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NBD: '81 Washburn SB-40 fretless (thanks to Andy Travis and Bassassin)


Beedster
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Not my usual taste in basses, but once brought to my attention by Andy and John, I couldn't resist, especially given that it - or an instrument very very similar to it - was responsible for the bass parts on my fave album of all time, parts that I have been learning for about 10 years!

What do I love? The nut is close to 45mm, the board is pretty much flat, the PUPs are light years apart, and it's bloody light.

What do I not like? The colour :)

Should be strung through, so a Badass III is going on at the weekend. The board is going to receive a damn good oiling at the same time. At some point in the future the finish may come off also. But in the meantime, I'm going to Graceland :)

image.thumb.png.6cdf781d55ab106f346e2f06c3f5b001.png

image.thumb.png.841eae6c59fc11a04f6f4e4cfc03d406.png

Edited by Beedster
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Delighted someone on here grabbed that, bit surprised it wasn't @AndyTravis though... :D

Interesting that it's so wide at the nut - my fretted SB40 is dead-on 40mm. However mine was made in a different factory to yours, and there are various other differences. Is that a micro-switch just under the toggle? Would be interesting to know if that's original - mine doesn't have it and neither did Bathiki's. His was from the same factory/period as yours.

Yours was made by Yamaki Gakki, and is, I think, spectacularly rare, particularly in that colour. I will have to do a bit of checking but there are some MIJ geeks I know who will probably be quite wildly excited by this bass. Yeah, they are worse than me...

You'll probably ignore me but I'd try to put it back to original - it's really only the bridge & knobs that have been swapped. Would've had bog-standard speed knobs, possibly knurled (mine has those), probably gold. The original bridges on Yamaki Washburns looked like this:

xbspjerswesqfcdjlqto.jpg

Basically a BBOT with big brass bogseat saddles. This is available new, although I'm not sure if it's a drop-in replacement, I'd guess probably not.

And I really, really, really don't think you should refinish it.

 

 

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9 hours ago, Bassassin said:

Delighted someone on here grabbed that, bit surprised it wasn't @AndyTravis though... :D

Interesting that it's so wide at the nut - my fretted SB40 is dead-on 40mm. However mine was made in a different factory to yours, and there are various other differences. Is that a micro-switch just under the toggle? Would be interesting to know if that's original - mine doesn't have it and neither did Bathiki's. His was from the same factory/period as yours.

Yours was made by Yamaki Gakki, and is, I think, spectacularly rare, particularly in that colour. I will have to do a bit of checking but there are some MIJ geeks I know who will probably be quite wildly excited by this bass. Yeah, they are worse than me...

You'll probably ignore me but I'd try to put it back to original - it's really only the bridge & knobs that have been swapped. Would've had bog-standard speed knobs, possibly knurled (mine has those), probably gold. The original bridges on Yamaki Washburns looked like this:

xbspjerswesqfcdjlqto.jpg

Basically a BBOT with big brass bogseat saddles. This is available new, although I'm not sure if it's a drop-in replacement, I'd guess probably not.

And I really, really, really don't think you should refinish it.

 

Hey John, funny thing is I realised just after posting that the Badass III isn't going to work due to the staggered string alignment. So, I was about to PM you last night! Then, as if by magic, you posted, so I was going to order one from the link you kindly provided. And then as if by magic again, I received a PM from Greg/Shaggy saying he's got a spare of the exact same bridge hanging around which I can have. I love this place. Thanks all :)

And re refin, I don't know why I worry about such things, it's a really silly thing to do, costs a lot of money, takes the bass away for a couple of months, and makes no difference to the quality of the bass at all (unless you believe the nitro/breath versus poly/restrict argument. Which I don't). So rest assured that it's staying as it is; I'm just going to enjoy playing it.  

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20 hours ago, Beedster said:

Not my usual taste in basses, but once brought to my attention by Andy and John, I couldn't resist, especially given that it - or an instrument very very similar to it - was responsible for the bass parts on my fave album of all time, parts that I have been learning for about 10 years!

What do I love? The nut is close to 45mm, the board is pretty much flat, the PUPs are light years apart, and it's bloody light.

