First impression on this bass was the finish and overall look of the instrument, the tobacco sunburst finish looks amazing, the 5 piece 2 tone neck also looks great, and very professional, and the natural no finish back of neck, feels great.
Headstock is stunning with the black finish, and Yamaha 3d logo button.
Standard open gear elephant ear tuners are nice and responsive and seem good enough quality.
The overall build for this price range is outstanding, the only fault I would give it were some of the fret ends were a little sharp, but not a deal breaker. The bridge is a little cheap looking, but I guess Yamaha were trying to keep up that traditional 70's BB look, and since the bass has a string thru body option, the bridge does not need to be high mass, again, this was not a deal breaker.
Despite reading reviews that the neck radius was a little 'chunky' I found it quite the opposite, and very comfortable and playable.
Weight wise, seems fine, a little lighter than a Jazz bass I would say.
Balance is perfect, and hangs off the body in the perfect position with no neck dive whatsoever.
Sound wise, lovely traditional P bass bouncy tone coupled with a gnarly Jazz bass growel, highs, mids and low end for days, nice even tone all across the fret board, and sustain forever.
Features like the 45 degree string thru body design is an amazing idea, and the benefits are obvious in the sustain and tone.
Also the 45 degree mitre screws into the neck leave you wondering why the hell did nobody think this before?
To sum up, this looks, feels and sounds just like a bass should. And I believe would suit any genre or style.
Very very happy with the purchase, and also very happy with Thomanns service, as usual, second to none.
Ps. Came out of the box set up perfectly, with intonation near perfect and with nice low action, just the way I like it. Thanks again to the Thomann team for this.
