Looking for info

[Mike Atkins]

Hey Y'all!
I'm new here, so I hope I am in the right forum spot. I recently acquired a 1966(?) Yamaha SB2 in a trade. This thing has seen some weirdness. It looks to have been painted (poorly) at some point in its life, and someone put wall paper on it at some point.
I'd like to semi restore it, but info on the bass is sparse. Apparently Yamaha only made this model for a year, I think either '66 or '67.
I'm trying to find out what colors it came in. I've only seen red, sunburst, and white. I'm pretty sure this one started out white, as there's a paint chip on it with white underneath the gross faded pinkish/reddish "disasterpaint" job, but I'm shooting in the dark here.
Anyone with any knowledge here? Any other information I can get about this bass is invaluable to me.
Thanks!

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Cool bass. I like old Yamahas. No real help with info though. Have you removed the pickguard and/or the neck to see what color is in the routes?

Post some pictures and keep us informed on your work.

 

[Mike Atkins]

Cool bass. I like old Yamahas. No real help with info though. Have you removed the pickguard and/or the neck to see what color is in the routes?

Post some pictures and keep us informed on your work.

I haven't removed anything yet, I want to do as much research as I can before digging in.

 

[Warhawk]

I'd love to see photos of a Yamaha that old. Please post some.

 

[Mike Atkins]

Ok, I just uploaded some pics of as is

 

[Mike Atkins]

You can see the wallpaper just sitting underneath the pic guard, along with the general cruddiness on the pic guard itself. It's got a crazy headstock which is one of the things I like about it.

 

[Jeff Scott]

...someone put wall paper on it at some point.

Did Chris Squire own this bass?

I've only seen red, sunburst, and white. I'm pretty sure this one started out white, as there's a paint chip on it with white underneath the gross faded pinkish/reddish "disasterpaint" job, but I'm shooting in the dark here.

Assuming the decal on the headstock is original, I'd say there a 50/50 chance the bass was white.

I haven't removed anything yet, I want to do as much research as I can before digging in.

Part of researching an instrument is digging into it. You can learn much by taking things (carefully) apart.

 

[sissy kathy]

Assuming that neck and body were married at the factory, the headstock is the give away. First that is a 66. The medallion is on the other side of YAMAHA in the 67 and the model was redesigned and designated the SB2A. The Yamaha basses had a matching headstock, except for the burst that had a black headstock Two things you can do to confirm that is the original color on the headstock 1) pull a tuner to confirm white is the original color 2) pull the Yamaha medallion to check for a different color there. I really don't think it's necessary to pull anything though. Consider the difference in quality of the paint jobs between the body and the headstock. That alone says white is the original color. You may be able to strip the red off and still have the original white under scuffed clear too. You might get away with just shooting some clear over the underlying paint.

 

[Mike Atkins]

Assuming that neck and headstock were married at the factory, the headstock is the give away. First that is a 66. The medallion is on the other side of YAMAHA in the 67 and the model was redesigned and designated the SB2A. The Yamaha basses had a matching headstock, except for the burst that had a black headstock Two things you can do to confirm that is the original color on the headstock 1) pull a tuner to confirm white is the original color 2) pull the Yamaha medallion to check for a different color there. I really don't think it's necessary to pull anything though. Consider the difference in quality of the paint jobs between the body and the headstock. That alone says white is the original color. You may be able to strip the red off and still have the original white under scuffed clear too. You might get away with just shooting some clear over the underlying paint.

Thank you! Those are all fantastic suggestions. I will most likely start taking it apart this weekend.
I’ll give updates along the way.