How does the Yamaha compare to the Lakland? I've never seen one around to try out and I'm pretty well hooked on the Laklands.
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They are different. Yamaha string spacing is little tighter (18 mm) and it’s 34” scale. It’s easy and joy to play and very resonant and musical instrument. I’ve always love Yamaha BB and TRB basses and I even owned John Patitucci Model (1 st). I regret that I sold it. Playability is awesome as a six string bass. (Now I have Ibanez BTB 6. Great bass, but neck is a little bit too wide for me.) Only Yamsha electronics is something that I change in some basses.
In love with this amazing 55-94! I put together this quick montage and a bit of groovin' around in my favourite setting. Cheers!
Hey Y'all.
This is listed as a Lakland (not Lakland Skyline) but the price seems Skyline-ish.
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Am I tripping, or does it look like perhaps the Skyline graphic was removed/obscured from the headstock logo?
Or is this just a great deal on a USA DJ4?
Can any of you die-hard Lakers tell?
Thanks.
This is listed as a Lakland (not Lakland Skyline) but the price seems Skyline-ish.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Am I tripping, or does it look like perhaps the Skyline graphic was removed/obscured from the headstock logo?
Or is this just a great deal on a USA DJ4?
Can any of you die-hard Lakers tell?
Thanks.
Skyline. You can se the logo remains and the neck isn't quartersawn.
Wow, I am just actually surprised GC had some good pictures.
Received the used Lakland 55-60, and let's just say Fair is right on. It's got gunk for days, pickguard is warped, dents and scratches everywhere, rust on the pickups, neck pickup is flush with the pickguard, missing tone knob, and ill fitted strings. The first 2 digits of the serial start with 18, which means that it's 6 years old.
Tuned it up and it actually plays fairly well, a little fret buzz, but nothing major that a setup wouldn't fix. Frets also seem to be in relatively good condition. The strings are dead dead dead. Sounds like an upright almost with how much thump it has. Definitely has that old school sound going on.
I'm going to inspect the control cavity and maybe take the pickguard off tomorrow to see why it's warped and if I can raise that pickup, change the strings, and try to clean up at least some of the gunk.
It doesn't need new pickups as they work and no noise, but the rust and oxidation doesn't inspire confidence. I might drop something new in, maybe some Fralins or Nordstrands, either the Big Blade (warm) or the NJ5S and new volume and tone pots. But by the time I buy all that and have it put in, with a setup and professional cleaning, it's going to be almost the cost of the bass itself, not sure if I want to make that investment, but at the same time is still the same price as a used one, and still $600 cheaper than a new one.
Anyways, here's some pics:
Tuned it up and it actually plays fairly well, a little fret buzz, but nothing major that a setup wouldn't fix. Frets also seem to be in relatively good condition. The strings are dead dead dead. Sounds like an upright almost with how much thump it has. Definitely has that old school sound going on.
I'm going to inspect the control cavity and maybe take the pickguard off tomorrow to see why it's warped and if I can raise that pickup, change the strings, and try to clean up at least some of the gunk.
It doesn't need new pickups as they work and no noise, but the rust and oxidation doesn't inspire confidence. I might drop something new in, maybe some Fralins or Nordstrands, either the Big Blade (warm) or the NJ5S and new volume and tone pots. But by the time I buy all that and have it put in, with a setup and professional cleaning, it's going to be almost the cost of the bass itself, not sure if I want to make that investment, but at the same time is still the same price as a used one, and still $600 cheaper than a new one.
Anyways, here's some pics:
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Wow! That’s too bad that a fine instrument was not taken care of better than that. It’s going to take some work to get it back to good condition. If it’s a keeper, by having a good stable neck, then it will be worth doing the upgrades you spoke of. Let us know how it goes.
Good luck with that. If that's only an '18, then hopefully the neck is still stable. It looks like it may have been damaged in a flood or some other water damage.
I was thinking probably a high humidity area, maybe a storage unit without climate control. I’d say if the neck is still straight, it’ll have minimal issues. All 5 strings have graphite bars in the neck, even the Skylines. That’ll help a lot with stability. Pickguards and pickups can be replaced if there’s issues with those.
Nice natural grain on the body and certainly worth investing some time and components on…
Nice score!
Nice score!
Came from PA, so not any more humidity than the PNW where I live, but could definitely have been in non-climate controlled storage.
Gut shots. Took everything off to inspect. Lots of grime and some sort of water or beer damage got under the pickguard. Everything looks to be cosmetic, not structural. The control plate looks in decent condition with Alpha pots.
Anyone have any tips on how to give this a good cleaning? Might need something stronger than the usual polish I put on the rest of my basses. Don't want anything too strong, but need to cut through the funk!
PS, my wife said this bass looks like it is covered in COVID
Came from PA, so not any more humidity than the PNW where I live, but could definitely have been in non-climate controlled storage.
Gut shots. Took everything off to inspect. Lots of grime and some sort of water or beer damage got under the pickguard. Everything looks to be cosmetic, not structural. The control plate looks in decent condition with Alpha pots.
Anyone have any tips on how to give this a good cleaning? Might need something stronger than the usual polish I put on the rest of my basses. Don't want anything too strong, but need to cut through the funk!
PS, my wife said this bass looks like it is covered in COVID
Great score but I need to see this cleaned. If not a climate control issue, maybe just gigged hard in a lot of smoky bars/clubs with some blood, sweat, and beers. I'm confident you can get that looking great. Look forward to the after pics.
I've dealt with stuff like that before (and waaaaay worse). The neck so you'll be fine using whatever.Came from PA, so not any more humidity than the PNW where I live, but could definitely have been in non-climate controlled storage.
Gut shots. Took everything off to inspect. Lots of grime and some sort of water or beer damage got under the pickguard. Everything looks to be cosmetic, not structural. The control plate looks in decent condition with Alpha pots.
Anyone have any tips on how to give this a good cleaning? Might need something stronger than the usual polish I put on the rest of my basses. Don't want anything too strong, but need to cut through the funk!
PS, my wife said this bass looks like it is covered in COVID
View attachment 5440764 View attachment 5440765 View attachment 5440766 View attachment 5440767 View attachment 5440768
The gunk on the body can be removed quite easily. Start out with a slightly damp cloth. The Dunlop 65 polish works fine as well, both on the body and on the neck. If the finger gunk doesn't come off easily, you can use a credit card to scratch it off a bit.
Maybe a bit superfluous to say but WASH YOUR HANDS when you're finished.
It is a great looking bass though. Give it a set of nice and bright strings and a good setup and Bob's your uncle. I don't think you'll have to replace any electronics if it works. Those Hanson pickups are absolutely fine.
The pickups actually do sound just fine, but they are caked in oxidation. Any way to safely remove that?
The gunk is coming off fairly well with some polish and a cloth, but may do the credit card trick to get closer to the frets.
You can basically use any metal polish for that: Blue Magic works, Flitz is also fine. Just don't overdo it 
Oh and if you want to get even closer to (and underneath) the frets: a shaving blade or Stanley blade really works.
Oh and if you want to get even closer to (and underneath) the frets: a shaving blade or Stanley blade really works.
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I shared this little clip with you guys and the algorithm grabbed it and somehow there are more than 10,000 views now.
I shared this little clip with you guys and the algorithm grabbed it and somehow there are more than 10,000 views now.
That's awesome!
Gordon! How long has it been since we last talked? 10+ years? Hope you're doing great.
