My Yamaha TRBX174EW

[Bubble]

I got one of these and have been testing it for about two weeks. It's excellent. It holds tune, the neck is of the most solid strong ones I have ever seen, the sound is clean and none of those unpleasant harmonics I hear in most cheap basses.
The rear pickup should probably be the humbucker Jazz type and better ohm match to the neck pickup, but the sound is very high quality, the neck smooth and non-stick.
It could use some fine wood oil in the fretboard, a bit dry looking, and some minor smoothing of the fret ends, just a little sharp.
Well worth $225.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

oil makes no difference about the dryness
moisture does, take it in the bathroom while you take a hot, steamy shower

I had a RBX174EW that was light, looked great, & sounded OK as well.

Traditionally we include a photo...

That's mine on the right!
err, it was, don't own it anymore
or any of that gear, for that matter

Oh wait, I do have a DigiTech Drop & a Radial Engineering ABY now, but they're not the same ones in the photo.

 

[Williethump]

Love my RBX-174EX (Exotic Wood), had a setup done and round GHS Boomers put on. Good tone, nice smooth neck. Wide Franklin suede strap. $109USD used but barely at GC. Mango top, maybe alder body. Gotta play a pretty bass.

 

[Bassa Nova]

I demo’d one of these at GC about a year ago. Very impressive for the money. Felt like a short scale.

 

[Bubble]

Well, the fretboard looks sort of untreated and dry but does help with eyeballing positions. It is lighter in color than the usual rosewoods.
I'll get a photo later. My third try and it seems to be what I like. The neck is a little thicker but what does that matter when I use my thumb on the neck back instead of palming it ? None. I do like that Jazz Bass neck though.

 

[Bubble]

Nice guitars but my fingers are so big I can't make many of the common chords. I began on bass, and have heard comments about my fingers being way too thick and muscular for a six string guitar. I have wondered if there are necks wide enough for ones like mine.
For now I just look at them and wish. It would also be nice to have more than 2 1/2 fingers to play bass with. One got cut and a tumor was found on the finger next to it. I thought it was a pad from laying it flat on the fretboard and rippling along the frets. The Dr. said no it is from a pinch in a machine years ago.
I get the tumor removed in two weeks, just as my pointing finger heals. Looks like two more weeks, may end up as three months total no play bass.

 

[Williethump]

Bubble
I feel your pain. All sorts of cysts, arthritis, tendonitis etc here and I miss the playing. But it mostly all heals up eventually. Good luck

 

[Bubble]

It will be that much better when I do.
I don't see much of this lately but there used to be this way of making a song sound great by starting it out as a mildly annoying chaos then blending into a pleasant melody.
If I warm up by playing nonsense then I seem to like that organized arrangement so much better.

 

[Bubble]

 

[Bubble]

I am thinking a gold plated bridge would look better with this near natural wood color than silver, now to find a match. And it will probably be the type with the thicker rear where the strings thread through. I'm actually not sure the heavy duty one will sound better. The thinner one could make chords ring better but would need to test that to be sure.
And you can't always trust what you can directly hear. Stuff like that listener fatigue that many cheap stereo speakers cause.

 

[Bubble]

This listener fatigue thing worries me about DIY instruments and electronics. Another case of an amateur thinking I can be as good or out do the pros.
Lots of articles on listener fatigue. Do to cross forum rules I may not know I'll safely link a shallow one on Wikipedia.
I made a diy speaker cabinet, a 1x12 made with a $12 GRS 12PF-8 deep woofer. Makes a nice deep bass with a lack of mids even though it's specified range is up to about 4khz and a feeble 85db. No curves available.
Haven't touched it for some reason since I got the Ampeg cabs.

Listener fatigue - Wikipedia

 

[Bubble]

These are the best pix I can get for now, the closeup of the topside body is close. Not even yellow like that and much better detailed than the photos show. I think gold hardware would look better on this one.

 

[Bubble]

This bass comes with 45 - 105 strings. I decided they are too big and tight, although easier to do two finger plucking as is. The OEM strings were not plated well, the nickel came off so badly that after a few songs my fret fingers were black.

So I replaced them with Fender 7250ML strings. Great but it was perfectly intonated for 45 - 105's, the 45-100's cause need for a major intonation job. I ended up doing a complete neck and pickup setup and it did not accept this change without a fight. I got it intonated but not without some nut filing, neck relief, bridge height adjustments and intonation.
Now much easier to play and all frets are centered on the BP90 built in tuner. The 7250ML's made just very light deposit on the fingers and mainly on the first session. It reduced to the point of needing to look very closely check for nickel ruboff on my fingers and no need to wash them after playing.
But it cost me some very fine scratches here and there. End result, I like the 7250ML's much better.

 

[Bubble]

BTW, the BP90 built in tuner is so sensitive I can't hear any difference in a plus or minus two place error but can hear a 4 place error.

And in case you didn't think of it, when learning two finger plucking, it may be easier to learn on a bass with the larger, tighter strings. The flex and vibration was difficult for me to get past, I wanted to focus on coordination first then adapt to the hurdles.

 

[Bubble]

One more, The Fender recommendations for setup is much better than the way I received it.
Oh I wish for the MUSA Jazz Bass !

 

[Oomfee]

My main (and only) bass for the past two years. I’ve found I prefer the simplicity of a passive bass and have grown to be a big fan of Yamaha and their build quality for the price. Upgrades I’ve done include EMG Geezer pickups, Gotoh tuners, metal knobs, and a metal jack plate.