Bacchus BLS59 Vintage Series?

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japtone

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Hi just pulled the trigger on this from Koiz on ebay, i,ve been watching it for about a year and with a secound price drop to $980 i crumbled. Needs a fret dress but is generally good condition. A couple of questions for the more knoledgeable Bacchanalians, it,s not advertised as vintage series but looks the same as other vintage series i,ve seen what do you think?. Koiz has said he will look out for a standard bridge pickup for me, what pickups were standard on these and are there any markings to look for, anybody got any photos?. Lastly serial no is 102296 can anybody say roughly when it was made? As it,s been on ebay for so long your probably familiar with this guitar but here,s a link for a full set of photos http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p64/koiz-guitar/Bacchus%20BLS/
DSC_0703Bacchus.jpg
 
I bought my Bacchus guitars from about the mid `90s to the early `00`s, I have strats and teles with 4 or 5 digit serials I have a LP junior with an inked 6 digit serial like yours and I bought them all within a 5 maybe 6 year time frame so if there is a way to date them by serial numbers, I`ve never heard of it from the company. I still have all the warranty cards so I know when I bought each guitar but theres no indication that they used serials in any sequential way. Some of my later models...like the Muddy Waters and the Charly have 6 digit serials but I have a dozen Bacchus guitars and the numbers are all over the place.
 
I cant recall where i read it but i thought that the serial no for fixed neck and bolt on neck models are seperate but they are sequential the higher the no the newer they are, i saw a bacchus for sale by meestursparkle with a serial about 103750 and he said from this he could roughly date it as being no more than 5 years old, you and others who have the earlier models bought at the time could make a rough dating index and would be invaluable to us more recent bacchus fans. Sounds like a good idea for a thread even a sticky.
 
well the higher the number the newer the guitar makes sense, but I was saying unlike say Tokai or Fernandes...among others, I know... who used the first digits of serials as a way to get the year a guitar was made, Bacchus does not seem to do that...or maybe I should say they didn`t do that when I was buying bacchus guitars, I`m not as familiar with the new stuff, I like the old models, those are what I know, there is exactly one newer Bacchus strat type in a city shop and it`s been there a long time, has the hooked headstock they came up with when they decided to go with their own designs and stopped cloning the US big two for a while... and it`s pink which probably has something to do with why it`s still there...and if weren`t for the locking trem I may own it but I just really hate those systems...the color doesn`t bother me at all.
 
Went into the local Rock Inn today and they had several Bacchus made in the Philippines, I`d read they had out sourced to that country but this was the first time I saw any. They were 67,000 yen, so figure retail mark-up is 100%, the Rock Inn probably paid half of that so how much do they cost to build? I mean, workers more than likely are not making many pesos per hour so parts take up most of the cost however, that doesn`t inspire me to want one. On the up side, if they`re stocking MIP models maybe they`ll bring in some MIJ`s...but I only buy used guitars now so I`d have to wait till they show up in the used gear shops.
 
sneakyjapan said:
Went into the local Rock Inn today and they had several Bacchus made in the Philippines, I`d read they had out sourced to that country but this was the first time I saw any. They were 67,000 yen, so figure retail mark-up is 100%, the Rock Inn probably paid half of that so how much do they cost to build? I mean, workers more than likely are not making many pesos per hour so parts take up most of the cost however, that doesn`t inspire me to want one. On the up side, if they`re stocking MIP models maybe they`ll bring in some MIJ`s...but I only buy used guitars now so I`d have to wait till they show up in the used gear shops.

Can you get any pics Sneak? I didn't know about the MIP either. What were they - Les Pauls? What did you think about the build quality?
 
I saw strats...S-S-H configurations and all had locking systems...think they were the Global series.
 
I had this on my watch list for some time.
Thanks for saving me from spending more money... :D

From the descriptions in the Deviser website, the MIP guitars seem to have quite good quality control and they are also classified as "handmade". (correct me if I'm wrong)
They have a team of Japanese staff stationed there to check every manufacturing process.

http://www.deviser.co.jp/modules/documents/index.php?cat_id=9
 
They always have Japanese staff at facilities outside Japan for everything they make...I`ve taught people who work for Sony who had to go abroad. Taught English to guys at the Nippon Paper factory because they get shipped overseas regularly...though not always to English speaking countries. Some are happy to go, some aren`t...guess the guitar industry is no different.
 
sneakyjapan said:
They always have Japanese staff at facilities outside Japan for everything they make...I`ve taught people who work for Sony who had to go abroad. Taught English to guys at the Nippon Paper factory because they get shipped overseas regularly...though not always to English speaking countries. Some are happy to go, some aren`t...guess the guitar industry is no different.

Agree. I used to work in a Japanese factory here in my country. They have high QC and no compromise attitudes. If they empoy the same to their guitars, I have great faith in them. they are very disciplined people in general.
 
The country is undergoing some huge changes, the lifetime employment thing is almost gone...the vast majority of people I teach now work as part timers and have contracts...part time here differs from part time at home, here they put in as many hours as full timers only they don`t get benefits or bonuses...and the earth quake has added to the problem up here in the northern part of the big island. A lot of the young people I see in this city just don`t have the same drive their parents had and nothing compared to their grand parents and they`ve even made up a word...freeta... which I believe comes from the German language and here it means someone who works part time, saves money, and travels abroad. A lot of the youth I see do not have the same pride in their job as earlier generations...and honestly...they see what their fathers go through and they don`t want the same life which I totally get...work 60 hour weeks and only get paid for 40 and have no vacation time, I wouldn`t want that either. So japan today is different even from the Japan I knew when i got here and who knows whats it`s going to be like 20 years from now.
 
