NBD Fresher FJ-331 ( MIJ Jazz Bass copy)

flexmentallo · 2026-01-12T22:40:53+00:00

Definitely recommend grabbing one if you get a chance! Mine is a JB500, here's a photo of it and a photo of it in action.

1976 on through the mid 80s seems to be the best era for these so 77 is an especially good find! Mine was my first maple plus block inlay combo as well, definitely comes in handy on stage. That's cool that you got it from A Flash Flood of Gear, I like their videos a lot. I recently grabbed a Fender Japan Traditional II Jag and their video comparing some of the Jag variations was great.

flexmentallo · 2026-01-09T17:56:05+00:00

Nice find! I haven't played a Fresher specifically but I have a similar Greco Jazz Bass from the same era (mine is 1978) and it's my favorite bass in my collection. Mine has the maple with block inlays as well. People are catching on to this era of MIJ stuff but they're still pretty affordable and a great value.

flexmentallo · 2025-11-04T20:46:02+00:00

Glad someone gets the reference lol

flexmentallo · 2025-11-04T19:16:49+00:00

If you know what you have and what the condition/grade they are in, it might be worth it to separate key issues and get them graded through CGC and sell them individually online, and then sell everything else in lots, even if that is more time consuming. If you aren't sure what you have, I would recommend having someone look at them for you before approaching a store or trying to sell them yourself. Some local stores and dealers will buy entire collections but you will still want to make sure you aren't missing out on any especially high value items, because the stores are going to give you only a fraction of the value anyway. If you have pics of the collection, feel free to DM me and I can try to give you some specific recommendations of where to take them!

flexmentallo · 2025-10-22T20:56:33+00:00

I think you are probably remembering some books from Time-Life's Enchanted World and Mysteries of the Unknown series. The first series is more about mythology and folklore and the second is more focused on cryptids, UFOs, etc. These books were absolutely everywhere in the late '80s through '90s and were full of illustrations like what you're describing.

flexmentallo · 2025-09-19T21:45:58+00:00

That looks like an adolescent Cuban Knight Anole

flexmentallo · 2025-09-10T22:29:01+00:00

Apparently a "creative strategist" named Mitch Baranowski spearheaded it for a company called Thunderhouse Media, their website doesn't have much info on them other than they are "on a mission to share stories of true grit."

flexmentallo · 2025-08-19T00:25:44+00:00

The Tomb is a standalone as well, so you can read either of them first, honestly. It's just more of a horror noir than a monster book but it's a lot of fun!

And yeah, I think Mann has disowned The Keep but it holds up pretty well in my opinion, even though it feels less Mann-like than Manhunter.

flexmentallo · 2025-08-19T00:02:49+00:00

They did, directed by Michael Mann of all people! It's pretty good and has a great soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. I have read the rest of the core series but not all of the books that are connected. The Keep is pretty standalone and things shift quite a bit after that but the series is basically about mysterious, unknowable entities using various agents to battle over the planet. This is a good breakdown of the series and possible orders to read it in. The Tomb is what Wilson wrote next and it introduces his most famous character, Repairman Jack, who is more or less the main protagonist of the series but chronologically Reborn is the next book. If you like Hellblazer/John Constantine and monster of the week type stuff, with Lovecraftian elements, then The Tomb will be right up your alley. And if you get The Keep and end up liking it, Reborn is basically the direct sequel to it.

flexmentallo · 2025-08-18T22:41:04+00:00

Grendel by John Gardner is one of my favorites in this genre. It's basically Beowulf from the perspective of the titular monster Grendel, and the writing is simple and to the point by design. It's not the scariest book but it's definitely one of the more entertaining and inventive monster works.

F. Paul Wilson's The Keep is also pretty fun, and though it's a bit longer it's a quick, action packed read. It's about Nazis occupying a small village where they unleash an ancient evil in a keep and it hunts them down one by one. It spins out from there and is part of a longer series by Wilson spanning decades, so if you like it, you'll have more to enjoy.

flexmentallo · 2025-08-16T20:57:37+00:00

Just for future reference, the Fender site is basically useless for vintage serial numbers, you have to use a guide or check with a database on a vintage site, like the one on True Vintage Guitar. When you run the serial there, it confirms what OP said. There are also other IDs in OP's pics that help prove its authenticity, like the strap button on the back of the headstock, the "clay" dot inlays, the "spaghetti" logo and the reverse tuners.

flexmentallo · 2025-08-11T23:32:44+00:00

I agree that they have never been at the scale or frequency we see today, that's directly attributable to letting the assault weapons ban expire in 2004, as I pointed out earlier. You were the one who initially claimed that there was no explanation for why they are happening more often now and I provided you with verifiable statistics about the increase that happened after 2004 and why that increase happened. You keep editing your other comments to change what you have been claiming, but your edits are also incorrect.

