I found this in the classified ads:
Of course, the guy is asking about USD 1350 for it, which I don’t have, but before I see how far he might come my way, I wanted to see if any of you had any experience with this bass, or heard anything more about it. Or what reasonable prices were…
Thanks!
I don’t know anything about fretless basses but the price sounds a little on the high side for a TRB 5 to me. That said, it’s beautiful! Probably plays like a dream too.
I love Yamahas, and love playing fretless, and that one looks like a beauty. It does seem a bit high priced though.
Looks bad ass. Picture makes it look orange, but it’s probably just a stain color ., but close.
Yeah, price seems kind of hard to swallow, and not sure even what a good price would be, but I always like throwing out numbers and see if they take. I would shoot for half that. In these times, being a buyers market, you never know.
I’m thinking about $1k-$1100 would be reasonable if it’s in good shape, looking at others.
That said there’s new basses I would rather have in that price range.
Yeah, I guess it is not that orange-y IRL 
There aren’t too many of those on the market… I had a hard time finding some “references”. This is either because people like to hold on to them, or because there weren’t so many made!?!
For fretless basses? Which ones? I know there are some killer fretless Ibbys out there…
Oh no not fretless, I have no interest in fretless. I 
frets 
I didn’t know/expect fretless to be that much more expensive!?
So far I imagined them being easier to build because well… you don’t have to build frets into the neck.
Anyone care to help me out of my ignorance regarding fretless basses?
My guess is that they are a bit more expensive (on average) because they have a smaller market and thus fewer numbers are produced.
The one I am looking at is about 20-25 years old (my estimate) and was from the top of the line in the Yamaha product range back then (high quality materials, top-notch Japanese engineering/craftsmanship etc). But, there are certainly other factors that dictate prices… you could ask why Fenders are so expensive, for instance… 
And, yes, I am aware that you can get much less expensive fretless basses, which are still quite good to very good, e.g., from Ibanez or even from Harley Benton.
Does the fretboard need to be superior since there are no frets to note the strings? Just a guess
Well, there’s indeed not many of those on the market. Found one on Reverb if you don’t mind blue 
Might be a more recent model though…
There’s no question that the TRB’s are great basses (much like your TRB II).
I think it’s not the exact model. I don’t know the differences but theres also a TRP-5 PII on sale and that one is more expensive: https://reverb.com/item/33536200-yamaha-trb5pii
I only paid $450 for my Ibanez 5 sting fretless. A fretted version is not that much difference in price, so I don’t think just being fretless makes the price go through the roof.
I don’t believe there is anything “superior” in the construction of a fretless (I could be mistaken), it just requires a different type of playing to play one.
I wouldn’t think that there is a difference…
Thanks, @Krescht - that gives another price point as reference. No, I don’t think it is a newer model - they weren’t made anymore after ca 1998
Yes, this is a more recent model and a fretted bass… that is the one I have (well, that model, not the bass in the picture 
)
Interesting to see what the asking price is… I did NOT pay that much for mine (guess I was lucky!).
Well, it’s got a photo with the model and serial number: TRB-5IIF.
Ah, yes, OK… I didn’t look too closely! Then it is a newer model (early 2000s or so). The older ones have a “cutaway” (or a shallower body) on the side away from the G string (if that makes any sense - see the photo in my original post - you can see what almost looks like a fracture going away from the neck pickup).
Well… depending on how long that thing is already on there the price might be overshot. There’s one offer on it and 7 observe the item so I guess no one wants to pay that much for it. Especially since it’s not in mint condition
Item description:
You probably still made a good deal when someone tries this as starting price. In my local ebay small ads section there’s a fretted one for 1500€ (~1670$).
Back to the actual topic you created: From what I’ve seen while looking for similiar models I think 1350$ (~1250€) is an acceptable price. Although hearing your talk in here and reading the descriptions on it I personally would be trying to find a model that is still continued and feels good to me because it seems to me a certain percentage of the price is due to availability of the model. You know… supply/demand stuff 
I also noticed this one was owned by Leland Skar and sold for 2000$ - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-TRB-5P-5-String-Fretless-Bass-Guitar-Japan-Owned-by-Leland-Sklar-38836/184174048329 which seems like a bargain to me after looking him up on wikipedia.
Just my two cents after looking around a little bit on market places which you could certainly do yourself and I didn’t go into much detail. Thought you might be interested in my perspective anyway.
$ = USD
