The Last Bass Outpost

Now that I look again at the Aria photos at: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/solid/mos/17xx.html I'm curious as to what color my bass started.  The Sunburst bass shown in the photo has a white PG, and the one on the bass I have coming appears to be kind of a goldish pearloid (see photos at start of thread).  If there were only three colors available, I'm thinking that would most likely have been on a black bass.

George, glad to see you!  Long time no chat.

I always enjoy your posts and your depth of knowledge about Fenders. Bill just steered me here, and it's a pleasure to run into you again.  I look forward to reading your contributions! 

At $899 for an H22 the question becomes - do you want an H22 re-issue or an Epi Jack Casady??  I've seen the Casady at a local shop under $600.

The H22 seems overpriced to me.  I had expected it to run more around $500.

I REALLY like hollowbodies and the H22 look, but think I'd take the Jack version.   

We have a two-screen drive-in here in Fort Collins  (northern Colorado, about 40 miles south of Cheyenne, WYO).  The cool thing about it is that although they still have the old speakers-on-a-post, they broadcast the sound track for each screen on a low power FM frequency so that you can listen with your car stereo.  In my case, I've backed a pickup into the parking spot, put a pair of 2x12's across the bed by the cab to form a seat and put camp chairs in the end of the bed toward the tailgate.  It makes 2-tiered seating. The kids can fort up against the cab on the 2x12 platform with blankies and pillows, and the grownups can sit in comfort in the camp chairs.  We bring a boom box with fresh batteries, sit it on the cab and tune it to the FM frequency.  My daughters went to The Dark Knight and another movie two nights ago...they're big enough to drive themselves now, so the 2x12's have been retired (note: if you do this, put a cleat under each end of the 2x12 so they can't slide off the sides of the pickup bed...)

About Yellowstone - you may recall they had huge forest fires in that region in 1988; those fires burned about one-third of the region that year. We only live a day's drive from there, and we have visited a couple of times since the fires.  A lot of the dead and downed trees near the road are due to the fire. However, since then, the pine bark beetles have become a problem throughout the entire west. I don't doubt that many of the old trees have been killed by them.  My view is that the pine bark beetle is part of a cyclic phenomenon and we'll eventually realize that we need to ride it out and let nature restore the forests over (a lot of) time.

You may have just saved me a LOT of trouble!

The vintage Lyle HB I've been putting off working on has one or two pretty deep scratches across the front lower bout area.  I've been dreading trying to polish down enough to eliminate them. I'm reasonably sure that this 70's Matsumoku product has a poly finish, and if so, then the CA glue you used in your scratch repair earlier in this thread might be my savior.

This pic doesn't show the scratches, just the bass (a 335-copy, of course...):

Yesterday I won an Ebay auction for something I've been wanting for a long time - a Mosrite copy. Most copies are Univox, which I like, but this one is an "Aria Diamond", which is a totally new one on me.  it's a project that will need pickups and other pieces as well as a refin, but I'm excited at the prospect. 

The headstock is natural finish, and I would rather not mess with it.  I'd like to leave the original decal intact.  The body wood looks pretty decent, so I may go with a natural finish.  Natural would look good with the pickguard material. Any opinions?  And does anyone know more about the Aria Diamond basses???

Photos follow.....