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Yamaha 80s BB Series


alchemy
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I'm a huge fan (a real lover) of the 80s Yamaha BB Series... I actually own a very nice couple of BB3000A and I'm trying to collect and sort as many info about these basses I can...

so, if you can contribute or just want to take a look at my work... here I am and here it is the table I'm trying to fill:

[url="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7jUho5wPgUJBjdfvWI2aZA"]http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7j...PgUJBjdfvWI2aZA[/url]

Cheers! :)

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[quote name='alchemy' post='75338' date='Oct 16 2007, 11:34 PM']I'm a huge fan (a real lover) of the 80s Yamaha BB Series... I actually own a very nice couple of BB3000A and I'm trying to collect and sort as many info about these basses I can...

so, if you can contribute or just want to take a look at my work... here I am and here it is the table I'm trying to fill:

[url="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7jUho5wPgUJBjdfvWI2aZA"]http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7j...PgUJBjdfvWI2aZA[/url]

Cheers! :)[/quote]

I've never seen a 2000 with a maple body (I've 3 and they're all alder). The 2000s has a rosewood board. There are also fretless and 'BB' variants of a lot of these. There was a BB450 as well.

Edited by BB2000
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Well, thanks for the correction about the wood of the body, but I think that the fingerboard is made of ebony, just like the bb3000s... and that's also what they say on the yamaha database:

[url="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yamaha.co.jp%2Fproduct%2Fguitar%2Feg%2Fdatabase%2Fbb%2Fbb-2000.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8"]http://translate.google.com/translate?u=ht...=en&ie=UTF8[/url]

Cheers

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The 2000s (the BO short scale 2000) has a rosewood fingerboard. Or at least the one I had did, so I assume they're all the same. Some of the legacy data on the Yamaha site is wrong (the BB2000 body is listed as maple, but they aren't on the BB2000, BB2000F or BB2000s). There were a lot of Japan specific BB Yamaha's as well that aren't mentioned on their site.

They don't mention interesting guitars like the US (alembic built) BB3000s basses either.

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[quote name='alchemy' post='75814' date='Oct 17 2007, 10:35 PM']please tell me something about the US built BB3000 :) I didn't know them.[/quote]

I don't know the whole story, but the general consensus is that when they (Yamaha) were seriously trying to take market share from Fender they were chasing serious endorsers. One of these was supposedly Jeff Berlin, who had been given a BB3000. He supposedly specified a 1.5" nut version with V/V/T which became the BB3000s. At the end of the day he never became a Yamaha endorser but the BB3000s was placed on the market anyhow. I've no idea why (or at least I've read dozens of theories and don't which is true) but initially the manufacture of these was subcontracted to alembic.

Incidentally, I don't know if you're aware but they still build the BB3000 in Japan, with a street price of about 190,000 yen, which isn't bad considering the strength of the pound against the yen. The BB3000s's sold even less than the BB3000's back in the day.

There's a heap of Yamaha basses that never saw the light of day outside of Japan which most people have never heard of (like the 2000VI) - if you manage to collate accurate data on all these that would be impressive!

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[quote name='alchemy' post='75338' date='Oct 16 2007, 11:34 PM']so, if you can contribute or just want to take a look at my work... here I am and here it is the table I'm trying to fill:[/quote]

Excellent stuff.

I have a BB800 from c. 1979 and was very definitely made in Japan, it has Made In Japan stamped on the heel plate.

There is a site somewhere with serial numbers for the various models, though the BB800 dates from the period
where the serial numbering was a bit unreliable and uncoordinated.

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  • 1 year later...

I have a very old beat up looking BB2000 with a maple body,straight thru neck and rosewood finger board.I hope this information can throw some lite on some of issues that some people have,but i have a problem with this bass,it has a twist in the neck,can it be fixed?

Edited by andy boyle
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[quote name='andy boyle' post='558931' date='Aug 3 2009, 03:03 AM']I have a very old beat up looking BB2000 with a maple body,straight thru neck and rosewood finger board.I hope this information can throw some lite on some of issues that some people have,but i have a problem with this bass,it has a twist in the neck,can it be fixed?[/quote]

I had a Fender with a slight twist on the neck. I was told it could be fixed by removing the fretboard and planing the neck. Sadly I was also told it wouldn't be a cheap fix.

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Thanks for the sensible reply,most of the people i've spoke to have told me to bin it but im loathed to do that,its a beautiful bass to play but the intonations screwed when you get past the 8th fret,i suppose i could mount on my wall! I stay in glasgow do you know of anybody in the surrounding areas or any websites that i could get in contact with to get a price for the work?

Edited by andy boyle
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My '84 BB3000S was pure magic, in fact one of the reasons I have the Kinal I have now is because it reminds me of it.

I had [i]Taiwanese[/i] BB1100S, A Jap 400 (I [i]think[/i]) fretless and the BB3000S:

Edited by Rayman
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[quote name='andy boyle' post='558931' date='Aug 3 2009, 03:03 AM']I have a very old beat up looking BB2000 with a maple body,straight thru neck and rosewood finger board.I hope this information can throw some lite on some of issues that some people have,but i have a problem with this bass,it has a twist in the neck,can it be fixed?[/quote]

If the neck is stable a luthier could probably put on a new fingerboard, but I doubt that it will realistically be cost effective to fix.

NB - Your body is alder, and the fingerboard is ebony. The neck is maple and mahogany.

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[quote name='stingrayfan' post='559686' date='Aug 3 2009, 09:37 PM']Can anyone tell me how the 80s ones compare to the current reissues? Heavier? Different sound? I love my new BB614 so interested to know the difference.[/quote]
I was able to compare my 1980s BB to a very early JV Precision (now sold) and I didn't prefer one over the other sound-wise. The Yamaha is slightly lighter than the Fender but I wouldn't call it a lightweight bass. No idea how they compare with the new ones though.

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