Pulser bass 400

[copacetic]

Pulser bass 400 by Yamaha. Anybody here familiar with these? A friend of my daughter had one 'in a closet' for some years so I thought to give it a try and...big surprise! apparently from what I can glean from very limited sources these were produced in Japan in the mid to late 70's manufactured by nippon gakki (who were producing other quality instruments at the time and still are) for Yamaha. This particular one is a dead on Fender Precision with a maple neck. The neck profile was between a P and J but was easy to play all up and down. Incredible sustain. I had given up on my maple neck A profile 60's and early 70's Precisions several years ago because I just did not care for that maple board brightness on those (much preferable are the rosewood), but somehow this one came from somewhere else. It's got me thinking. 

[ilan]

Here is some more info on this model and similar P clones in the PB Series:

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/product/guitar/archive/pb400m/index.html

[rahock]

There were a lot of really nice and not too well known things that came out of Yamaha in the 70s. I'm not familiar with that bass but Yamaha was making some first class acoustic guitars during that era . People wouldn't even give them a second look in the music stores because they were Japanese but they were about half the price and twice the quality of just about anything out there. IIRC you would be hard pressed to pick up a Yamaha acoustic with a price tag of over $200 at that time and most people just walked right past them and spent a whole lot more to get a whole lot less from the mainstream brands.
I remember the Yamahas being displayed on the opposite side of the store from Gibsons , Martins etc. and packed in with the Crestwoods, Teiscos etc.
Rick

[ilan]

And then Carlos Santana signed an endorsement deal.

[nofi]

my son had the above model guitar for awhile. he has regretted selling it for the past twenty years.

[Hornisse]

I had both SG-1500 and SG-2000 guitars in the past.  Very nice instruments and neck through body construction.  I'm no guitar player so I basically flipped them for profit.  My favorite was the green SG-1500 though.

[Hornisse]