Franpton
I decided that while I was in Japan, I’d like to find a short-scale bass that was made in Japan. Fender has an actual store in Tokyo called the Fender Flagship, which at the time of writing is the only Fender store in the world. It’s very cool to take a look around and I went there to try out some basses. Along with the Mustangs they have there, they also have a Japanese exclusive short-scale Jazz bass called the Junior Jazz. I’m more of a fan of the Jazz-style pickups than the P-style which the Mustang is more similar to. I spent a lot of time playing that one and was considering buying it, but it was out of my budget at somewhere around $900 USD, although that’s still much cheaper than what you can get it for in the US at around $1,200 USD.
I went to Reverb and found this interesting vintage Franpton short-scale Jazz bass which the seller thinks was made in around 1972. After reaching out on Reverb, I was invited by Danny, the seller, to stop by his workshop (which ended up being a room in his apartment filled with as many basses and parts as he could pack in. It was very cool to see) to check out the bass. After trying a few basses (including a medium-scale Fernandes which I was really considering) I bought the Franpton at a discounted price of 50,000 JPY which was about $300 USD or so. A great deal for exactly what I was looking for, a made in Japan short-scale bass.
Franpton Jazz Bass c.1972
I don’t know too much about the histroy of these instruments in Japan, but from the description on his website and what I remember from our conversation, there was something called the Matsumoto Musical Instrument Alliance in Japan which I guess was an alliance between many small mom ’n pop shops that would make specific parts which would then later be combined with parts from other shops to make one instrument. On his site he says this about the Franpton:
“A beautiful little Shortscale from the early 70s, this was likely made by Matsumoto Musical Instrument Alliance with the body coming from Natsumoku and neck maybe from Kasuga.
Even so, the fit is surprisingly tight, and the neck of high quality.
The body is multi-part camphor, nyatto wood and Agathis with maple veneer. The finish is a gloss lacquer top coat which has some surface cracks in it but is not flaking or anything. Overall the body is in clean condition .
The neck is high quality dark Indian Rosewood on a one pc maple neck. The neck is in great shape with about 80% fret life left and a still fully operational dual action truss rod.
Hardware.
The tuners are small footprint clover types and have a smooth action despite their age.The bridge is an 18mm pitch dual saddle type
The hardware is really quite clean for the age.
Pickups
Original single coil type with magnetised screws on a ceramic magnet base.
Controls.
Vol vol tone”
So far I’m happy with my purchase. It came with Flatwound strings installed, but I’m more of a fan of rounds so I may swap those out later. At the very least it’s the perfect size for playing in my small Japanese apartment. Danny was a pleasure to meet and buy this from. If you’re ever in Japan, or looking for a Japanese bass, look up Bass Japan Direct and you might find what you’re looking for.
