I just came across this meme and could think of only one person, our very own @Whying_Dutchman . 
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Hahaha!
I can confirm that it smells … but not like chicken. It’s not so much holding it wrong though, well, it kind of is. It’s just that you should look at your soldering iron when you grab it 
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Finally got my original bass back, a BB300 bought at a local shop back in 1995. It’s made in Taiwan on the 3rd of Feb, 1988.
It’s been had it’s fair share of falls and beatings so it’s definitely showing it’s age but is still fully functional.
I’m pretty sure the tuning machines were upgraded before me but the screws were too long and they’ve poked out the front surface.
Everything is a bit untidy, the body especially and the pickups are rusty. I’ll start polishing them and see how they come up.
A repaint of the body is obvious, all the many dings on it are going to make sanding interesting.
The neck finish is failing too but aside from a few dings it seems to be functionally okay. The back definitely needs to be repaired but I don’t want to sand the headstock face and destroy the logo.
The fretboard needs some attention but isn’t in the worst shape.
I’m stoked that the original knobs are still in good shape, they can be hard to find.
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The BB300 is such a nice beginner bass. I still have mine. I just threw flats on it a few weeks ago. They’re built like tanks.
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I have found Yamaha’s Taiwan-made instruments super high quality. Like somewhere between the already great Indonesia-made instruments and MIJ. That factory was good.
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I am not sure why but some of my basses, usually the cheaper ones and possibly ones I have played with, have this issue where both pots can’t be on full at the same time, one has to be at 90%. I don’t know if this is usual or a feature.
They also don’t really seem to blend but are either on or off.
I am thinking that since this is the case I will solve the problem by just putting in on/off switches and forgetting about trying to blend them.
Interested in any thoughts.
I will likely do it on this one:
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I think that you’re doing it right; what ya got and what ya want. Perfect
Not a real project but a minor improvement.
I love my purple Obass but there has always been a small problem in that the string spacing is a bit too much for me to play comfortably and it has always been a little annoying.
It finally occurred to me that I have a spare saddle/bridge sitting in my parts box .
Now I didn’t want to replace the whole thing but I measured the spacing on the barrels and it was a lot narrower and more standard so I just unscrewed and replaced them on the stock bridge, measured the intonation and height as I went.
Now I have an intonated, low action with comfortably spaced strings on my semi-Gucci bass, chicken dinner for me!
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Here’s a nice example for you restoration freaks.
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This is mostly reproduced from another thread,go to the end for some comments about the wiring I found, it is a bit puzzling
I have an Ibanez bass my guitarist asked me to look at, he got it in the 80s sometime when he was a new player, second hand for about $400 dollarydoos which was a fortune back then.
It has been sitting in a cupboard for decades as he has a Stringray.
I don’t even know what the conversion to freedom dollars was then but today would be $700 without factoring in 30+ years or inflation and cost of living (probably double?).
I had a play with it yesterday, very briefly and it has an earthing issue at least, I may end up putting in a new jack and he said it is ok to replace the pots if required.
He told me he fought off a stage invader once with it and ended up beating the guy around the head and neck with it. He was playing at pubs so a very believable story
Now to present in all it’s pornographic glory.
I have never seen one like it and I am sure you will agree it has a place here
Original case
In bed
The inlay here looks deep in person
A you can see it has had a life of use.
Look at the curves on the body and the headstock, the inlaid eagle pickguard and the fret markers.
I have to admit I more than drooled a little over this when I saw it.
I told him he should not try to restore it but even keep the rusty bridge and screws, this is a thing of beauty
New bit:
I opened it today and had a look inside.
A big issue is that there is a strong ground hum which I though would be easily solved, I am not sure that is the whole issue.
Inside is interesting, it looks like a standard JBass cavity with the exception that there is a metal plate attached to the bottom, all the ground wires are soldered to this with a single wire going to the jack ground- there are no ground wires attached to the pots, I don’t understand this.
In addition the tone pot has no wires attached but does have a green capacitor (presumably a 47uf) going from the left hand/output lug to the hot jack input and joining the pot hot wires.
The pot hot wires are wired as expected.
I do not know if this is original wiring but the soldering does look neat, it is possible someone has done surgery at some point.
The volume pots do lower the volume however.
I was able to get some notes out of it and somehow reduce the noise occasionally.
I am thinking a re-wire with standard jazz set up and new pots might do the trick-I am interested in any thoughts.
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Here’s my project bass - a Yamaha RBX 264. Needs a cleanup, new strings and a least the tone pot replaced. Plays fine otherwise though it has the deadest rounds on it I’ve ever heard. Any tips on removing old decals/stickers?
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Try isopropanol first. Soak it really wet (if possible), wait, remove.
Or apply heat with a hot air gun … VERY CAREFULLY!!! Always feel the air stream every few seconds. If your hand hurts, it’s too much!
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Thanks! I give that a shot.
Oh I love that headstock. the upper horn is also epic. Nice!!!
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You can’t have it!! 
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Awesome Yammy, @Bassic.
How old is it? Is the finish poly or nitro? If it’s nitro, the isopropanol may dull it.
Sometimes they use the control plate to ground the pots (from the jack). I hate this and prefer an explicit wire to the pots too.
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That seems to be what they have done.
I don’t understand what they have done with the tone pot.
There is no input from the volume pots, the capacitor goes from the centre hand lug on the pot to the jack hot and there is no separate ground.
I guess that the capacitor bleeds treble from the output(??) but I don’t understand how that would work.
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This is the same tone circuit as usual since the hot signal goes to the cap via the volume pots through the jack terminal. The tone circuit in a bass is a basic RC filter where the resistor controls both the amount of signal that flows through it and gets shunted to ground, and also affects the cutoff frequency (along with the cap value).
Which order the resistor and cap are in doesn’t really matter in this specific case since audio is an AC signal. AC is weird that way
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Thanks mate, I guess the pot is being grounded via the control plate?
With that in mind I think I will look at the bridge tonight and see if that is properly grounded.
There is a horrible howl coming from somewhere.
I will definitely be replacing the crunchy pots tho.
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