Newbie just bought Yamaha RBX375

[TofuMouse]

Hello!

I'm new to basses. Just bought my first bass about a week ago. It's a Yamaha RBX375 5-string, black color (unlike the image below).

Nice guitar. I love it. Though I think it needs some adjustment, and possibly new strings.

The low-B seems a bit flubbery. It's hard to get a distinct note out of it from plucking, though if I dampen it with my finger it gives a more of a defined note.

I'm assuming that the strings that the guitar came with might be soft ones that make it feel easy to play in the store. I wonder if buying new strings would tighten up that low B sting a bit. I've got no idea what strings would do this.

Apart from the looseness of that low string, the other strings sound OK. I guess that means I'd be happy with the round-wound type of strings.

Also, the low notes tend to hit against the frets and resonate. Not sure what the official word for that is. Should I attempt to raise the bridge myself, or is that something only for a trained specialist to do?

It came with no instructions. Yamaha doesn't seem to provide any online. I'm not even sure what each switch and knob does.

Otherwise, it's a fantastic guitar. I think a bit of adjustment will improve things.

 

[JimmyM]

Looseness of the B...a lot of 34" scale basses have a bit of a flubbery B string. A thicker string might help a little, but don't go thick or you'll get diminishing returns.

Adjsuting the bridge...I think everyone should learn how to set their own action and intonation, but I don't recommend it for newbies. It's not a real expensive thing to have done, so I would say give it to a repairman and let him do it the first time.

 

[ALiP BoB]

Congrats on the bass!

and Kudos to you for starting with 5-strings.

When will it be my turn to have a first bass?

 

[Rune Bivrin]

I got the exact same model a week ago. Excellent value. The B-string is a bit flabby, but actually less so than the E-string of my old 4-banger. And to be honest, I think few amps/cabs do justice to the B-string. But when I play through ear phones it's definitely there.

I think it's quite possible your bass was fitted with rather light strings. I'd measure the B-string with a caliper or micrometer to see what guage it is, if I were you.

I have some fret buzz, but nothing that's heard through the pickups, only acoustically.

I thing the amount of fret buzz will depend a lot on your playing style. I play rather softly and with the strings vibrating predominantly paralell to the fretboard, which gives less buzz that if you dig in hard and snap the strings toward the pickups.

 

[snowdan]

B strings is a whole world on it's own.

even high end string makers like DR make mediocre Bs.

the best B i have so far come across is the .128 B from my 40-60-80-100-128 set of la bella hard rockin steels. great, great, great.

if that gauge is too soft for you they also make a set up to .135.

the HRS B is likely one of the best on the market and HRS are not very expensive. try them.

 

[TofuMouse]

Wow. Lot of great replies to my first post in this forum.

A thicker string might help a little, but don't go thick or you'll get diminishing returns.

I wonder if .135 thickness would be too thick? Do they come thicker?

Kudos to you for starting with 5-strings.

Thanks, ALiP. I thought I'd just dive straight into a 5-string for my first bass. I'm glad I did

I got the exact same model a week ago. Excellent value.

Congratulations to you too, Rune, for getting the same model bass yourself. I'd be interested to know if you change the strings in the future, and how they go.

B strings is a whole world on it's own.

even high end string makers like DR make mediocre Bs.

the best B i have so far come across is the .128 B from my 40-60-80-100-128 set of la bella hard rockin steels. great, great, great.

if that gauge is too soft for you they also make a set up to .135.

the HRS B is likely one of the best on the market and HRS are not very expensive. try them.

Thanks for your info, snowdan. I hadn't heard of HRS strings before. Invalid Link Removed for anyone else reading this who is curious. It's funny that a cheap brand makes one of the better strings.

So... a thicker string should tighten up the low B? But I gather that it then becomes harder to play. Do thicker strings usually sound better?

 

[Gintaras]

General rule is get rid of the factory strings. I love the DR Sunbeams on my 5 string but strings are such a personal choice. Also a great inexpensive strings are SIT's. I have had the Silencers and the PowerWounds and really liked them. At first strings are an experiment till you find what you like....

I learned how to do setups from this site by Gary Willis. Takes you step by step through the process.

Invalid Link Removed

 

[snowdan]

Thanks for your info, snowdan. I hadn't heard of HRS strings before. Invalid Link Removed for anyone else reading this who is curious. It's funny that a cheap brand makes one of the better strings.

So... a thicker string should tighten up the low B? But I gather that it then becomes harder to play. Do thicker strings usually sound better?

no, sometimes they sound muddy and create wird overtones higher up the neck.

also, diameter doesn't tell much about tension. it is mostly core diameter that is responsible for that, not outer diameter.

the 128 HRS B is really amazing and outperforms any 130 and 135 string i have used before, including DR, D'addario.

search the forum for the labellas, they receive much praise here for good reasons.

i for my part will stick to the HRS now, for their great growl and the B.

