andyman wrote: Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:39 pm Holy shit, that Jag. How does it sound?

Not bad! I've had it from new in 1996 and hacked it about over the years but ended up getting it all restored a couple of years ago. I already routed it for a humbucker so decided to go with the Univox pickup in the bridge and Gold Foil in the neck. It's quite Strat-ty sounding - beefy but kind of hollow. Works perfectly for particular things but it's a Jag so it's always going to be a bit plinky-plonky sounding.

WeStartToDrift wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:13 am I love how the SG3's look, how does it play?

It's a really cleanly built, solid instrument. The thing with the Yamahas I've played is that they are very precise and correct, but maybe lacking a bit in gut appeal?
I love this one because it has a red refin over the standard sunburst, which must have been done in Japan in the late 60s or early 70s judging by the wear: In the days before aftermarket decals, the refinisher made his/her own version of the logo:

Just checking in from the southern seas. Great to see the forum up again.
Some bass stimulation for ya!

Beauties, all! Are the fretboards on the Honey ric and the...First Mom(?) hollow body as impossibly narrow as they look? That Tele is really something. Is it 32" scale?

UGH. Want the fuck outta that Honey bass.

The Burns Tele bass is a true short scale at 30". I love the fact that they, (hip young Japanese guitar techs), made an actual Tele shaped bass preempting calls for just such a thing on forums years later.
The Honey, (that's it above after restoration), got returned to it's original config, (although the single volume did have it's punk charms!)
Both the Honey and the Firstman (my daughter now plays that) do have narrow fretboards. They are both 33 1'4" scale like a Rick bass. I find them very easy to play but I can see how, say coming from a classic JB neck it would feel weird, especially farther up the neck. A bit like playing some of the old Harmony electrics with their nearly parallel neck lines maybe.

The one I like the most is the 'FUCK' bass - so named for the little paper F-U-C-K stickers that some Japanese youngster put on the headstock! It's actually a Teisco, and EB-1 I think. The pickup was stuffed so l subbed in a Guyatone PU from a bass of the era, (came off a Guyatone EB-7 - really early Japanese true humbucker pickup and they are BALLSY!!) I love the image of some young bass player back in Japan, (which is where I got it), who hadn't been getting laid lately so he or she decided to put it out there headstock! Or maybe they were just angry. You're in the crowd. Who are you gonna want to meet after the gig? Of course it's the guy or the girl or the indeterminate identity smashing away on a beat up old bass with the outrageous molten lava pickguard and the word FUCK on the headstock........... or is that just me!

In the end, I gave the FUCK bass to the bass player with the LA based band SCHIZOPHONICS when they were touring NZ a year or two ago. It fitted right in. Don't know if he got laid or not!

TOKAI OUT TO MAKE A POINT! Humming Birds 100S, 75S, 200S and 240S

This is why I, and I suspect, many of you love these sixties Japanese guitars. Mid 60's and Tokai decide they want in on the electric guitar market. How cool that they allowed their guys the freedom to design these as their first offerings to market!. Art on a stick! Check out the Kiwi ban 'MERMAIDENS' using one in anger:

https://youtu.be/Z8zzp5FeMP8

I bought this off craigslist today for $100. I am quite pleased with it so far. It plays nice, and it is lightweight so I suspect that it is chambered. The pickups seem a little tinny and I'm looking forward to changing the pots and caps and installing new pickups. Does anyone have any intel on these Univoxes?

"I bought this off craigslist today for $100. I am quite pleased with it so far. It plays nice, and it is lightweight so I suspect that it is chambered. The pickups seem a little tinny and I'm looking forward to changing the pots and caps and installing new pickups. Does anyone have any intel on these Univoxes?"

Only that if you are going to swap out those pickups you are likely to find a ready and possibly lucrative market for them out there in interwebland.
Known as Univox Hi Flier pickups and thanks to the Kurt Cobain effect they are desired by some. There is ONE up on Ebay currently for USD $240...... No one has actually bought it of course! Good luck.

randomonion wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 6:53 pm

TOKAI OUT TO MAKE A POINT! Humming Birds 100S, 75S, 200S and 240S

I love this sort of stuff. But for all the wild shapes, dig on that subtle headstock design for the first two. Nice.

randomonion wrote: "I bought this off craigslist today for $100. I am quite pleased with it so far. It plays nice, and it is lightweight so I suspect that it is chambered. The pickups seem a little tinny and I'm looking forward to changing the pots and caps and installing new pickups. Does anyone have any intel on these Univoxes?"

Only that if you are going to swap out those pickups you are likely to find a ready and possibly lucrative market for them out there in interwebland.
Known as Univox Hi Flier pickups and thanks to the Kurt Cobain effect they are desired by some. There is ONE up on Ebay currently for USD $240...... No one has actually bought it of course! Good luck.

Yeah, folks dig those pickups. Make sure the wiring is correct and they aren't damaged. I've played one of these briefly but not amplified. It felt a significant step up from a Hondo II I had around that time, which was a stinker chunk of plywood that nonetheless had a fantastic neck shape, some wild howling pickups, and made the wildest overtones that made me love playing it.

The Univox was much more solid. Both had bolt on necks (not a problem) but the Hondo could hide dimes in the pocket gap. They also had a similar feel to the body. Neither heavy nor light, but tapping on the top you got an odd hollow sound. When I popped it open the Hondo It was clearly entirely made of plywood and the top layer was pressed/curved ply leaving a hollow cavity between it and the rest of the guitar. I don't know how the Univox is made, but that plywood could sustain like a mother fucker.