Now, the youngsters could easily look in a frown at me and other "old guys" as we publicly ask ourselves whether Yamaha have gone wacko or not. Not that they have done something that weird that we are left speechless and after coming back to our senses questions start pouring in... It's just one of the new bass guitar models they've recently released, namely the RBX4 A2.


First of all, we're speaking a most unusual bass guitar as the RBX4 A2 is a damn light guitar; unlike other serious basses that weight in quite a lot, this one weights in quite a little. As Yamaha themselves described, we're facing a new resonant technology, Alternative Internal Resonance by its name. It presupposes that the core of the guitar's body is made from a very light material or even light wood but covered with an outer layer of relatively thick and very hard wood.

Some "AIR" tubes pass through the body of the bass guitar from the bridge to the other side and conduct the resonance the moment the strings are plucked. The outer hard wood shell resonates and creates a synchronous vibe that spreads evenly throughout the body of the instrument, the soft, light core included. The rest is happening like in any electrical guitar. Well, this tech seems feasible and Yamaha claim these guitars really sound good. We'll see about that too some time later.

Coming back to the "Yamaha gone wacko" issue, is the finish and overall look of the RBX4 A2: damn it looks like those crappy Guitar Hero or Rock Band controllers! The white and grey finish imitates the successful iPod shuffle decorations but the plastic-like look is indeed a very sinister reminder of those dreaded crap. I really don't want to be mean, but a company with Yamaha's reputation and history making such moves towards the "cheap plastic consumerism" (especially as we're speaking one of the world's largest musical instruments manufacturer) could make some fans really sad.

Now I just hope that Yamaha won't keep on walking on this LED-lit buttons and plastic-look instruments way...because it would be a real shame. Really.

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