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In exchange for some work I have taken onboard a 1981 bass which....has seen better days.... From 1977 to 1986, the Matsumoku factory (actually part of a larger complex, Singer I think) produced the best instruments Aria Pro II ever put out. The RSB-600 is a relative of the more commonly recognised SB-1000 bass played by John Taylor of Duran Duran, briefly by Cliff Burton (bigger backstory here), Trevor Horn and numerous other bassists of the era. Like the "big brother" SB-1000 this bass is a 7-piece laminated neck-through design with Oak wings. According to the catalogues, the neck consists of Maple and Mahogany although I highly suspect that it is actually Walnut. Cosmetically the RSB basses were identical to the SB basses but with a 4-in-line headstock as opposed to the 2+2 Batwing or "open book" shape. The bridge on the SB-1000 was brass whereas all other models used a cast Zinc alloy. Unlike the MB-1 16-pole ceramic pickup of the SB-1000, the RSB-600 has a single AlNiCo pole MB-II. Internally both of these pickups were identical in that they consisted of two interlocking plastic bobbins, wound, loaded with slug/mags or poles and then epoxy cast in a thermoformed case. Interestingly, despite using the same full-width bobbins as the MB-1, the MB-II was only loaded with four poles corresponding to two strings per bobbin. Essentially a P-Bass sensing pattern with full width Jazz-size winds! We join our hero as I received her from Japan. Yes. Covered in bright blue paint. Very very very bright blue paint that we will call "Tepco Blue".
