troubadour Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 In my pursuit of lighter equipment I took a chance with a long distance purchase of this splendid little bass . . . . . . and I’m really pleased that I did. It is quite a rare piece as far as I can tell - a Yamaha RBX550RS Special Edition in Metallic Blue with matching headstock and black hardware. It weighs a reasonable 3.5 kg (7 2/3 lbs). It is made in Japan and the serial number is 1M25 followed by 3 digits. The available resources suggest to me that this may be Yamaha’s guitar numbering system E4 which would narrow it down to the month of June in 1986, 1987, 1988 or 1989. Thanks to the power of the internet though, I have been able to trace its history back to the seller before the seller I bought it from. Seller number 1, usednet_corporation, advertised it on jauce.com ([u]J[/u]apan [u]AU[/u]ction [u]CE[/u]nter) with a starting price of 2,300yen and it sold on 7 April to the second bidder for 2,400yen (approx £15.50 ($22.50)). At this stage it looks to be in good condition but with a worn set of flats, the tone knob missing and a hefty ding to the lower body exposing the wood. Seller number 2, ms_tokyo, had put on a medium set of roundwounds (perfect for me) and replaced the missing plastic knob with one that is not quite the same as the other two. They did nothing about the ding, which I can understand. They advertised it with a buy it now of $99 (approx 10,500yen (£68)) which I took. Shipping was at least as much again, it was below the threshold for import duty but there was a small amount of VAT and handling to pay. All in all not unreasonable in my opinion. I thought it was great as soon as I unpacked it and tuned up. But I took it into Matt at Music Cellar in Preston for him to check over. He only had to make slight adjustments to have it playing and sounding perfect. I did ask him to change the jack socket as well because I’d detected a little uncertainty and I wanted to be on the safe side. [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I’ve touched up the major ding with some metallic blue Airifx paint. Not a perfect match but certainly much better than seeing the bare wood. I don’t notice it now but I do notice the mismatched knobs so if anyone knows where I can get 3 plastic knobs the same please can you let me know?![/font][/size] [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]So there you have it, this is now my no 1 bass and I can start to divest myself of my heavier stuff.[/font][/size] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 Interesting to read the back story Hope you enjoy it, they do make great instruments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madshadows Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 Cool bass and story John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 I have a vast knob collection. Let me check, might well have something similar. Is it a splined pot shaft? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troubadour Posted June 5, 2016 Author Share Posted June 5, 2016 [quote name='Rich' timestamp='1465119896' post='3065368'] I have a vast knob collection. Let me check, might well have something similar. Is it a splined pot shaft? [/quote] Thank you very much Rich. Yes they look to be normally sized splined shafts. This is one of what I think are the originals . . . . . . they're only 17mm high. The ribs are quite wide (2mm) and deep and there is a marker notch in the top. One of those would be super if you do have one. This is the cuckoo in the nest . . . . . it's taller at 19mm with groups of 3 closer together, less deep ribs and no notch in the top. Two of those would only assuage my OCD temporarily I think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 Congratulations on the Yamaha. Will be keeping fingers crossed you find the correct knob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megallica Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 I owned a 550 and 800 bass which were so nice to play and light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troubadour Posted June 6, 2016 Author Share Posted June 6, 2016 [quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1465067107' post='3065118'] Interesting to read the back story [/quote] [quote name='madshadows' timestamp='1465068590' post='3065133'] Cool bass and story [/quote] [quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1465129303' post='3065460'] Congratulations on the Yamaha[/quote] [quote name='megallica' timestamp='1465170339' post='3065870'] I owned a 550 and 800 bass which were so nice to play and light.[/quote] Thank you all for your kind words. Yes, this bass does really seem to punch above its weight (if you'll excuse the half-pun). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Ok, I've trawled through the box and the closest I can find are these two. Excuse the dodgy pics: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/jazza42uk/Mobile%20Uploads/PSX_20160607_123216_zpsfmlgyr2t.jpg[/IMG] Close-up view: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/jazza42uk/Mobile%20Uploads/PSX_20160607_123323_zpsyd9iop8u.jpg[/IMG] They are 17mm tall and the general description sounds like yours, as you can see the side grooves peter out towards the bottom. These came off my old Status when I blinged it up Let me know via PM if you want these, and I'll stick them in the mail. I'll clean them first I've not got many spline shaft knobs in the box, I must admit. I have a few sets of three grub screw fix ones in black if you're interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troubadour Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 So near and yet so far! If only you had 3 of them. Thank you very much for looking for me and photographing them Rich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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