What can you tell me about this bass?

offer him $50.

it's a no-name nothing.

 

It's a Vantage. Some nice instruments came from the Matsumoku plant.
http://www.matsumoku.org/models/vantage/vantage.html

 

Quest (1984-89) followed on from Vantage as a joint-venture brand built by Matsumoku for MIT (US) and Jam Industries (CA) after they moved Vantage production to Korea. Quality should be good.

Catalog shots here: http://matsumoku.org/models/vantage/catalogs/atak-manhattan/pg5.html

 

!50 bucks go for it its pretty cool looking and the price is right

 

I sort of collect those Matsumoku-built basses but only really buy when I find one dirt cheap. They were the coolest to me when I was just starting to play. I'd do $150 or $125 no problem.

 

That bass in the OP is made in Japan.

 

I'd check it out and if I liked it, deal. The bridge looks decent (not just bent foil), if the wood is good and the neck straight, seems like a fair deal.

 

Cool, thanks, I like their body shapes. The A1T model is kinda an "ultra-Pilot" shape.

 

Well worth 150, it's a confirmed Matsumoku.

 

I'd rock the daylights out of that thing.

 

"Bent foil?" Could you possibly come up with a more inaccurate description of the classic Fender bridge?

 

I'm not referring to the classic Fender bridge, I'm referring to the low-quality bridges often found on older cheap Fender rip-offs. Though I'll add that the bridge on my 1976 Fender Musicmaster also qualifies as "bent foil". The bridge on the 1954 Fender Precision I learned on definitely does not.
Edit: My point being that this bass had been accused of being one of those early cheap low-quality ripoffs. It definitely is not, as other posters far more learned than I have pointed out. I often look at the bridge (assuming its stock) to distinguish between the lousy low-quality ripoffs to be avoided, and examples like this, many of which were very well made and are definitely worth that asking price.

No offense to Fender, but they're not the only ones who ever made decent basses. And for long stretches of Fender's existence, the competition was often actually quite competitive, or even a better value for the money, than Fender's bargain line at the time. No harm no foul, but it's not "junk" just because it's made somewhere else and has a different name on it.

 

And yes, we agree on that point.

 

That style usually isn't my thing, but that bass is pretty cool. Very creative stringing job also

 

I want to know who put those strings on.

 

These are the kind of basses that I get very interested in.
Made in Japan. That typically a good thing.

 

looks particularly interesting and good. body looks kind of like a big al mixed with the new carvin, and thin like an aerodyne. sweet!