What do I not like? The colour :)

Should be strung through, so a Badass III is going on at the weekend. The board is going to receive a damn good oiling at the same time. At some point in the future the finish may come off also. But in the meantime, I'm going to Graceland :)

image.thumb.png.6cdf781d55ab106f346e2f06c3f5b001.png

image.thumb.png.841eae6c59fc11a04f6f4e4cfc03d406.png

Excellent! I've always liked that shape.

19 hours ago, Beedster said:

I'm warming to it already, and although it's probably in my head, it feels very easy to play Diamonds on this compared to my other FLs :)

I wouldn't have thought it would be suited to Jet Harris stuff, but there you go.

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My Aria SB I just acquired is the same sort of nicotine yellow when it was originally Pearl white. I really can't be bothered refinishing it, as you say it does nothing for the quality of the bass and will cost stupid money. 

Glad you've got the bass of your dreams, I think it looks stunning and should sound the nuts. 

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11 hours ago, Beedster said:

Hey John, funny thing is I realised just after posting that the Badass III isn't going to work due to the staggered string alignment. So, I was about to PM you last night! Then, as if by magic, you posted, so I was going to order one from the link you kindly provided. And then as if by magic again, I received a PM from Greg/Shaggy saying he's got a spare of the exact same bridge hanging around which I can have. I love this place. Thanks all :)

And re refin, I don't know why I worry about such things, it's a really silly thing to do, costs a lot of money, takes the bass away for a couple of months, and makes no difference to the quality of the bass at all (unless you believe the nitro/breath versus poly/restrict argument. Which I don't). So rest assured that it's staying as it is; I'm just going to enjoy playing it.  

Excellent, I think it's the right decision about the finish. From a purely mercenary POV, these things are collectable these days and in the (hopefully) unlikely event you don't get on with it, keeping it original is best. In a way it's a shame to hide the neck-through build under a solid finish, but the white/cream (or whatever it was 40 years ago!) is very much of its era, and I think very unusual on a Yamaki SB40. Will ask a couple of nerds and see what the consensus is. They may want your s/n for research! :lol:

Also great news about the bridge, hopefully it'll be a drop-in. This style of bridge turned up on a few basses (oddly quite common on mid/late 80s Korean cheapos, but usually with chrome saddles) but if I remember correctly the Yamaki original had allen key intonation screws. Dunno why I remember this stuff... 9_9

Edit: Just had a close look at the pics & noticed they're not the original tuners. Are they Schallers? The originals would have been Gotoh GB528s:
41ofqqHl-zL.jpg
Always a mystery why people swap decent components for stuff that's no better!

 

 

Edited by Bassassin
More geek stuff.
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  • 4 months later...

Cool - any chance of some pics? Can probably tell you a bit about it, if you're interested.

Value-wise, these are high-end instruments which are now vintage, pretty rare & starting to become collectable - there's a market for them. Not worth thousands but £400 upwards is reasonable if it's in good, orginal condition.

If you want to go full geek with it, I recommend the following FB groups:

Washburn Guitars - The Golden Era

Daions Online

The Daion group is relevant because MIJ Washburns were originally made by Yamaki Gakki, which was Daion's factory of origin & owned by the same family. Yamaki's chief designer Hirotsugu Teradaira designed the MIJ Washburn range and occasionally contributes to the group.

Edited by Bassassin
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Blimey - didn't realise it was the exact same bass as @Beedster's. Clearly these are like buses, you don't see one for 35 years then two come along at once...

So yes, everything I said about the other one applies to yours - made by Yamaki Gakki, looks like '81 from the serial. Original components on yours, shame about the broken tuner but the modern equivalent Gotoh would be a drop-in replacement.

Is the damage at the back of the neck just cosmetic? Apart from that it does look to be in pretty decent original condition, from what I can see.

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Thanks, it's an old sticker that's on the neck, so it will come off - not damage.  I only noticed the peg after I'd posted the pics - hasn't affected the tuning though.  I was 6 when he made it and I've gone 'full geek' and joined the groups you mentioned - thanks again!

I've had it for about 27 years - only changed the volume / tone dials.

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