I just bought a new bass, a 1982 Yamaha BB5000A. Since so many of us buy used axes from time to time, thought I'd walk you through my process, maybe save you some problems somewhere down the road.
EBay purchase, with a qualification. Seller lived in Knoxville, and agreed to my stipulation to meet in person and change money/bass face to face. Buy-It-Now (I did) and had a 100% satisfaction over 50+ deals. Went for it. Agreed to meet in Harriman, TN, about 120 miles from me, no big deal. Bought-it-now for $500 w/gig bag (damn, no original brown case w/green fur, oh well . .) Drop dead mint would be reasonable for $700-800, this was supposed to be 8.5 out of 10. So I felt I was OK.
Drove and met the guy on time, easy trip (all interstate, gorgeous day). Come to find out he's an old Yamaha nut like me, and a player himself (Demeter/Stewart/Acme rig) so his description was accurate. I sighted the neck (no twist, too much relief), checked the bridge (too high) and checked the nut and frets (fine). Needed TLC as far as detailing and action, but was clean cosmetically. Neck felt good, weight was fine. New gig bag. Of course I took for granted the electronics were OK . . . more about this later.
Was tickled to find it, this completed 'the Trio'. Yamaha made the original BB5000 in the mid80s, probably the first production 5 string (along with Peavey's DynaBass) that those of us who WEREN'T Jimmie Johnson could find (this is way before I ever thought I'd own an ALEMBIC) out in the rest of America. The neckthru Yamahas were as close as I could get to ALEMBICs in East Texas! They were Fender shaped neckthrus, passive P(3/2) & J pickups, gold and brass hardware, MOP oval inlays (wonder where they got THAT idea?), striped ebony fingerboards, in that aged 'TV White'. Fives were a new thing then, so it was basically their four string neckthru (BB3000) with five string hardware, same width neck. In the late 80s this bass was upgraded to active electronics/pickups still in the same bass, the 'A' model in this purchase. There was a follow-on BB5000AII in the early 90s, the third memeber of the trio: Modified body shape, WIDE neck (after all the crybabies moaned and moaned about the narrow neck) and the new P/J active setup carried over later in the 4 and 5-string TRBs, as well as this neck width. I had the 5000 and the 5000AII and this A model would complete the trio, so I went for it as the middle version is REAL rare.
Got it home, stripped off the old strings (Markley Will Lee Fives, OK except I don't like taper core strings) and got to work.
The brass pickup rings were starting to turn beneath the clearcoat. Removed them, sanded them down with 1000 grit, followed with 0000 steel wool, followed by a thin coat of VO5 to maintain the shine. If they start to turn real quickly, I'll repeat the cleaning but shoot a thin layer of aerosol clear poly to seal them.
While I had the rings off, I pulled the pickups out (wood screws), cleaned them, and rubbed a thin film of BreakFree across the plastic to get a shine, and a dab of BreakFree on the screw heads to make them nice and black again. The foam under them was fine and not dried and flaking.
The gold bridge was just dull looking, as were the gold keys. Meguiar's Gold Class liquid wax is great for pulling those old fingerprints, etc., out of plated parts, and one of the few things you can polish gold parts with, if you use just a little and don't work it hard. Lubed the length screws and the saddle height screws with BreakFree (just a LITTLE). Vo5'd the clean parts to maintain the shine.
Then I taped off the fingerboard leaving only the frets exposed, using the 3M Easy Release blue tape you can get a Lowe's. The frets were in good shape, just dull and need of a good cleaning. Buffed them down with a 600 grit sanding sponge, went back over them with 0000 steel wool, they looked and felt great. Stripped off the tape, then steelwooled the fingerboard. Vacuumed up all the steel wool fuzzies, and put down a layer of lemon oil and let it sit for 45 minutes. Not surprisingly, it drank up virtually all of it, not uncommon for a 20 year old bass. And the frets were all seated properly.
I then waxed the whole bass with Meguiar's, and it looked great. So I was through detailing.
I restrung with the old strings as I just wanted to have the tension reapplied to the neck to address the bow I'd seen. The seller had told me 'it was as low as it'll go, you'll see'. Well, I knew this was wrong as their was easily enough bow to put a nickel between the strings and the frets in the middle of the neck, and the saddles were jacked WAY up.
The truss rod was TIGHT. Not making that popping sound but I figured it was close to that.
I detuned to almost loose, put a drop of BreakFree on the truss rod nut and tightened it up about half a turn. A lot of times you can get more compression against loose strings, then tune back up to pitch, but you really have to feel your way through this like defusing a bomb: Too much, and you're looking at a new truss rod installation, expensive and major surgery I sure did not want to face.
This got me in the neighborhood. The bridge saddle heights were straight line. A rule layed across the strings touched all five, so I set the height of each string over the last fret at a little under 1/8, this made them match the radius of the fingerboard. Not their final setup, but another step along the way.
By now I'm looking at about 1/16 relief in the middle of the neck, so it's coming my way. The intonation was close, but I'd wait for new strings (GHS Boomers 45-130) to complete the final last fractions of an inch setup and intonation, and of course OLD strings will never intonate perfectly, so why bother now? Now I'll let this sit in tune for a day or two to let the neck finish moving.
The pickups were straight across as well (consistently wrong logic, eh?) so I settled them at 1/4 clearance (unfretted) on the two halves of the P pickup and 3/16 for the J, again these being generic settings for beginning my final setup/listening tests. Once my regular strings are installed, I'll finalize the relief, last fret height, bridge saddle heights. Then I can do my final pickup height adjustments by ear for tone and blend.
About the electronics . . . this is why you always buy cheap! The seller advised I'd probably need a new 9 volt (I'd have done this anyway). When I opened the battery chamber, the snap connector had corroded to the battery, and had to be cut loose. I had a spare connector and just snapped the bare wires to the terminal so I could hear this thing. THEN the jack felt funny, and after a day or two it just died. Oh well. . . so I took it down to Classic Axe, my preferred repair shop down in Music Row, and Greg worked his magic: New connector and battery holder, replacement jack installed, $72. So now I'm in it for $572, but still cheap for what looks and sounds like a virtually mint, early 80s Yamaha bass. Even Greg remarked how clean it looked.
Brought it home from Classic Axe today. Next day or two I'll reString with the Boomers, and finalize the setup, the neck hasn't moved at all in six days. So that tells me this is a real stable neck (maple/mahogany stripes, ebony fingerboard) and the two of us should get along great!
These TV White Yamahas are sentimental to me, even more so as my wife bought all three for me, my biggest fan. I'm no collector, I'll play these from time to time to keep them exercised. And I always hear something new playing the same song on a different axe.
But of course all three are backup quarterbacks to my ALEMBIC.
I really prefer to 'handle the merchandise', ESPECIALLY when buying used, because the wheels are turning as to what I'm going to need to do to get it 'just right' after I bring it home. And I certainly don't want to buy a problem child. I try to study the current values and buy right, or steal it if I can. And my tastes run outside the 'Vintage Market' so I skip all of that pricing, fortunately.
J o e y
