NBD PB-70

hi everyone, it's been a long time, but it's my turn to play the NBD game!

It actually goes back about two years prior to when I played a DeeDee Ramone sig bass at a gig owned by the headlining act, and it was absolutely perfect. After digging around, I've found the PB-70 Crafted in Japan models to be very close. This one is a 2007 model, and nice.

I found one on eBay, looked it over through the pictures, and pulled the trigger. About a day later I get an email outside of eBay saying that bass had sold about four months prior at his shop in Osaku Japan, and he was apologizing that somehow the add on eBay didn't get taken down. He then stated he would either refund the money, or if I was interested, he could send another PB-70 he had which was almost identical, with about 100 dollars off, due to the mistake on his part. Initially I though scam, but after looking the pictures he had sent, the bass like even better than the one I had purchased. I told him I was interested, but only if the transaction was still through eBay. He understood, and agreed.

He sent the bass expedited, and it got to my home in about three days. From this point I'll let the pictures talk.

The bass came nicely packaged and quickly shipped from Japan. Three days including customs. I was pretty impressed. It wasn't due until the 27th.



The box wasn't beat up, and no rattle sounds, so I opened it up. It was nicely padded with interesting newsprint and bubble wrap. I could tell these guys had shipped internationally before.



Multiple layers of bubble wrap make me a happy camper!



Triple bubble on the ends!



Seems a gig bag is under all that bubble wrap. I'm starting to get excited!



One more bubble wrap for the road.....

Gig bag is brand new, not the most expensive, but it looks good and the bass fits.


Getting closer, and more bubble wrap! This guy is my new best friend!




Cutting back the wrap, I lay eyes on the bass, and an added nice touch is the origami swan! I love the little touch! Very nice.



The bass is in very nice shape for a 2007. It's a player, so there are scratches and a few bumps, but it will be on many a stage getting its licks in as well.
I think it's beautiful.


The Oly white paint has started to yellow a bit, the tuners and bridge are a little aged, so the pantina is about perfect.



Daddy likes. The strings still needed to be tuned to pitch, but the frets looked good and no cracks or any other issues on the neck.


The bass has either had a fret job, (my guess) or the frets are much smaller than my '85 MIJ I own. As they were perfect without wear, my guess is it's had a good fret dress as of late. After tuning the strings to pitch, it really plays well. I don't think I will even have to tweak the truss rod, which suprises me. The neck feels a lot like my '85, not to fat, but fills the hand. I'm not a pro on fender neck sizes, so I'm not sure of what profile it would be. The best I can describe is a touch more flat and full as opposed to round and full. Some of the actual 70's basses were really thick in the neck. This one isn't, and a nice balance between thin and thick.

The strings are new, but not my brand. I will get a set on soon for the final setup. So far I'm very happy with the "gamble" I took with this bass.

 

I’ve always been a fan of the quality of Japanese guitars, and this is no different. Smooth lines, solid build, and flawless neck. The tuners are a little hard to turn, but I can fix that with a little anti seize compound, makes them turn smoothly

 

I say risk but it really wasn't. As the transaction was still through eBay, if I wouldn't have been happy I would have got my money back, no questions asked. I feel the seller, whom does have a business in Japan, was genuinely embarrassed about the mixup, and really went the extra mile to satisfy me as a buyer. The bass I got was every bit as nice as the one I had originally bought, so definitely I felt good about the deal. The only thing that threw me was he initially got ahold of me via email, as opposed to eBay. Once he said he had no reservations about completing the transaction through eBay, I felt it was on the up and up.

 

Absolutely! In fact that was one of the nicest transactions I've had through eBay. I feel the seller was genuinely interested in making the deal the best he could.

 

Here you go. Spp-international

The gentleman's name is Tomohiro

 

Nope! It officially has a place displayed in my collection of "interestings and oddities" I've collected over years of being a touring musician.

 

Man I would have been all over that bass...