It's too bad because it will mean a slip in quality of their products but I agree that the slave to the corporation thing is not worth it.

I think it's great that the younger Japanese generation seems to be more rebellious.

Still even with all the changes I think at this point it's pretty obvious that the average japanese built product comes with more attention to quality than just about anywhere else in the world.

I've met a lot of those japanese back packers who aren't following the road of their parents and grandparents and find EVEN their the ones I met led their lives with that same mentality of consideration to detail and respect.
 
The work ethic (or lack thereof) thing exists here in the states too with alot of young people. There is a pervasive sense of entitlement and that factored in with the fact that kids coming out of college can't find work because of this lousy economy, is adding to the apathy.

You bring up a good point about the work ethic of previous generations. Given what Japan has been thru in it's history, it's easy to see why the old timers took nothing for granted. Same with the Depression era / WWII era folks over here...
 
Agree. Current Japanese youth are no longer 1-company people like their parents/grandparents. They are also more materialistic and more "westernised" for lack of a better word.

But they are still very disciplined people. And they still do take their work very seriously. A lot of it is due to peer pressure. When i was working in a Japanese company, my bosses were in office before 8am and they finish 9~10pm, go for dinner, pub, back home by 1am and in the office next morning at 8am. i dont know how they do it but they are like robots. No signs of hangover...

After the recent earthquake and tsunami, they remained resolute. There were no reports of looting or rioting. No reported increase in crime. They still qued-up to buy whatever food was left in the stores. And there was no hording. They bought what they needed and left some for others. Still disciplined and considerate.

I take my hat off to them.

OK, I think I have side tracke too much from the thread topic. Sorry... :oops:
 
No rioting but looting...yes, you guys need to watch the Japanese news services, they reported all about it...might not have made the international news but it did here...there were hundreds of reports which I guess came from the police. The safe door at one bank in the disaster area was left ajar and it got emptied. The hoarding took place in the south where people bought up all the water from the shops, just like other countries when a natural disaster strikes...people here are the same as elsewhere. The gov`t had to distribute water to families with small children because there wasn`t any in stores. Certain food was also hoarded as well, stuff that kept for along time because everybody was afraid there was going to be another big quake.
Look, I had the same Western stereotypes of the Japanese before I came and even for the first couple of years but they got eroded away and reality set in. Anyone who wants to really see all sides of the Japanese has to come here to live, and I don`t mean a 2 week holiday...I mean for years...and when you`re here, speak to some Chinese or Korean people who live in the country for school or other reasons, might be a bit of a wake up call.
Have I met some fine folks in Japan?...yes I have, some really nice people...but I have also met some that I hope to never meet again, and as I have said many times after being in the country for a while, Japan is no different from any other country...some good folks and some real dirt bags, same as anywhere else.
This may be off topic but it`s a conversation, that happens all the time...if people want to regulate what gets said than maybe move to China...I hear that happens a lot there.
 
OK. Learn a little everyday I suppose....
I guess what we see on international news has been filtered.

I visited Japan 3 times but just 2-week trips. I liked what I saw and experienced. I liked the way things run on schedule. I like the cleanliness and the courtesy I experienced. I like the "sumimasen" and the "gomenasai" that they often use. I like the way they speak softly in public areas.

I suppose you are right. To know a country, you have to really live in it for a lengthy period and not just be a visitor.
I hope to go to Japan again someday.
They still make good guitars... :wink:
 
Don`t know if it`s filtered...and who would be filtering it? All I`m saying is...the news we got here seems to be different from that overseas...maybe news agencies here want to keep the squeaky clean image that prevails in the west, but it shouldn`t be hard to find on line...there are two English newspapers I know of...the Japan Times and the Daily Yomiyuri, both have web sites and there have been lots of stories about the quake, and stories concerning foreigners living in Japan and things that have happened to them here. Very eye opening and for North Americans coming to Japan thinking it is a developed country and they will have the same rights accorded them at home, better do some reading up before the flight.
True...things do run on schedule and are tightly controlled...do NOT mess with the rules...recently a bullet train caught fire in a tunnel in Hokkaido and the train staff were waiting for orders before allowing passengers to disembark...as the tunnel was filling with toxic smoke...so the passengers didn`t wait...they took the initiative and got out on their own...nobody died. One second grade kid was interviewed a couple of weeks ago on the news with his dad and he told the story of how, after the quake, all the children of his school were lined up and waiting outside...for 30 minutes after the quake...so the teachers could get organized to lead them to higher ground...almost all of them were swept away and died...the rules in that case were inadequate and nobody had the guts to take charge. It is a multi faceted culture with some fascinating aspects but some very dark ones too which you won`t find in tourist brochures.
 
That does not surprise me at all. It's an asian/oriental culture. Japanese are a bit extreme but it is common in majority of the Asian societies. "Do as you're told!" or get punished. People are not encouraged to be creative. Has to do with ideology.
But things are changing. China being the biggest change. People are more educated. More exposed to a global culture. They start to question.
But whatever culture we adhere to, there are pros and cons.
 
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