Price drop £50 inc uk shipping - Samick YB5-639 GTG 5-String (needs some fret work (above 14th) and nut slot tweak) - *SOLD* £150 Hope Valley

[andydye]

Bit of a tale to tell with this one, I bought it as a nostalgia trip as it's identical to the bass I had when I first met my now wife, annoyingly it needed a bunch of work when it arrived (from ebay) despite the listing saying it was perfect, playable, yadda yadda yadda, here's my list of the issues it HAD...

• unplayable action
• insane banana neck
• siezed intonation screws on the saddles
• siezed truss-rod
• no battery cover (I made one from a scrap of scratchplate my mate had)
• most of the screws were rounded off and knackered (replaced with new where necessary)
• generally very dirty
• electrics didn't really work and the pots were noisy (new battery and a bunch of cleaner sorted that)
• the fretwork is 'somewhat' uneven, up the dusty end especially

 

I...

• sorted the neck curvature,
• freed up the intonation screws,
• freed up the truss-rod,
• made a battery cover (see pics - it isn't awful and does do the job nicely),
• took the neck off, cleaned the pocket and re-did the shim to improve the neck angle, could maybe be better done but it's loads better than it was
• cleaned everything as it had a layer of scuzz all over it,
• oiled the fingerboard,
• restrung it (tuned E-C) with GHS bass boomers High C - 030/100 chrome rounds

 

It now plays, cleanly, from open string to fret 14 or so, above which the frets are so uneven some of the notes don't even sound whereas others do, this is why I'm saying it needs fret work, at the same time as fret work the nut will need tweaking too as the string height at the nut is high. It may be that a fret dress at the dusty end and a nut tweak might fettle it.

 

The action is currently pretty low now, you can get the 'snap' if you dig in and you could gig it as is, my OCD won't let me as it isn't 'perfect' but it is almost certainly good enough. I tried to measue string height at 12th fret but my tape measure wasn't helpful, it is about 2/3 of a usb stick?

 

There are a few minor blems on the body, it has been used and it's at least 23yr old! The photos show the condition pretty well, it feels nice and clean but does look VERY dusty in the pics...oops

 

The sound is a very 'emg-ish' sound with the active pre engaged, it has volume, bass, treble which has active/passive push-pull and a 3 way pickup selector for the Samick branded PJ set

 

the string spacing is fairly tight at the bridge, looks like 15mm string centre to centre (see pic)

 

nut width is similarly cosy at 41mm (see pic)

neck profile is quite shallow and there is a radius on the fingerboard but it's flatter than a Fender for sure.

weight isn't at all bad at 3.7kg / 8.2lb

 

Some blurb I found...

"Produced from 1993-2001, the YB5-639 packs a lot of punch and playability for a great value. Unfortunately, the serial number sticker was missing from this bass when it was traded in to us, so we have no sure way of knowing its production year. A great choice for the intermediate player or for the beginner wanting to get rumbling in style.

Features include:

a sleek contoured offset scooped double-cutaway solid alder body,

bolt-on maple neck,

34" scale,

24-fret rosewood fingerboard with pearl Saturn fret marker inlays,

4-1 die-cast tuners,

gold hardware,

P/J style pickups,

volume/tone controls with a push/pull, 3-way selector switch, active/passive circuitry and a sweet "Granite Gold" finish."

 

It's a cool bass that someone with either the skill, or the time to learn the skill with frets could make into a genuinely pleasing bass to play, it looks great, sounds cool, the neck feels good, it needs a more comprehensive setup than I'm equipped for and it isn't worth enough to warrant taking to a luthier (I don't think) but would be an excellent project for someone.

 

Ebay have finally refunded me so I've dropped the price accordingly.

 

 

Bass is in Hope Valley (S33 6SB), you are most welcome to collect it in person and see what you think, I do still have the box in which it arrived so could ship it within the UK, it would be well packed, no case or bag with it I'm afraid.

 

I think I've covered everything, pretty sure I've covered all the gremlins I've uncovered so no nasty susprises for anyone else.

 

Price is what it currently owes me, happy to talk offers by pm?

Edited April 20 by andydye
price drop

[leschirons]

Looks pretty much like the perfect Norfolk pub gig bass actually.

[alyctes]

Is it possible to name the seller?

[andydye]

29 minutes ago, alyctes said:

Is it possible to name the seller?

I'm Andy Dye, or did you mean the ebay personage? I can dm you their ebay id but I'm not comfortable with public name and shame

Edited April 8 by andydye

[alyctes]

1 hour ago, andydye said:

I'm Andy Dye, or did you mean the ebay personage? I can dm you their ebay id but I'm not comfortable with public name and shame

The ebay seller, please.  I would very much not like to deal with them.

 

(FWIW, everyone here knows you're a sound bloke )

[Iambluewolf]

Where can i buy this? In desperate for a bass asap