TromboneChat

I recently found an older Yamaha dependent bass. It plays well and has a nice sound but it certainly has seen better days. Pretty much all of the lacquer is missing and it has a rusty orange patina which I like but I assume it would devalue the instrument. The slide is so so. It's playable but it's a bit scratchy and there is some wear on the inner tubes. If I had to guess, I would probably value it at around $550. I'm going to list below some of the other things that need to be taken care of. Keep in mind that I have a similar instrument that I would be willing to transplant its parts assuming that they are the same dimensions (which I think they are.)

1. The slide crook is kind of crushed (the endpin got pushed in)
2. There is a small crack in the slide receiver. I assume the only way to fix this would be to replace it.
3. The tuning slide is full of small dents (supposedly one of the previous owners decided it would be a good idea to bite the instrument)
4. The bell is a bit out of whack.
5. I would want to split the triggers.
6. Get a D tuning slide made for the second valve (the existing one is in EB)

I guess another thing to think about is the longetivity of the instrument itself. It has obviously seen some SH*T and I highly doubt it was well taken care of. So what do you think? would it be worth restoring or should I just keep it as a beater.

I think if you got it spruced up, it would be a really solid main axe, but you’d be sinking a good amount into it. If you already like how it plays then i would not worry about a different instrument and just fix that one up. You would also need a good tech to do all that work which may or may not easy to find, i don’t know
If you don’t fix it up, i’ll happily buy it

Sounds like a parts horn. Fixing it up (unless you can do the work yourself) is going to cost more than a functional replacement. Plus, the older Yamahas really weren't that great to begin with.

If this is the Yamaha YBL-611, it's very similar to the YBL-612, which they still have a lot of parts for, if you need them.