Kowad Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 Good morning! This arrived today. A MYSTERY YAMAHA FRETLESS. 1988, LOOK AT THAT FRETBOARD oh my goodness, never seen one of those before! Very little further info, just unpacked, played briefly (plays beautifully!) and I'm into meetings all day, eurgh. Curious - has anyone seen one of these? Any ideas of provenance / history / context? Others like this? Bought from reallygreatguitars, who thinks it may be a one-off / prototype. ANY THOUGHTS OR INFO WELCOME, what a stunner! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 (edited) I spotted this the other day and my curiosity was engaged. I am inclined to think it is a Yamaha neck (logo removed), on a custom body made specifically for that neck and those pickups (as they have a unique shape). Some close ups of the wiring cavity might help determine if it is a factory produced version versus custom shop job. A Google reverse image search also does not yield any matches. It looks too modern to be 80s (other than the neck serial) so I would hazard a guess it was late 90s based on the styling. What do those top 2 controls do ? Edited May 1 by Machines 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cairobill Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 Well well. This is interesting! My main bass in the late 80s was an RBX350 and it was a cool instrument. Judging by the neck join to the body this is the neck and original body from something from that RBX stable but obviously highly modified. I would search for fretless RBX models from the late 80s with a JJ config to find out the original bass 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man.about.Tyne Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 Well that headstock doesn’t look a million miles away from my first ever bass in all its glorious 1980’s pointyness! I’m thinking rebodied onto an old neck… maybe 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 Is this the one on ebay/ gumtree?? Amazing looking Bass - first time I have seen one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cairobill Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 A cursory look at the late 80s RBX basses shows they're pretty much all PJ config. However, the body looks to be an RBX body with an added laminate and a generous amount of reshaping. Whoever did the work obviously REALLY loved that neck. A very innovative cure for fret wear there 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMG456 Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 Well whatever it is, if it plays and sounds nicely, that's an absolute beauty! Nice one! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kowad Posted May 1 Author Share Posted May 1 1 hour ago, Machines said: What do those top 2 controls do ? Pickup selectors! (On / off). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kowad Posted May 1 Author Share Posted May 1 43 minutes ago, TheGreek said: Is this the one on ebay/ gumtree?? Amazing looking Bass - first time I have seen one. HA it turns out it is! My reverb feed is set up for interesting fretlesses, this pinged through and I had a bit of a SHALL I SHAN'T I but tbf the indecision did NOT last long 😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kowad Posted May 1 Author Share Posted May 1 50 minutes ago, Man.about.Tyne said: Well that headstock doesn’t look a million miles away from my first ever bass in all its glorious 1980’s pointyness! I’m thinking rebodied onto an old neck… maybe IDENTICAL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 32 minutes ago, Kowad said: Pickup selectors! (On / off). Definitely not something Yamaha ever did. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAgent Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 (edited) That is in no way a Yamaha, except for the neck. New body, those black stripes on the fingerboard were added later... A cheap (but good) RBX neck from the 80s and a homemade body. Looks very cool, though. EDIT: On second thought, the pickups are most definitely Yamahas too. Edited May 1 by BassAgent 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kowad Posted May 1 Author Share Posted May 1 5 hours ago, Machines said: I am inclined to think it is a Yamaha neck (logo removed) Perhaps worth adding that this definitely checks out. I could have done more due diligence but did at least check the serial number. I doubt this is going to add much / anything useful! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 @BigRedX has good knowledge of unusual designs. He may be able to shed some light on wether it is original or a custom job. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwilym Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 3 hours ago, Kowad said: Perhaps worth adding that this definitely checks out. I could have done more due diligence but did at least check the serial number. I doubt this is going to add much / anything useful! Kudos for matching rug and socks 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 (edited) The pickups look like the bridge pickup on a TRB5P, or an RBX 550 . None of the RBXs seem to have that scoop at the end of the neck that extends past the end of the curved fingerboard. RBX fingerboards seem to be square with a truss rod at the end of the neck. Edited May 2 by pete.young 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cairobill Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 RBX800AF? Neck to body join is right... But obvs loadsa tweaking on the body.... 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kowad Posted May 2 Author Share Posted May 2 4 hours ago, Cairobill said: RBX800AF? Neck to body join is right... But obvs loadsa tweaking on the body.... Lower pickup cover there is bang on! As is the neck join. I'll add, the bolts on the back are f***IN MASSIVE! 😂 I'll get a picture of them sometimes, they are chunky! Perhaps that is a Yamaha thing (that was a part of the appeal tbf, I have a decent selection of basses but nothing from Yamaha). The body gets very fruity compared to this - the knobs are way out of whack, and the foremost of them is *behind* the bridge. This is a LONG bass (though the scale is certainly not long / outlandish). I don't think the body could have been shaped from this - no signs of joins, smooth and continuous grain (from the looks of it) etc. I'm currently trapped under a very small Labrador, I'll have a closer look later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmutt Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 I built this bass as a gift for a friend when I worked at the Yamaha custom shop in LA around '94-'95. I used a Yamaha neck but it had nothing to do with the company. The black lines in the fingerboard are graphite to increase the strength of the neck and to make the strings speak better. I wound the pickups as well. The body is basswood with a maple veneer on top. It's great to see it after all these years! 12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBin Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 2 hours ago, rmutt said: I built this bass as a gift for a friend when I worked at the Yamaha custom shop in LA around '94-'95. I used a Yamaha neck but it had nothing to do with the company. The black lines in the fingerboard are graphite to increase the strength of the neck and to make the strings speak better. I wound the pickups as well. The body is basswood with a maple veneer on top. It's great to see it after all these years! Amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cairobill Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 3 hours ago, rmutt said: I built this bass as a gift for a friend when I worked at the Yamaha custom shop in LA around '94-'95. I used a Yamaha neck but it had nothing to do with the company. The black lines in the fingerboard are graphite to increase the strength of the neck and to make the strings speak better. I wound the pickups as well. The body is basswood with a maple veneer on top. It's great to see it after all these years! That’s very interesting! How cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kowad Posted May 13 Author Share Posted May 13 On 12/05/2024 at 04:48, rmutt said: I built this bass as a gift for a friend when I worked at the Yamaha custom shop in LA around '94-'95. I used a Yamaha neck but it had nothing to do with the company. The black lines in the fingerboard are graphite to increase the strength of the neck and to make the strings speak better. I wound the pickups as well. The body is basswood with a maple veneer on top. It's great to see it after all these years! Wow! Fantastic provenance! So glad you found this. It plays beautifully! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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