<![CDATA[Bass Japan Direct - Japan's Finest Basses Shipped Worldwide - Appraisals]]>Mon, 29 Apr 2024 07:11:12 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Appraisal / consultation service]]>Sat, 22 May 2021 03:53:57 GMThttp://bassjapandirect.com/bassjapanblog/appraisal-consultation-service

appraisal / consultation

Consultation / advice on instrument you have acquired, or are interested in buying, outside of, and not connected to Bass Japan Direct.

Less than $20 for some solid advice....or you can pay us by recommending us on social media!

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<![CDATA[Andy Irvine of Andy's world of bass joins forces with bass japan direct]]>Tue, 01 Oct 2019 02:17:09 GMThttp://bassjapandirect.com/bassjapanblog/andy-irvine-of-andys-world-of-bass-joins-forces-with-bass-japan-directPleased to say that Bass Japan Direct is forging partnerships in some key places, with The Gallery in London, with Bass Freaks in Belgium, and the new partnership we forged with the ubiquitous Andy Irvine at Andy's World Of Bass a website that offers great content including interviews with key players and makers in the world of bass guitar!

Andy Irvine, as you may know, is a bass collector, educator, aficionado and has worked with many leading makers, has a successful youtube channel with a healthy following, and is a great player. Andy is a great player, with very strong technique and a vast knowledge of bass guitars from around the world, and he gives interesting, succinct demo videos and lessons with clear examples and explanations. If you haven't already subbed to his channel we recommend you do!   Andy will be carrying some Bass Japan Direct stock and offering them to his collective. 
This all happened after Andy came to us for his lovely old Fernandes JBR Limited Edition, shown in the pictures below and loved the bass so much. A light-bulb went on and bam! Here we are :) 
The dragonfly bass featured in his video is available in our store, but it's cheaper to go through Andy to get this if you are stateside!

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<![CDATA[A little bit of history on Greco]]>Sat, 09 Mar 2019 12:30:34 GMThttp://bassjapandirect.com/bassjapanblog/a-little-bit-of-history-on-greco
Many people ask me about Greco and other vintage MIJ brandsa, so I am writing here what I understand to be the basic outline of the brand and it's upsurge in the 70's and 80's. My information may not be 100% accurate, but generally I understand this to be true. 
I hope you may find this interesting / insightful! Thanks for reading!

The MMIG / Matsumoku Years: Circa 1971 - 1976


Early 70's builds, made by Matsumoto Musical Instrument Group, which was a loose network of builders including small Mom & Pop shops that would handle things such as building necks, fretting and assembly, had the JB380, JB450, JB500, JB600, PB450, PB500, PB600 and PB750 it it's line up.
Matsumoku furniture makers were also part of this group and had started a musical instrument production wing which ran out of their furniture factory.
Greco  put out cheap ply bodies such as the JB380 with the three pc necks and the Maxon humbuckers using the MMIG network, and the PB500  or the JB500 (and higher models) which was multi part sen, were all matsumoku made, hence better fitting neck pockets than the cheaper (MMIG) builds
Matsumoku handled most of the higher end builds at this time such as the 1974 PB750 Yamauchi Signature PJ bass, which was their most expensive model then, below that was the PB600 which had a three piece sen body and the logo embossed on the tuners. At this point the head stock decal on the 500 and above simply said GRECO ELECTRIC BASS.

The Fujigen Years

 
In 1976 Fujigen was starting to establish itself as an instrument maker (not just a string manufacturer), and Matsumoku instrument manufacture was absorbed or merged with it and consequently Fujigen started officially making Greco in 1977. As a result any of the post '77 builds tend to be of a similar or higher quality and consistency to the higher grade matsumoku builds of the early 70's.
It was at this point that marketing execs decided to give the basses weird names such as spacy sound, super real, mercury and the like in a bid to sound cool and hip or add a bit of mystique to the brand, as well as to better distinguish the models from one another.
These names actually didn't really mean much at all, however, the Mercury basses seemed to be from the 500  (50000JPY) range and up to the 700 (70000JPY) where as the spacy sound was a little lower grade and later model (maybe from 1981 or so).
As I said, the names actually mean very little because in the Mercury range, it's the model number that gives it away. The higher the number the better the spec.
The PB700 for example has very high grade hardware and nicer body material compared to the PB500 which was mostly made in alder, not Sen, then the PB600 is in between with prettier grained sen body material but moderate hardware.
The Super real PB800 and JB800 were the highest spec lawsuit models costing 80000JPY. Those had two piece bodies no three piece like the 700 and below, and had pearl dot inlays on the Jazz bass not blocks.

