Pawn shop find: Is it worth $110?

[bassbully]

I'm surprised anyone would question a bass for $110.00. If its solid and plays good how much cheaper can one buy a decent bass for? You cant buy the parts to put a bass together for that.

 

[PortlandBass77]

I'd jump all over it! Bridge indicates it is Japanese as I have owned a Hondo and a Cort with the same bridge.

 

[RED J]

The wildcard on these 80's made in Asia instruments is the body material is a total crapshoot, they can be anything from Mahogany to old growth plywood. The heavy shading on the arm cut is a giveaway . The neck can be really decent if they aren't warped or have ( usually) a ski jump. The bridge is actually a really solid string thru design. The electronics usually meh, but like said, it can be anything form a high quality Schaller JJ like Kramer used to two J's glued together in this case.

Gear snobs will write it off summarily, but if you dig fooling with dookies, well worth a C-note. If you can see and play it, that much the better. You can sell the parts and get your money back

 

[moonshinegtrs]

The only thing, is that I don't remember anyone doing a double-wide Jazz pickup like that back in the 1980's.

Here is one:
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/fs-80s-hondo-alien-headless-bass-with-case.887788/

It also goes along with the bass being made by Hondo and they did make some decent instruments in the late seventies/early eighties.

Moonshine

 

[fishdreams]

For that money this doesn't strike me as the deal of the century, with for example affinity Squiers which are much better modding platforms going for like $65. It be fun trying it out - but I'd only buy it after I decided I really liked it on its own quirky terms.

 

[tubatodd]

For that money this doesn't strike me as the deal of the century, with for example affinity Squiers which are much better modding platforms going for like $65. It be fun trying it out - but I'd only buy it after I decided I really liked it on its own quirky terms.

Agreed! With the new Squiers I know what I'm getting into and the quality has been quite good. I plan on using that and the obscurity of this instrument to make a case for a significantly lower bid. The worst they can say......is no.

 

[lavmonga]

As long as the neck isn't warped, I'd buy it.

 

[lavmonga]

That neck also looks monstrous, so I hope you like a thick neck.

 

[brianrost]

That's an 80s era Korean import (same bridge was used on other Korean basses of that period) and pickup is probably a Schaller. They made a similar looking dual J humbucker which was used on some Kramer basses.

 

[Spirit of Ox]

I have seen those before. The one I saw had a regular P bass pickup. It was red and had the same 80's Brass saddled bridge. They have the same quality as Hondo or Memphis so they could be hit or miss. Some play great others have twisted necks and bad electronics.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Before being in a big hurry to replace the pickup, I would see what the bass sounded like after a little TLC.

I would also remove the pickup, and look at the baseplate. Gotoh made crazy-good pickups for some of those Korean imports back in the early 80's. Instantly recognizable by the green PC board backing.

I'm talking about guitars more than basses, but after finding that the Gotohs humbuckers sounded better than a lot of aftermarket pickup "upgrades", I started hoarding them. Loud for good overdrive, but not muddy, and they coil-tapped really nicely. Finally sold off my last pair a few years ago, as my interest in electric guitar waned...

 

[pedrodelawasp]

Before being in a big hurry to replace the pickup, I would see what the bass sounded like after a little TLC.

+1 Sometimes the supposedly cheapest, nastiest pickups can make just the sound you never knew you were looking for!

 

[Peacefrog35]

IMO any bass as long as it's playable, doesn't have electronics issues, a frozen truss rod, and has a neck that feels good to you that you don't have to fight with to play is worth $110.

 

[tubatodd]

I stopped by the shop today. This bass was in ok shape. I tuned it up and plugged it in a bass amp. The bass hummed something fierce. The pup wasn't grounded. It weighed a ton, but ultimately passed on it.

They had a few other intriguing basses. One was a MIM Jazz bass with a flame maple top for $250.
Would have been nice BUT there was a major ugly blemish on the edge of the body which was poorly covered up and the nut was broken and unplayable. A shame. Then there was a no name Jaco style jazz bass with EMG pickups, Schaller tuners and gotoh bridge.. It played the best but was filthy and smelled of mildew. It was only $85 but I didn't want to bring the stinky bass to my house. I just fought a mold problem in our bathroom this week. We didn't need another catalyst in our house.

 

[Killer Of Giants]

Hard to tell from only two photos, but pawn shop instruments are often priced on what the market will typically bear for them. There appears to be a fair amount of rust on the pick up screws and the bridge appears to be pretty tarnished. Now, that's not to say it's not worth a hundred bucks, just that you've got to take a good, hard, critical look at it. For every gem I've found, I've found at least 10 dogs, and I've been blinded by low priced clearance tags on a couple of those. I don't usually expect to find something in a pawn shop that I can flip at a profit because most of the price already takes up where the profit for me to flip it would be. I drive about an hour and a half to get to band practice and drove an hour and 45 minutes to meet a guy to score my current #1 bass, so 40 minutes is an easy commute. I'd go take a look just for kicks.

 

[Deleted member 269102]

I stopped by the shop today. This bass was in ok shape. I tuned it up and plugged it in a bass amp. The bass hummed something fierce. The pup wasn't grounded. It weighed a ton, but ultimately passed on it.

Argh.. too bad

Thank you for the follow up, though. A bunch of us have been wondering how it would shake out.

//and good call on saying "no" to mold and mildew. Yechhhhh.

 

[brianbrave]

That's an 80s era Korean import (same bridge was used on other Korean basses of that period) and pickup is probably a Schaller. They made a similar looking dual J humbucker which was used on some Kramer basses.

Yup - Similar bridge to my Korean made 1986 EPI RockBass I found on CL for $100

 

[Brian Jeffries]

that bridge looks to me like the big brass block saddles that hondo used on some of their p basses back in the early 80's

 

[bolophonic]

Yes.