*2004 Yamaha RBX-775 fretted SOLD!*
*2004 Yamaha RBX-775 custom fretless SOLD Pending Payment!*
For sale is a 2004 Yamaha RBX 775 custom fretless in flat Blue with matching blue "ghost lines". I purchased these during Yamaha's clearance of the line due to poor sales @ it's pricepoint and replacement with the 375 model. I absolutely got smashing deals on both of them and 4 great years, but after a good amount of thought and learning have realized that I'm not quite a fan of .75"/19mm string-spacing at the bridge and have moved onto a set of basses that work better for me (in my case, the tighter-spaced Spector ReBop line.)
As for the differences between the 775 line and the current 374/375s, there is not a comparison. As many has said, both here and even within Yamaha, the 375 is simply made for a different pricepoint and while a decent bass for that pricepoint, the 775 was a bass built for one much higher and it shows immediately. They were priced with their MSRP at $1,199 for the five-string version and the typical store sale of $650-$700. Unfortunately that's one of the hardest price barriers to break, and after a year the redesigned the bass to be less expensive to build and sell in the $350-$400 area. Immediately the extra routing on the body edge of the bass that makes the design look symmetrical whereas the one-sided routing of the 375 simply looks off-balance. The 775 also has a much more solid neck joint - I've measured side-by-side, and the 375 is shorter by about 1". The 775s scale length of 35" certainly helps the B-string compared to the 375's 34". The hardware is also improved on the 775, using a monorail-type bridge while the 375 used a standard cast bridge. The tuners are Gotoh GB-7s.
The bass is extremely clean: it has four minor lines measuring 1/8th" shallow lines "stacked" above the control cavity in the back (very atypical of bass "dings" - the only guess I have is that it happened during one of my moves) but because of the flat paint surface there's nothing to reflect off of compared to a glossy finish. No hearstock dings and the front is very clean, however. The fretless was converted in January of 2005 with the assistance of both Allen "Hambone" Hamilton, former Moderator of the "Setup & Repair" forum as well as Michael Tobias, who gave me extremely relevant advice on the actual removal of the frets. Approximately $100 of tools from Stew-MacDonald were used for a proper defretting: to removed the frets correctly, glue in the blue filler material used to fill in the fret gap, carve off the excess and sand the fretboard back to true with a radius sanding block, and coat the fretboard with Teak Oil, a boating oil used for open-pore wood such as rosewood that hardens the wood and fills in the pores but keeps the inherent "woody" tone of the bass and not a glossy one such as epoxies. The bass was taken in to a local luthier who installed a new, lower nut, set her up for fretless play and pronounced the bass "good to go". I've reapplied the Teak Oik on a yearly basis and can ship that along with the bass, subject to shipping regulations. The fretless would be perfect for either "My First Fretless", moving up to a quality second from an SX-level bass, or a backup for the "all fretless" player... but at a price much less than your typical first fretless in terms of pickups/electronics/hardware/build quality.
Yamaha RBX 775 Flat Blue Fretless
Asking $350 for the fretless including shipping and now also Gig Bag shipped in the CONUS, overseas shipping dependent on my decision and increased shipping cost. PayPal preferred. Thanks for reading!
4/19/08: 2004 Yamaha RBX-775 custom fretless SOLD Pending Payment!
*2004 Yamaha RBX-775 custom fretless SOLD Pending Payment!*
For sale is a 2004 Yamaha RBX 775 custom fretless in flat Blue with matching blue "ghost lines". I purchased these during Yamaha's clearance of the line due to poor sales @ it's pricepoint and replacement with the 375 model. I absolutely got smashing deals on both of them and 4 great years, but after a good amount of thought and learning have realized that I'm not quite a fan of .75"/19mm string-spacing at the bridge and have moved onto a set of basses that work better for me (in my case, the tighter-spaced Spector ReBop line.)
As for the differences between the 775 line and the current 374/375s, there is not a comparison. As many has said, both here and even within Yamaha, the 375 is simply made for a different pricepoint and while a decent bass for that pricepoint, the 775 was a bass built for one much higher and it shows immediately. They were priced with their MSRP at $1,199 for the five-string version and the typical store sale of $650-$700. Unfortunately that's one of the hardest price barriers to break, and after a year the redesigned the bass to be less expensive to build and sell in the $350-$400 area. Immediately the extra routing on the body edge of the bass that makes the design look symmetrical whereas the one-sided routing of the 375 simply looks off-balance. The 775 also has a much more solid neck joint - I've measured side-by-side, and the 375 is shorter by about 1". The 775s scale length of 35" certainly helps the B-string compared to the 375's 34". The hardware is also improved on the 775, using a monorail-type bridge while the 375 used a standard cast bridge. The tuners are Gotoh GB-7s.
The bass is extremely clean: it has four minor lines measuring 1/8th" shallow lines "stacked" above the control cavity in the back (very atypical of bass "dings" - the only guess I have is that it happened during one of my moves) but because of the flat paint surface there's nothing to reflect off of compared to a glossy finish. No hearstock dings and the front is very clean, however. The fretless was converted in January of 2005 with the assistance of both Allen "Hambone" Hamilton, former Moderator of the "Setup & Repair" forum as well as Michael Tobias, who gave me extremely relevant advice on the actual removal of the frets. Approximately $100 of tools from Stew-MacDonald were used for a proper defretting: to removed the frets correctly, glue in the blue filler material used to fill in the fret gap, carve off the excess and sand the fretboard back to true with a radius sanding block, and coat the fretboard with Teak Oil, a boating oil used for open-pore wood such as rosewood that hardens the wood and fills in the pores but keeps the inherent "woody" tone of the bass and not a glossy one such as epoxies. The bass was taken in to a local luthier who installed a new, lower nut, set her up for fretless play and pronounced the bass "good to go". I've reapplied the Teak Oik on a yearly basis and can ship that along with the bass, subject to shipping regulations. The fretless would be perfect for either "My First Fretless", moving up to a quality second from an SX-level bass, or a backup for the "all fretless" player... but at a price much less than your typical first fretless in terms of pickups/electronics/hardware/build quality.
- Body: Alder Body,
- Flat Blue (fretless)
- Neck: Maple
- Fingerboard: Rosewood, Teak Oil-coated
- No. of Frets: 24 inlaid blue "ghost" lines
- Scale Length: 35 (889 mm)
- Width at Nut: 1.635" (41.5mm)
- String-spacing at Bridge: .75" (19mm)
- Hardware: Black
- Machine Heads: Gotoh GB-7
- Bridge: Yamaha Original BPX-7 Monorail
- Pickups: 2 Yamaha Double Coil Humcancelling
- Electronic Controls: Yamaha preamp consisting of a) 3-position toggle pickup selector (neck/both/bridge), b) Master Volume, c) Master Tone, d) Active Mid-Boost
Yamaha RBX 775 Flat Blue Fretless
Asking $350 for the fretless including shipping and now also Gig Bag shipped in the CONUS, overseas shipping dependent on my decision and increased shipping cost. PayPal preferred. Thanks for reading!
4/19/08: 2004 Yamaha RBX-775 custom fretless SOLD Pending Payment!