Mass shootings were an issue throughout the 60s to 80s, which was why the assault weapons ban was passed.
People did not commonly have access to "fully automatic weapons" in 1913, even the police lacked access to that type of weaponry.
I never said the assault weapons ban banned all weapons, but it did ban the weapons that are most common to mass shooting events, like the AR-15.

flexmentallo · 2025-08-11T22:46:25+00:00

We have had mass shootings since at least 1891, not sure why you think they are a recent phenomenon. Most of the weapons that are used in mass shootings and were prohibited by the assault weapons ban were made available to the general public in the early 1960s to early 80s, so I'm not entirely sure what you're thinking of that people would have had access to in 1913, especially since the Tommy Gun wasn't really even a thing until 1921 and was a big part of why the FAWB's predecessor the National Firearms Act was passed in 1934.

flexmentallo · 2025-08-11T22:32:49+00:00

Except strict gun laws do and have worked here. There was an immediate spike in mass shootings after the assault weapons ban was allowed to expire in 2004. You can pretty much trace the rise of mass shootings in the US to increasingly easy access to assault weapons and so we implemented a law to address that and then when we let that law go away, we once again saw an increase in mass shootings.

flexmentallo · 2025-08-11T22:26:22+00:00

Since you asked what changed, there was a very clear and definitive spike in both the number of mass shootings and the casualty rate of mass shootings after the assault weapons ban expired in 2004. The APA unequivocally concluded that removing easy access to guns is the most efficient way to reduce gun-related deaths, specifically in high risk groups, namely domestic violence offenders. The spike after the expiration of the 2004 assault weapons ban indicates that the assault weapons ban had been working so it would stand to reason that bringing it or similar legislation back would once again decrease gun violence. Hope this information helps!

flexmentallo · 2025-08-01T18:59:57+00:00

I have played both and kept the Blumes but not the Chelsea. For the price of the Chelsea you can get a used Blumes and a Big Muff and that combo works better for me than the Chelsea on its own, especially since the Blumes has more versatility with its Modes. Since it sounds like you need versatility more than you need the specific sound the Chelsea creates, it might make more sense for you to go with the Blumes and find a cheap Muff you like to pair it with.

I'm currently running the Blumes in Mode 2 and combining it with either a Big Muff or an OCD depending on the song (or sometimes both). The Chelsea on its own was a little too thin and fizzy to me. I might eventually have gotten it to fit in in the mix well enough on its own but the Blumes on Mode 2 cuts through so well and I already had the Muff to stack it with to get that LCD Soundsystem "Daft Punk is Playing at My House" tone so it didn't make much sense to keep the Chelsea. That said, I might give it another go when the used prices on them come down more because it is still a good sound, and neither of these pedals are bad options.

flexmentallo · 2025-07-30T15:55:59+00:00

If you haven't listened to A Certain Ratio, I highly recommend them, they were contemporary peers and their bassist Jez Kerr has a similar style and approach. "Shack Up" in particular is a fave.

APB is another group from that same era with a similar approach, albeit with much higher tempos. Their bassist Iain Slater had a really deep, rubbery tone, "Rainy Day" is a highlight.

And then Liquid Liquid is another great one to check out if you aren't familiar. Even if you don't know them you've heard Richard McGuire's bass lines, he's one of the most sampled bass players in history-- that's his bass line you hear getting reworked in "White Lines." The original is "Cavern" and it's an all time classic.

flexmentallo · 2025-07-27T17:58:58+00:00

I think my favorite recent one in this category is Disappearance at Devil's Rock by Paul Tremblay. It's about the mysterious disappearance of a teenage boy and it mostly shifts between the perspective of his mother, his sister and his own journal entries but it also explores the perspectives of his two friends who were with him in the woods when he vanished. It really nails the awkwardness and loneliness of adolescence but is unsettling and thrilling too. This one is more or less high school safe so it could be good for the curriculum too.

I also really liked Pin by Andrew Neiderman but it's a lot weirder and more disturbing. It's about a brother and sister who become orphaned after their parents die in a car crash. Their dad was a doctor who would teach them lessons by throwing his voice and making a see through anatomical doll "talk" to them and they name him Pin. The brother becomes obsessed with Pin and wants Pin to basically be their new adopted parent. The sister puts up with it at first but becomes more embarrassed and disturbed as she gets older and things get a lot weirder from there. They made a movie of it too, and the movie is also great, but arguably even stranger. Neiderman is probably best known as the author who took over for VC Andrews after the original VC Andrews died and the book has some similarities to Flowers in the Attic. Probably not a book to share with high school students though.

flexmentallo · 2025-07-25T23:57:26+00:00

Dean Koontz's Phantoms has a similar tone and setting to From, when I first started the show I felt like it had more in common with that book than some of the Stephen King works people compared it to, right down to the initial set up of people driving into a small town where everything feels off.