In a nut shell and as an overview.
Matsumoku era: 1971 - 1976
Models: JB380 JB450 JB500 JB550 JB600 PB450 PB500 PB600 PB750
Fujigen Era 1977 onward
JB500 PB500 JB600 PB600 PB700 PB800 JB800
PB500 - 700 were called Mercury Bass till about 1981.
In 81 they called them as follows.
PB450 Spacy sound PB500 Mercury Bass PB600 Super Sound
PB700 Super Real
They also started building the high grade neck through basses in about 1978 with the GOB series GOB650 to GOB1200 the highest grade one, which are of a similar build quality to ken smith or something! Insane instruments!

Again this information is not cited to be 100% accurate and I don't pretend to know everything about the history of Greco, but this is what I understand to be the case. Either way, Greco is a brand that stood the test of time and is still going strong in Japan today!
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<![CDATA[OUR CUSTOM ORDER PROCESS Just Got Easier]]>Sat, 16 Feb 2019 13:12:46 GMThttp://bassjapandirect.com/bassjapanblog/our-custom-order-process-just-got-easierSince the end of 2018 we started putting easy to use quotation forms on our Brands & Order Made pages and it has been a fair success so far with already 10 custom orders into the new year for dragonfly, Atelier Z and Bacchus.

We want to just turn your attention to this feature so you know it's there and you know you can very easily and quickly request a quote.
Simply visit the brand page you are interested in and scroll down to see the form (if on smartphone) , select the radio buttons or check boxes, add any other details and hit submit. You can even see and hear the models in question thanks to inline videos.

That is it! After you submit, we will then get back to you with a ball park for your build within 24 hours.  

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<![CDATA[Why Dragonfly Are Among The Best You'll Ever Play]]>Sat, 02 Feb 2019 06:29:29 GMThttp://bassjapandirect.com/bassjapanblog/why-dragonfly-are-among-the-best-youll-ever-playWhy Dragonfly are among the best handmade Japanese bass guitars you will ever play...
1. First and foremost is the sound, the preamp is so well voiced that live and studio sound engineers just love it. It just sounds so good without having to do anything.
The notch setting is also exactly the same as passive mode so you get no unexpected increase in volume or pops, and you can dial up your favorite sound on the preamp and access it at the flick of a switch.
In addition you have the master tone that allows global tone control in both active and passive modes, and then there's the mid switch that highlights the best of the mods for that creamy rear pickup burp! Truly versatile. Mix that with their coil split humbuckers and you can literally get any sound.
2. The physics behind the builds.
The president of Harry's Engineering is a master engineer in both electronics and build design.
The neck pockets and trajectory are extremely well calculated for maximum comfort, accuracy and sustain. These are truly some of the best on the market here.
3. The looks! The original body contours and cuts on dragonfly give an elegant sophisticated look to even traditional formats. Of course the materials and construction are top notch too.
What's not to love. Every bassist we've had a dragonfly built for has absolutely loved it, and all of them are pro players.
Order your dragonfly at Bass Japan Direct! www.bassjapandirect.com/dragonfly.html
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<![CDATA[Dragonfly new stock coming available]]>Mon, 03 Dec 2018 09:40:49 GMThttp://bassjapandirect.com/bassjapanblog/dragonfly-new-stock-coming-availableRecent vist to Harry's Engineering home of dragonfly guitars and basses. we have new stock coming soon...and as you can see there are numerous tops and body shapes to choose from.
The CS5, SJ5 models are in progress or complete. Details are added to each pic below.  You can reserve one here by contacting us.

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<![CDATA[Rescue Bass #7 completed]]>Thu, 30 Aug 2018 10:03:16 GMThttp://bassjapandirect.com/bassjapanblog/rescue-bass-7-completedNothing gives me more satisfying than giving the abused a new lease of life....Rescue Bass #7 is a Fender PB62US from the mid 2000's ...how it got so battered I can only guess....now it's ready to rumble again!
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<![CDATA[Fresh in; History GH JB5...superb high end build]]>Sun, 19 Aug 2018 00:37:44 GMThttp://bassjapandirect.com/bassjapanblog/fresh-in-history-gh-jb5superb-high-end-buildAlways wanted to have one of these in! Finally the opportunity arose. Great bass....amazing sound and build quality made by Fujigen for the Shimamura Gakki History brand.
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<![CDATA[Bass Japan DIRECT; GROWING]]>Tue, 14 Aug 2018 07:48:44 GMThttp://bassjapandirect.com/bassjapanblog/bass-japan-direct-growingAdded more space for more stock and a new hanging wall behind our work bench....It is so nice to have the extra room and better work space and flow!  
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