if Ive found a goldmine
Click to expand...
That's an auction with three days to go. Bids are always extremely low until the final moments.

If you click the "Snipe" button don't expect them to take your offer of $107.95 seriously.
 
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#16
The pickups on that bass are not even close. The Grecos and the Ibanez Ric copies (I had one) had pickups that looked very close to real Ric pickups. Some of the others had J bass or Gibson style pickups. Also, an auction can sit at a cheap price until the very last seconds and end up at full retail.
 
#17
Thumpin6string said:
The pickups on that bass are not even close. The Grecos and the Ibanez Ric copies (I had one) had pickups that looked very close to real Ric pickups. Some of the others had J bass or Gibson style pickups. Also, an auction can sit at a cheap price until the very last seconds and end up at full retail.
Click to expand...
I think it's real. Just a bunch of mods on it.
From the auction using google translate.
greco rickenbacker bass グレコ リッケンバッカ... - Yahoo!オークション

1) The nut is made of ebony.
② Refretted and painted with a simple satin style paint.
③The entire neck is also painted in a simple satin style.
④ The binding is cracked and chipped
⑤ The front pickup is a Roswell Charlie Christian pickup
⑥ The rear is made by Bartolini
⑦ The bridge is made by Hip Shot.
⑨The mini switch becomes the rear tap switch.
 
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#18
For reference , 90k yen is 600 USD.

I checked the site , there seems to be some interesting deals there (items with 0 bids and reasonable prices), specially since you won’t find those on eBay. Hell, I might be buying a thunderbird bass soon LOL.
 
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