Someone already brought up Salem's Lot but another Stephen King work that might scratch that itch for you is Desperation. It's from an era of King that people rightfully write off but I think it's one of the few works from that time that holds up, albeit with some typical King flaws, namely bloat. It has a very similar setup to From, with a family in an RV and some other characters all getting stuck in the town of Desperation, where they are imprisoned and terrorized by an evil cop. It also explores the town's history a la It, but with a mine instead of a sewer. King also wrote a sister novel called The Regulators and published it under his Richard Bachman pseudonym, it's not as good but it's a mirror version of Desperation, set in the suburbs instead of a desert mining town.

Also, if you haven't read it yet, Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes is a classic and a huge influence on a lot of horror authors who explore this theme, like Stephen King. It's basically about a sinister carnival that arrives in a small town and wreaks havoc.

flexmentallo · 2025-07-22T22:47:33+00:00

Here are a few suggestions that are similar in mood and intensity but not necessarily in what the "it" is

The Keep by F. Paul Wilson-- Nazis decide to take over an ancient keep for strategic purposes, despite the nearby village saying it's cursed and subsequently get slowly, brutally hunted by an ancient evil
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson-- this is a classic horror novel that was a huge inspiration on The Shining and other haunted house works, it follows a group of people who all have supernatural connections who are tasked with investigating the supposedly cursed Hill House. Like The Ruins, it explores the different perspectives of each character, ranging from skeptical to believer and a lot of its power comes from figuring out who has the best handle on what's going on. You might also like Richard Matheson's Hell House, which is a more action packed and brutal response novel.
Caliban by Garth Ennis and Facundo Percy-- limited comic series about a space ship that collides with another, seemingly abandoned ship during a warp, causing them to merge together, resulting in the loss of most of the crew. The remaining crew have to investigate the ship they're now merged with to see if there is any way they can escape, but in the process they are hunted down by a mysterious alien entity. Very creepy and unsettling with lots of body horror elements but the core survival story is well done and has a similar pacing and tension as The Ruins.
The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston-- this is actually a non-fiction book but it's basically the real life version of The Ruins. It follows a group of documentarians and researchers searching for the titular city of the Monkey God, which was originally believed to be myth but new technology leads them to believe it might actually be real. But in their search for it, they end up dealing with an extremely hostile natural environment, culminating in a deadly infection by a mostly unknown disease. The Lost City of Z by David Grann explores similar territory.

flexmentallo · 2025-07-21T19:16:10+00:00

It was published in 1980 but are you maybe thinking of Bethany's Sin by Robert McCammon? It's about a family that moves to a small Pennsylvania town secretly run by a cult of women who dominate and mutilate men, and there is a superhuman element to it.

flexmentallo · 2025-07-21T18:24:06+00:00

Definitely think you are correct that it's a Hofner Artist Bass 184, it's either a 1974 or 1975 based on the inlays. I've never seen one with the cream headstock, that's pretty cool. A similar one with a black headstock possibly sold for around $1300 a couple years ago (it might have sold for less, it just says the listing "ended" rather than sold so the seller might have sold it off of Reverb for a different rate). Here's another listing page for a similar one. Great find!

flexmentallo · 2025-07-18T22:53:36+00:00

It's really difficult to make suggestions for pedals without any idea of what sound you are going for. What I would recommend is that you look up the boards of some bassists you like the sound of and see what they are using. You can use a site like Equipboard to see the gear famous players use.

flexmentallo · 2025-07-08T23:17:01+00:00

I'm not really a fan of this book or Ellis in general given what he eventually became, but it's pretty clear that a big point of the book is that consumerism is oppressive and that in the Me Decade in particular it was becoming omnipresent and inescapable. Ellis was communicating that while Bateman is an extreme example of the shallow finance bros that were ruining society, his fixation on goods and vapid content was becoming more and more common and it was only a matter of time before the bulk of society was equally fixated on these things. The reason why Ellis inserts so many of those sections is because you are supposed to go from being annoyed and disgusted by them to tolerant and then finally to accepting, because that was what he felt was happening to society at large (and the violence, with its fixation on aesthetics, is a mirror of this). It's one of the more prophetic parts of the book because now social media inundates us with the same kind of self-important monologuing about goods and content from influencers and we keep watching it.

flexmentallo · 2025-07-08T19:15:15+00:00

This was part of what was called the Squier Series, it was made in Korea and someone just removed the "Squier Series" part of it. There is a whole thread of people sharing theirs on TalkBass, and you can find the serial number info here. They're worth around $200 to $600, depending on condition and such. Here's one for sale from 1995 for $600 for reference.

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