I'll try to be as brief as possible but this bass is apparently a very rare Yamaha BB2025MX model and I am extremely fortunate to have quite literally stumbled upon it.
Back story:
I'm a huge fan of the Yamaha BB "X" series basses. The hierarchy of the 5-string, X Series is BB425x, BB1025x & BB2025x (the 2025x model being the handcrafted in Japan, flagship model).
I've owned several Yamaha BB425x instruments, but I've heard so many good reviews about the 1025x (step up model from the 425x series) that I thought I would sell off a couple of lesser-used basses from my collection and use those funds towards a used Vintage White BB1025x that I had my eye on - on a website other than Guitar Center. Because I had originally check GC's website for both BB425x and BB1025x, but they had neither. So my plan was to just take in a couple of basses, get some cash and buy elsewhere.
So last Sunday I took a couple of instruments down to my local Guitar Center - they actually gave me a great price for both of them. As the sales guy is crunching all the numbers, I'm standing there and I started fiddling with my phone out of boredom, and I realized I hadn't searched GC's Used Gear section for the phrase "BB2025x". I thought with a smirk, yeah right - fat chance of that happening, lol. I typed it in and got 1 result - a BB2025x for an amazing price ($1,249 w/Yamaha hardshell case). My eyes bugged out of my head and I scoured the page thinking surely, this is an old listing or something I'm looking at - but no, it was just sitting there waiting to be bought!!!
I asked the salesguy to confirm it, and he said yes - it's currently in the Used Gear section for purchase. I almost fainted, lol. Something else that I couldn't understand about it was the Maple fingerboard - I'd NEVER heard of, nor seen, a Maple fretboard on a BB2025x. But no time for that - I ordered it on the spot immediately after receiving my trade in money.
So I ordered it and went back home and I started Googling things, trying to find out all I could about this rare maple fretboard version and to my knowledge there is only 1 website on the entire net that even makes mention of this Maple neck BB2025X. A place called Centaur Guitars - they called it a Prototype model and maybe it is - but whatever it is, it is extremely rare. The sticker on the back of the headstock says BB2025MX. I'm assuming M = Maple of course. So I've been staring at those pics on the web for the last few days, hoping mine would look as good as that when it arrives.
The funny thing is, it turns out the pictures on the Centaur Guitars website ARE MY EXACT Bass. The reason I can tell is that there is a very odd, tiny little red mark on the fretboard near the Nickel-Silver nut. Today when I picked up my bass from GC and opened the case at the store, I noticed this tiny little red mark on the fretboard and immediately recognized it from this Centaur Guitar's website that I had been staring at for the past week. So apparently this instrument was at one time sitting in Centaur Guitars in Oregon, was sold, and eventually landed in a Jacksonville, FL Guitar Center until I stumbled across it by EXTREME luck.
Condition:
The instrument was in very good condition - although there was a LOT of crusty, dried-on grime on almost all the chrome parts, except the tuners - hated to see that on such an amazing high quality instrument. Fortunately, some Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish, TLC and elbow grease did the trick. It cleaned up REAL nice!
There is some minor beltbuckle rash on the back but it's so light, I'm not sure if it will show up on pics. I'll probably give it a light coat of Meguiar's Scratch & Swirl remover just on the back side and all will be good. I don't mind a tiny amount of mojo on the back for this amazing beauty of an instrument.
Anyway, enough of the boring backstory - here are a boatload of pics:
Before cleaning:
After cleaning pics:
Back story:
I'm a huge fan of the Yamaha BB "X" series basses. The hierarchy of the 5-string, X Series is BB425x, BB1025x & BB2025x (the 2025x model being the handcrafted in Japan, flagship model).
I've owned several Yamaha BB425x instruments, but I've heard so many good reviews about the 1025x (step up model from the 425x series) that I thought I would sell off a couple of lesser-used basses from my collection and use those funds towards a used Vintage White BB1025x that I had my eye on - on a website other than Guitar Center. Because I had originally check GC's website for both BB425x and BB1025x, but they had neither. So my plan was to just take in a couple of basses, get some cash and buy elsewhere.
So last Sunday I took a couple of instruments down to my local Guitar Center - they actually gave me a great price for both of them. As the sales guy is crunching all the numbers, I'm standing there and I started fiddling with my phone out of boredom, and I realized I hadn't searched GC's Used Gear section for the phrase "BB2025x". I thought with a smirk, yeah right - fat chance of that happening, lol. I typed it in and got 1 result - a BB2025x for an amazing price ($1,249 w/Yamaha hardshell case). My eyes bugged out of my head and I scoured the page thinking surely, this is an old listing or something I'm looking at - but no, it was just sitting there waiting to be bought!!!
I asked the salesguy to confirm it, and he said yes - it's currently in the Used Gear section for purchase. I almost fainted, lol. Something else that I couldn't understand about it was the Maple fingerboard - I'd NEVER heard of, nor seen, a Maple fretboard on a BB2025x. But no time for that - I ordered it on the spot immediately after receiving my trade in money.
So I ordered it and went back home and I started Googling things, trying to find out all I could about this rare maple fretboard version and to my knowledge there is only 1 website on the entire net that even makes mention of this Maple neck BB2025X. A place called Centaur Guitars - they called it a Prototype model and maybe it is - but whatever it is, it is extremely rare. The sticker on the back of the headstock says BB2025MX. I'm assuming M = Maple of course. So I've been staring at those pics on the web for the last few days, hoping mine would look as good as that when it arrives.
The funny thing is, it turns out the pictures on the Centaur Guitars website ARE MY EXACT Bass. The reason I can tell is that there is a very odd, tiny little red mark on the fretboard near the Nickel-Silver nut. Today when I picked up my bass from GC and opened the case at the store, I noticed this tiny little red mark on the fretboard and immediately recognized it from this Centaur Guitar's website that I had been staring at for the past week. So apparently this instrument was at one time sitting in Centaur Guitars in Oregon, was sold, and eventually landed in a Jacksonville, FL Guitar Center until I stumbled across it by EXTREME luck.
Condition:
The instrument was in very good condition - although there was a LOT of crusty, dried-on grime on almost all the chrome parts, except the tuners - hated to see that on such an amazing high quality instrument. Fortunately, some Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish, TLC and elbow grease did the trick. It cleaned up REAL nice!
There is some minor beltbuckle rash on the back but it's so light, I'm not sure if it will show up on pics. I'll probably give it a light coat of Meguiar's Scratch & Swirl remover just on the back side and all will be good. I don't mind a tiny amount of mojo on the back for this amazing beauty of an instrument.
Anyway, enough of the boring backstory - here are a boatload of pics:
Before cleaning:
After cleaning pics:
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I am glad you saw this, I would have been tempted to do something I would regret!
Which GC was this? Bridgeton or Crestwood often get more cool stuff than Fairview Heights.