 

[BobWestbrook]

I have the same bass (in silver) and have the Labella black tapewound strings on it. The tone is more subdued, more acoustic-like.

 

[JimmyM]

Wow. Lot of great replies to my first post in this forum.

I wonder if .135 thickness would be too thick? Do they come thicker?

So... a thicker string should tighten up the low B? But I gather that it then becomes harder to play. Do thicker strings usually sound better?

Again, thicker strings CAN sound better, but if too thick, you get a lot of creepy overtones and a weird sound. I use a .130 B on my 5. I think that's as thick as I'd ever like to go.

Now Doug Pinnick from King's X takes a completely different approach. He claims that using a thinner string for the low B makes it sound better. Then again, he uses very light strings all around. So I don't know. Buy a couple B strings in different gauges and see for yourself.

 

[SirCanealot]

My main axe is a RBX374. Love it to pieces

I absolutely hate the low B on every 375 I've tried, but I'm a big fan of the other 4 strings. Enjoy

And I get a lot of string/fret clacker on mine, but I'm getting to the stage where I can tone most of it out with my fingers when I want to (other times I just wanna hit the strings like a madman and make some noise )

 

[Gintaras]

I once saw on this site a B string extender that someone divised form a piece of metal tube that extended the string behind the bridge. It does not involve any alteration of the bass. You thread the the string through a piece of tubing before putting it through the bridge. This extends the string beyond the bridge about an inch.

I tried to search for it but had no luck. The TB'r had a pic of it.

 

[SGT. Pepper]

Order a custom guage set from DR or D'Addario with a 145 guage b string and your problem will be solved.

 

[Garage Amps]

I once saw on this site a B string extender that someone divised form a piece of metal tube that extended the string behind the bridge.

In Gary Willis's "101 Bass Tips" book this is tip #88. Supposed to be a way to 'add tension to the lower strings without resorting to a 35" scale or obnoxiously big string gauges.'

But it makes no sense.

Diameter and density etc. of the string stays the same. Distance between bridge and nut for the string stays the same. So, if pitch stays the same, tension is going to be the same.

 

[TofuMouse]

I once saw on this site a B string extender that someone divised

I just read through all the old "Gary Willis spacer" threads here at TalkBass. Most people seem to think it's snake oil However, Garry Willis' bass set-up tutorials that 'Gintaras' links to (above) are useful.

Order a custom guage set from DR or D'Addario with a 145 guage b string and your problem will be solved.

Wow! You installed a .145 gauge B-string? That's the thickest string I've heard of. You like it? Does it tighten things? Hard to play?

 

[GaryM]

I'm not even sure what each switch and knob does.

If it's laid out the same as my Yamaha BBG4S II then:

The top knob in the photo controls the volume.

The right knob controls the balance between the two pickups.

The left knob controls the treble boost / cut.

The bottom know controls the bass boost / cut.

 

[3Bass7]

Get it done professionally, you could do some damage if you don't know what you're doing. Usually the Bs are pretty loose to start off, get a good set of D'Addarios or Ernie Balls, they're great strings.

Good call starting with a 5-string. If you can play a 5, you'll be able to play a 4 fairly comfortably, as well.

 

[Ian Perge]

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised unless Yamaha has stopped using their own strings on their lower-end basses, because the Yamaha-branded steels that came on both my 775s were absolutely wonderful sounding, and had a very strong B-string in both tension as well as tone for basses in that price range.

Did they have red wrappings and gold ball ends? If not, there's been a change. If so, either your taste is very different or their QC has suffered greatly (and knowing Yamaha, I truly don't see that).

 

[darthplagis]

get some warwick yellow label strings..... the B is tapered (it goes thin like a g/d string where it passes over the bridge saddle, gives better core contact so you get a more clear defined note/tone) so it has a higher tension with less mass @ bridge saddle.

any other tapered B set will do the same job, just i use warwicks on my yamaha BBG5as (i have 2 one stock and one modded P MM) and it makes the B sound much better.

congrats on the bass too, and major kudos for starting on a 5 (i wish i had of) are you joining the yamaha club?

 

[TofuMouse]

GaryM: Thanks for the info on the tone knobs

Did (the factory strings) have red wrappings and gold ball ends? If not, there's been a change. If so, either your taste is very different or their QC has suffered greatly (and knowing Yamaha, I truly don't see that).

The factory strings had black wrappings on both ends (matching the color of the guitar) and gold balls.

I think the Yamaha quality is good with this guitar. It probably just needs some rocky strings and a technician to tweak it to my liking. Actually the factory strings sound quite good, except that the low B lacks definition, which a change in strings may help.

are you joining the yamaha club?

I'm a bit slow Is there really a Yamaha club? Or do you wonder if I'll become a Yamaha fanboy?

I'm not attached to any brand. In the store, there were many mega expensive bass guitars for thousands of dollars. I didn't even try them out, because I knew I could not afford them.

I really needed a bass with the best value for money I could find. A decent, playable guitar, without spending megabucks.