'88 Yamaha BB1600

[NoXX]

Hi all,

so here's what I snagged when I returned the Peavey Foundation: a 1988 Yamaha BB1600. It was missing a knob, covered in grime, and smelt like it had been living in a bar for 15 years or so. The frets were green, and the strings felt like they were covered in syrup. After a lot of TLC and some tweaking, she looks a lot better. I've replaced the knobs with a new Gotoh set (old ones on in this pic), and fixed the foam under the p pup set, as it was squished to oblivion. A new set of roto 66's, and she sings. This is really the first bass that I've had that "A-ha" moment with- I just seem to connect with it. Neck feels great- the only oddity is that the pots are regular audio-taper and are wired "righty", so that turning them counter-clockwise turns everything down, not up. I do prefer this to the usual "on-off" issues you get when regular pots are wired lefty, but I do have to think before touching anything. The cavity is tight, so I don't know if CTS reverse audio tapers will fit. Anyway, it sounds great so that's cool.

[pjmuck]

Nice! Those 80's MIJ Yamahas are killer instruments, and becoming very hard to find. Even the latest lefty BB414/BB614 models that they issued a few years ago have disappeared off the face of the earth. They were pretty easy to find for a while and then Poof! They've vanished.

Enjoy!

[Basshappi]

Very Nice, Congrats!
Love those 80's Yamahas. I have a BB400 that I love, it is completely stock cause it never needed improving.

I always lusted over the higher BB models but lefties were always rare birds. I never knew until years later that that neck thru models where available lefthanded, or I would have saved up my money and bought one. Over the years I have seen lefties pop up from time to time but I have never been able to buy one.

Maybe one day the stars will line up just right.

[glefty5]

Looks very classy! Is it heavy, coz I remember my old 80s Yamaha BB ?000, with only the P pup weighed a ton! Sounded nice tho.

[Agent00Soul]

Amazeballs! Those Yamahas sound great with a bit of distortion btw

[NoXX]

Cheers! Thanks a lot for the kind words folks. Sorry for the slow response- working in upstate New York for a few days, so not keeping up with the fun emails

I have not put her on the scale yet, but she weighs less than my VM Jazz for sure. The bass does sound good through my Ampeg Preamp/power amp combo, so I bet distortion would be awesome. Will give it a blast when I can.

[sblueplanet]

I really enjoyed playing my black BB300 until it got pinched many years ago now