60th Anniversary P-Bass

[dadagoboi]

One of owners told me a couple of months back that they had mothballed Robin guitars as the economy had killed off their business.  They're ready to start back up if things improve but until then they're effectively closed. 

Quite a few guys out there building Fender bass clones and variations to your specs for reasonable prices IMO.  Dan Atkinson is one.

http://www.atkinsonbasses.com/gallery/

[Droombolus]

One of owners told me a couple of months back that they had mothballed Robin guitars as the economy had killed off their business.  They're ready to start back up if things improve but until then they're effectively closed. 

The Ranger Bass is a great compilation, a sort of "Best of Fender", which was produced in an age when there wasn't any MIA Fender to be had with P/J PUPs. They stopped building bass guitars around 1996 so as far as I'm concerned they killed off their own business ..... 

[Dave W]

One of owners told me a couple of months back that they had mothballed Robin guitars as the economy had killed off their business.  They're ready to start back up if things improve but until then they're effectively closed. 

Too bad. I can understand, though. When you're small and you operate through a dealer network, you have to have orders unless you have enough spare cash to stockpile production. And their dealers aren't going to stockpile inventory in this economy.

Quite a few guys out there building Fender bass clones and variations to your specs for reasonable prices IMO.  Dan Atkinson is one.

http://www.atkinsonbasses.com/gallery/

True, but Robin's Fender-style models have never been outright clones. And as Droombolus said, they stopped building basses years ago.

[Lightyear]

Too bad. I can understand, though. When you're small and you operate through a dealer network, you have to have orders unless you have enough spare cash to stockpile production. And their dealers aren't going to stockpile inventory in this economy.

True, but Robin's Fender-style models have never been outright clones. And as Droombolus said, they stopped building basses years ago.

Yeah, and their dealers tended to be small to mid size operataions - those were the first guys wacked by the recesion.

[hieronymous]

Quite a few guys out there building Fender bass clones and variations to your specs for reasonable prices IMO.  Dan Atkinson is one.

http://www.atkinsonbasses.com/gallery/

Thanks for the link! Those look pretty cool.

That one has a replacement guard (the 68-71 original Tele Bass series had white guards) and is missing the chrome pickup and bridge covers and finger rest.

Maybe that's why it's so "cheap"? G-Base has a LOT of Telecaster Basses and most seem to be $3000+! Glad I got mine for $250 back in the early '90s!

Found a somewhat local Fender Japan '51 RI - what do you guys think of this?

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Found a somewhat local Fender Japan '51 RI - what do you guys think of this?

Those were very nice basses, sold for around $500 new. They tend to be a little bright, which is mostly a body wood/pickup issue. The Lollar in the linked bass is certainly a huge upgrade, but the Baddass bridge is only going to add to the bright factor. The ashtray is not stock either.

[Dave W]

I agree about the tone of the Japan 51 RI. Also I didn't like the neck profile. Very well made, though.

[hieronymous]

Trying to clean the house and found an old Japanese bass magazine (the January 2004 issue of "Bass Magazine" to be exact) - can't keep so much old crap around so just pulled a few interesting pages - this was on the front page: