Tokai bass hard puncher

[simonwhu]

Hello and thank you for accepting me to your forum.

I have acquired the bass pictured while doing a clearance of a church hall the vicar didn't know it was there and had no use for it and was happy for me to take it.

Just before covid I took up lessons to learn to play the bass as I have always wanted to play guitar and have tried many times. But sadly my sausage fingers and now arthritis in them has made this difficult. I thought bass might be a way in. Unfortunately I have to concede I just not musical

I am going to give it another go.

I wondered if this bass which clearly needs some work would be worth fixing up.

I think it is from the early 80s but I am happy to be corrected.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I think it looks fantastic and I would have it on my wall but sadly the Mrs won't let me!

 

[Sigmania]

Oh yeah! Super cool.

That is a 1981 VSB80 bass. They were made for a short time.

Here is a thread showing more of these and which knobs it once had. Definitely worth keeping and trying to play.

When you look for knobs they will be for a metric shaft. The shaft is a different size than standard western shafts, with a different number of grooves or splines, so you will need to get those on line.

Congratulations.

 

[simonwhu]

Thank you for getting back to me. I had been looking at replacement knobs and wasn't sure if I needed metric or imperial so thats a great help.

 

[Sigmania]

I am assuming the original pots are in it. Best to look to be sure. They would be ink stamped MADE IN JAPAN if they are the original pots.

And when you look at the shafts, you can count the number of grooves or splines all the way around.

 

[Sigmania]

I believe something like these metric speed knobs would work?

I would ask the seller about the splines before I bought them.

 

[Sigmania]

Metric and Imperial knobs have a different number of shaft splines.
One has 16 the other 18.
Philaluthier tools on eBay, or Stew-Mac know which is which, and sell both.
Even correct knobs can sometimes be difficult to press on...

 

[Sigmania]

And by the way, even though this has a "Hard Puncher" decal (essentially a Fender Precision bass clone) it also has a bridge pickup like a Fender Jazz bass. So it's a bit of a hybrid. Like a PJ.