1981 Daion Mark XX-B Power Bass

This is a friend's Japanese-made (high quality) bass and I'm posting for posterity. The '82 Daion catalog helps a great deal in IDing these oddball guitars, and this one is pretty impressive when you see it in person. It's definitely "very 80s" but has a good arrangement of average weight, comfortable body contouring, and excellent hardware.

The mix-up of P-bass neck pickup and J-bass bridge pickup is a familiar sound for most electric bassists and the slim, fast, long-scale neck gives it a very rock-and-roll feel.

The catalog states that this is an ash body with rosewood detailing and it sports a 9-piece, through-neck build.

Check out the size of those saddles!

Is it a high-class wooden canoe or a bass?

I have to give it to Daion -- their design team was excellent. Note the recessed jack, easy panel access to the controls, and stripped-down but functional way this was put together.