Dave has been
very, very diplomatic in his judgement of SBs in this thread - growing mild with age, huh?
Actually, within the SB family, the SB-400 is the best one, followed by the SB-450, followed by the SB-300 - and with the SB 350 coming in last.
Those Melody Maker pups have a very rich full frequency sound - single coil "halo" in the upper frequencies/harmonics, yet not anemic at all in the bass department. If a Ric sound that is not just "clank!' and a Jazz Bass sound make you happy, you won't be disappointed with an SB-400. I have so far only seen cherry and walnut SB-300s and -400s, but it was finish everytime, the wood of the first generation SBs is almost white and shines through as the fin wears off. Might very well be alder, it is kind of soft too.