Washburn B-70 Rudy Sarzo

Made "86" or "87". 24 fret, Dual Washburn soapbar active pick-ups. Explorer, Thunderbird style body but with sharper points. Hypnotic black and white dartboard urethane finish that does yellow with age but that just adds character. The Rudy Sarzo I own and have played continuosly for the last 18 years is the limited edition model with all black heavy duty hardware (bridge, nut, tuners, knobs, etc...) The body wood is unknown to me but it is a very heavy tonal wood. The neck is set and made of an ebony or like wood and finished black on back. I have only briefly seen the stock model but it is a cheaper lighter model with a bolt on rosewood neck, smaller chrome hardware, and I believe it is not active. Great flight case with custom fit plush interior.

I've played this bass for 18 years in many different bands of different styles of music.(hair,metal,folk,pop,jazz,blues,etc...)and it has always performed perfectly. It was somewhat barky when I first bought it in 1987 but with some adjustment it shaped up to be my favorite. I play it through a Behringer V-amp,Behringer 1500 power amp bridged, and a 6x10 SWR Goliath...amazing. On stage it makes a statement in looks and sound, Low throaty growls all the way (with a nice set of Blue Steel string)to a almost piano brilliance. Darn good slap bass also.

When I bought the bass the action was extremly to high and tight. After dropping the bridge all the way and filing the nut the action was acceptably low enough. Of coarse the pick-ups had to be lowered, neck readjusted, and intonation set. Throughout the years the pick-ups actually lowered themselves beyond a acceptable range, For they were built with rubber pads instead of a spring chasis and the rubber pads compressed. But I clipped springs and mounted them around the fastening screws. The finish is nice and thick but there are pits in places where it looks like there are voids in wood behind the finish. There again character.

As I've said I have played this bass for 18 years live and studio. It is battleship. Big, heavy, somewhat ugly, somewhat striking. It has taken beating, drops, spills, drunks, ceiling fans, etc... The tuners are great. The only complaint I have about the bridge is it does seem to want to rust. About once a year a little tlc with some WD-40 seems to keep the rust at bay. The strap buttons that came with it had to be replaced with strap locks because strap would jump off of the button at times. Overall I wouldn't trade this bass for anything. It's just plain out TOUGH.

I have never had to deal with Washburn

You can't miss this one. It's the one that looks like a Japanese war flag.
1986 or 1987 Washburn B-70 RS - red
24 frets, ebony fingerboard, Alder(?) body, black hardware.
Glue on neck
2 soapbar pickups, active electronics
Hard case with plush lining.

This bass sounds like a fretless. It has a tone that stands out from anything. If you've ever heard Rudy Sarzo's bizarre tone, this is a big contributor to that.

The bottom line is that this bass is absolutely a sound man's nightmare. It never sounds right, no matter what you do. I've had almost every sound man I've worked with ask me to use my Peavey bass instead. I've fought with it for years. I bought it because it played really well and I somehow was able to look past how freaking ugly it is. Another reason I bought it is that it's capable of harmonics everywhere on the neck. It has very good sustain and it's very loud with no dead spots. Put in a fresh battery, tune it up, plug it in and you can run off a version of Portrait of Tracy that will bring tears to your eyes. As a solo instrument it's not bad, but most of us have to make the band sound good too, and this one won't do that.

I'd like to say the tone of this bass is good for x type music, but I can't. It absolutely sounds like nothing else, nor does it seem capable of blending in with the rest of the band, so it's not terribly useful as a working instrument. I will probably use the pickups and hardware for a new bass that I build in the future. If I ever use the bass again I'll pull the frets and put flatwounds on it.

As much as I love the way it plays, the horrible honking sounds have rendered it virtually useless to me. It currently sits stringless in the case in my closet.

As I said, the bass plays incredibly. It is probably salvageable with a change of preamp or speakers, but it frankly isn't worth the trouble to me. It came with a really strange bridge that had various parts rust out over years, and it had a number of sharp edges that were unpleasant for pick playing. It seems to be susceptible to humidity, as I had action problems playing in a band in Dallas. A pothead tech for the band routed the body and sunk the bridge down, fixing the problem, but after moving away from Dallas the wood seemed to go back the way it had been before the work, rendering the bass unplayable. I filled the rout, installed a badass II bridge and stripped the ugly plastic coating off the outside of the body, leaving a rather attractive, well-matched piece of wood. The bass has been fine ever since, even though I have moved back to Dallas, so I'm inclined to blame the tech and not the bass.

I played this bass through high school, music school, playing in a working band for a year and, other than the weird thing where the neck went crazy in Dallas, it's held up to everything I've thrown at it. Granted, it's spent more time in the case as a backup because it sounds so bad, but I can't complain about its durability. It's active, so having a spare battery is a must. The bridge did rust out on me. I think the finish would have lasted forever, it was really thick.

Never dealt with Washburn.

I've been playing for 20 years, I have two other basses. I personally don't like active basses that I've owned or played, and this one is the worst. I had to pass up an American made Charvel bass because I'd spent my money on this one. That's probably my biggest musical regret in life. This thing may not even have parts taht are reusable, but it has a great case, so when I build another bass, I can at least bogart the case.

Mid eighties, Korea I am guessing, possibly japan. 24 frets, 4 string, a whole bunch of controls but mine has an EMG pickup in it now so those are irrelevant. 2 soapbar pickups, active electronics, Not sure of the body, perhaps Alder? Fretboard is ebony or ebonite. Finish is a crazy, black and white dartboard pattern. Very cool. This is the "Signature" series, which features a set neck, as opposed to a bolt-on. Body style is a cross between an explorer and a warlock. Unusual, but well thought out.

The sound is awesome, for certain styles. With the EMG aftermarket pickup and the overdrive toggle switch that comes standard you can stop dairy cows from producing milk county wide. Switch on the overdrive and melt your amp. I run DR strings and it produces a very metallic sound with the EMG pickup in place. You almost don't even need a gutiar - it's very pronounced, perfect for aggressive music, with tons and tons of attack. If it wasn't for the attack, I wouldn't even own it.

Boy, what a letdown. I think the bridge is garbage using some goofy system and the tuning keys are very lame, exposed gear units. I bought it used, but even with lots of fiddling of truss rod and bridge, it is impossible to get rid of fretbuzz, though it isn't too bad. The neck is super wide AND super thick. It is hard to play, and the painted neck makes it even worse. The neck is the opposite of an Ibanez.

The hardware is OK, and unusual for a widl shaped axe, it balances great, and is easy to play upside down or whatever, just liek Rudy Sarzo would do. The paintjob, black/white/black/white, etc... is nice, but the white yellowed easily.

I've been playing on and off for years. I have owned many bass guitars. This is the least favortie one I still own. I don't sell it because of the attack this thing produces, and the look is great, but the playability is bad and the action isn't much better. Some high points and low points with this bass.

If stolen, I would replace with a Warlock. They have better necks (wide but thin as opposed to wide AND thick) and with EMG's could probably sound pretty similar. And you'd still get the wild look.