Goodwill find - MIJ Bass needs some love

Bringing your older offset back to life.
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infiniteposse
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Goodwill find - MIJ Bass needs some love

Post by infiniteposse » Mon Jul 16, 2018 10:55 am

I just decided to pop into Goodwill and this was in the used instrument pile. I rarely see anything but beat, crap acoustics so it caught my eye. It's a good weight, the action was way off and there's some lift in the neck pocket that seems to be from the neck not screwing tightly into the pocket. I've yet to try the truss-rod. Really lovely rosewood board and pearloid inlays. Pickup isn't working yet. Guard is kind of hideous and attractive at the same time. The tuners work well and look similar to other older MIJ basses I've seen.

Any thoughts on the make/model of this? Also, assuming the pickup is dead, suggestions for a cool replacement? I've got a proper P-bass already, so I don't have to go traditional with this. Assuming I can get it into good playing shape, it can be setup for a more unusual sound.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Lee

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Lee

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Ceylon
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Re: Goodwill find - MIJ Bass needs some love

Post by Ceylon » Tue Jul 17, 2018 1:01 am

That is in an excellent condition for how old it has to be! I once bought a plywood MIJ Jazz Bass with 2 of those same Tele-ish pickups (that weren't working, so I never got to try them out, but construction wise they looked a lot like other pickups of the region and era: a spool of wire wrapped around a steel insert with a huge magnet at the bottom). It was from at least the 70's but possibly even late 60's given the block-and-bindings look. Yours doesn't have that, but I think just based on the pickup that they have to be from around the same time. I think they're fairly rare.

One thing I can see straight away here though is that the pickguard probably used to belong to another body, because of how it curves at the lower horn. Maybe the body is new and all the stuff is from the old, replaced plywood body? Or maybe the pickguard is a blank cut to accomodate the pickup? I'd say take the pickguard off and try to see whether it's real wood or not.
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Electricity still lingers

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Squirrel
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Re: Goodwill find - MIJ Bass needs some love

Post by Squirrel » Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:38 am

I'd just have the pickup rewound. It'd end up costing about the same, or possibly slightly less than buying a new pickup. Also, are you sure it's the pickup and not an issue with the pots/jack/wiring?

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threewordname
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Re: Goodwill find - MIJ Bass needs some love

Post by threewordname » Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:58 am

Sweet find! Whenever i go to good will I only find strat knock offs with 3 strings priced at $175. Then again I have found two tiescos in the trash!

The pickguard could be original. I've seen plenty of old Japanese guitars with guards that don't exactly match the body shape.

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Shadoweclipse13
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Re: Goodwill find - MIJ Bass needs some love

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:51 am

Go with a Dark Star/Bisonic pickup! Cool find, and for $80!!
Pickup Switching Mad Scientist
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Zork
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Re: Goodwill find - MIJ Bass needs some love

Post by Zork » Sat Jul 21, 2018 10:56 pm

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:51 am
Go with a Dark Star/Bisonic pickup! Cool find, and for $80!!
+100000000!

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infiniteposse
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Re: Goodwill find - MIJ Bass needs some love

Post by infiniteposse » Sun Jul 22, 2018 7:12 am

Thanks for all of the feedback!

Before I decide anything about the pickup I want to get my tech to eyeball the instruent and just make sure it's going to setup ok. I'm no good at that side of things and don't want to get my hopes up too high.

The bass seems to almost be new-old stock. The guard is def OG and

I got some more shots of it taken apart. it looked like I was the first person to pull the guard in years. Pickup doesn't test properly, so it may just be dead. I tend to like old MIJ pickups, so that's a shame. I'd be wanting a tele-p-bass style pickup in a bass and those are around $80-$100, so that might also be an option assuming it can be setup well.

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Lee

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