The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hi Guys
New to the forum and returning to the Bass after a 20yr absence. Pulled my old bass out of the cupboard to take a closer look. Not sure if its a copy or the real deal ,from looking on the forum it looks like a Japanese SB but I could very easily be wrong. Its in great condition apart from the electrics which are pretty awful. I paid about £20 in the early 90s for it but not sure what I should be spending to bring the electrical components back to working order.
I live in central Scotland and would appraciate any suggestions as to where to take it?

Any help or suggestions very welcome

Paul

Oh what a Beauty. Please take care of the gem or hand it over to me.
What do you need to do except of cleaning the pots and changing battery.
20£.... You won't get one for 200 today.

The bass is from 1980 and for sure made in Japan.
Please be careful . Do not let anybody rip you off by telling you that you need to change all the electronics. Today these basses are sought after in original condition and yours seems to be very close, except of the changed knobs.
IF the elecronic unit is gone (not likely to happen) it is possible to buy new units from a Finnish enthusiast. He Selling the Electronics on ebay. IF the pickup is gone it is possible to buy from Another Finnish guy who winding his own true copy of the pickup, or to buy from Kent Armstrong or Aron Armstrong (I cannot remember who is located in UK, but it is father and son, one located in UK and one in USA). The pickups is the weak Point of the basses as the originals tends to die very abrupt, and they are filled with epoxi, i.e. can't be repaired. My feeling is that this is more likely to happen on the somewhat newer basses, from 1983 and on. The pots are of good quality. Get anybody with experience of Electronics to Clean the pots and maybe to change the Contacts for the battery and you will probably have a bass for your Life. I have had 8 SB-basses during the years but the Three I have now will stay.

Btw, there are no copies of these basses, only newer releases. But this is the original one, fore sure. And it is one of the earliest. The headstock on the bass was changed between 80 and 81. This is called the bat-ear headstock.

I am with Chopper. These are highly desirable basses. The guy who does the replacement pre-amps is a good guy but unless yours have been messed it is probably OK.

Thanks Guys
I will go ahead and try for a simple clean up first, from the sound I'm getting I think the pickup is ok but pots are badly needing cleaned.
Will look for the stuff on Ebay in case I do need to get it. Seems I got a bargin as a student.

the insides currently look like this


Cheers

Paul

Take a look at the jack socket while you're at it - it includes the DPDT switch for the batteries. I've had to change the one on my 1980 SB1000 at least twice over the years.

You bet you have
For me these are just as iconic as any other of the classic basses and the prices starts to get ridiculous. You wouldn't get a comparable new bass today below 1000£. This is my opinion.
The classic tracks by Duran Duran, Van Halen, Whitesnake, Metallica among many others shouldn't have sounded the same without the SB-basses. Even the Proclaimers "500 miles" had the basslines through the SB.
Please treat the bass with respect and play it as much as you can.

And btw, welcome to the forum.

Thx Chopper and Others

I have now had the pots etc cleaned and the Guitar given the once over by Jimmy Egypt in Glasgow. Looks like the pre amp is the guilty party for much of the noise so I have taken your advice and ordered one from the guy in Finland via Ebay. Having been playing a little and attempting a little of the JT stlye from the 80s I have noticed some wild spikes and crackles with vigorous play. I'm hoping that this is not the pickup. As a non techie merely a player any advice is most welcome.

Cheers