I bought myself an early eighties Matsumoku bass

[Blazer]

A Vantage VP-series to be exact which I dated at Februari 1982. I got it by trading it in on a Marshall 4X12 cab. Sadly my camera decided to die today so I don't have a picture of it yet, so you'll have to do with a Picture from the net for now.


Mine is similar to this but darker in color, has black covered P-bass pickups and mine doesn't have the switches.

Despite the neck through looks it actually has a set in neck. Like with all Matsumoku made instruments, it has very little accoustic sound but when plugging it in it sounds simply huge.  And like All matsumoku made instruments it feels rock solid, you could drop it from a five story building and it'll be in tune when you pick it up. A work horse.

It'll see a lot of live gigs with my band. Peter, our bassplayer who's also my younger brother, wants to use it as a Back up for his Ibanez GXB bass which actually looks pretty much alike. My guess is that this Vantage bass will actually become his main bass since it's so much better than his Ibanez.

The Ibanez GAXB

[godofthunder]

Those are nice basses ! I almost bought a similar style 70's Vantage but came home with a 70's EBO instead

[Blazer]

Well here are the pictures.

[godofthunder]

Nice looking bass ! Congrats.

[exiledarchangel]

That dual P configuration just screams "80s"! Nice bass!

[Barklessdog]

Cool bass, very Alembic looking.

[Saf]

looks a lot alike mine SD Curlee and my the asama basses. Nive find. I like the twin p-bass Pick up setup. Must give a damn great sound I guess

[Blazer]

It sounds really deep and powerful, it really cuts through the mix and the other bandmembers already forbade Peter to take anything else with him to rehearsal seeing as how good this bass sounds.

You gotta love Matsumoku for bringing out instruments like those, DiMarzio licenced pickups, top notch construction and really good prices, they were WAY ahead of thier time.

[Freuds_Cat]

This one turned up on ebay.oz. The guy is here in Adelaide but I think he is asking too much for it considering there is a problem with the bridge.



http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Vantage-VP-710B-Bass-Guitar-Vintage_W0QQitemZ250364021623QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Musical_Instruments_Instruments?hash=item250364021623&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A1|39%3A1|240%3A1318

[Pilgrim]

That wood and pickup combination reminds me of the alumnium-neck Kramers.  Mighty good-looking bass!  Matsumoku made some darn fine instruments.