The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

I stumbled on this 1983 Pro II SB and decided to pull the trigger. It's really a great instrument, I'm hoping to get more information about it.

By all accounts, it's a 1983 SB-R60 "Black and Gold" but, it has a brass bridge instead of the black and gold die cast bridge. Did the factory install brass bridges on black SB-R60s in 1983 or did someone install it custom?

Serial number = 3030005 - Brass nut measures 41.5mm - Single MB-II passive pickup - Neck through oversized dot inlays - Black with gold "Pro II" tuners, brass truss rod cover and a black control cover.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EbSc5F ... p=drivesdk

It could be an SB-B/G-1 that someone took the black electroplating off the bridge. Is there anything on the truss cover? These don't come around that often. I had a CSB-B/G for a number of years but now it lives in California and the new owner loves it.

http://www.matsumoku.org/cm_models/2021 ... ld-series/

Nothing on the truss rod cover. It's just brass.

Are there any measurements on the bridge that would confirm it's the diecast bridge with the paint removed?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mi_SNf ... p=drivesdk

Sure looks to be an SB-B/G-I.

You can restore the bridge to it's original black and gold. I did a black bridge on a Vibracell the ID10T sanded the electroplating off of it using hi-temp black enamel. After it cured overnight I baked it at about 300° for about an hour to harden it. Just make sure you have good ground on the underside of the bridge, where the intonation screws go through the bridge and where the strings go through the bridge. The fool tried to tell me he "aged" the bridge. Wrong, the moron sanded all the way down to the copper underplating.

I'm pretty sure it's the same as my CSB-B/G. The bridge base was black and all the rest was gold/brass. Just checked and the truss cover on mine was also brass-ish aluminum and had a brass nut.

Thanks for the info. The bridge is really what's throwing me off. Everything else tells me it's a BNG.

Pretty sure that bridge body was black to start with. Methinks it suffered a previous owner's Toopid attack . Meth causes Drain Bamage.

Easy enough to restore to it's former glory. A little hi-temp black enamel, an hour in a 300° oven, a little hidden sanding on the bridge holes to make sure the strings are grounded, a little Scratch Doctor on a on a damp drill buffing pad for the finish and she'll look brand new.

Mystery solved! Turns out someone painted the die cast bridge gold. I'm guessing they tried to make it look like Cliff's SB1000 that had a brass bridge (though that Bass had regular dot inlays and the BB selector knob).

Thanks for the help!