The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Help please... Some say this is a SB40, Vulture II and now recently Bass Player magazine identifies it as a 820(in the article about Ladysmith Black Mambazo bassist w/Paul Simon)... Any help??

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"mongo only pawn in game of life"

I have seen these basses with model designation as the B40 (two plus two headstock), SB40 (ditto) and then the Force 40 EQ (Tele headstock).
The Vulture was a symmetrical design like the Scavenger bass or Wing guitars. The Vulture II - I am not sure, I have seen very early B40s referred to as Vulture IIs.

Rudy Sarzo played a black version of your bass in the Ozzy days- it was referred to as a B40. Old ads of this are available on EBay.

Early Washy basses (79-83) were in a constant state of flux, and I suspect that Washburn didn't really have a bass plan solidified until 82-83 when they were marketed as Force basses.

Attached, my neck-thru Force 40 EQ. Serial number 832776. $150.00. Awesome bass.

Two toggles and three knobs, one being a 'phaser/chorus' type effect.

Note the position of the pick-ups too- slightly different than your bass - more centered on the body.

It should be noted that by the end of the Force run ('86), these basses were referred to as a B40EQ.

A few examples of the 'flux' can be viewed in the examples posted here.
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http ... CC4Q9QEwBA

Well, looking at your Force, mine is not anything close except the body. The headstock is different, the tuners are different, the bridge is different, the electronic configuration is different, even the pickup placement is different. I don't know. I do not think mine is an early Force. I think even it may be even a Matsumoku, since there is no serial number, no name on the headstock and everything up there looks completely original. This may very well be a SB-40/820/Vulture II prototype or something.. I wish there was more information on these things somewhere.

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"mongo only pawn in game of life"

Pretty confident yours is an SB40.
There is no 820 - that is a typo.

cheers

Another SB40 for reference....
cheers


http://cleveland.craigslist.org/msg/1778171996.html

After some extremely good fortune and help, my bass has been discovered and uncovered. It is made by Daion. It is a Washburn Prototype made in the USA in Waco, TX!! it is more towards a Vulture II. It is not the SB-40 since the electronics of mine are completely different. Mine only has the pick up selector switch and the SB-40, SB-40EQ, and the B-40EQ not only have the pick up switch, but also a 3 way phase type switch. Mine dates to somewhere about 1978. No serial number, Wood Truss Rod cover plate, Straight longer arm tuners and on and on.

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"mongo only pawn in game of life"

Sorry but I don't understand this. Daion is the house name for the Yamaki factory in Japan. I have never heard of them having a US facility.

The U.S. importer for Daion guitars was located in Texas. I can't remember whether they were in Waco or elsewhere.