"Crescent" ebay p bass de-fretting

[Spambusta]

well i got this bass years ago for like 60 bucks on ebay, played it once and mom surprised me with a fender pbass that her bassist coworker had lying around needing a new home

long story short, years unplayed strung in drummers basement

so this is the neck...its a little bowed i think but im not sure

so desperate times call for desperate meaures
commence long waiting...

frets off, filled with wood filler...I was going to do thin strips of scrap wood, but i dont think i'm getting this neck straight completely so wood filler won't exactly make or break this, i will be staining the whole fingerboard darker to help hide the filler, and doing a nice tru oil finish to practice.

not too bad without the strings on it, hopefully a few more nights under the weight will do the trick


The old finish was quite beat up, so i took the beast mode belt sander to her, going to try to do a burst finish with oil pants


Rounding done so far with a round file and 80-grit

I got home from work tonight and levelled out the fretboard, tested some of the stain on the top part and it seemed to hide the lines pretty well, so hopefully it won't look too bad no pics of that yet, tomorrow hopefully gonna finish up the body then start paintin!

[Spambusta]

whoops, the wood filler should be after the neck pic, mah bad

[gunlak]

isn't there a truss rod on the neck? you wouldn't have to do the weights thing.

[ibateur]

If the action was that high, I'd say the truss rod no worky. OR the string height screws are at max. Maybe previous owner was a "little people" and played it as an upright.

[Spambusta]

haha i bought it new off ebay, thats how cheap it was, and the neck was still bowed after maxing the truss rod, it'll be straight enough to bum around on and see if i like the whole fretless thing though

[ibateur]

Dude, the truss rod adjustment is typically not an instant change. Give the wood time to adjust to the rod before doing something extreme.

[Spambusta]

this was over the last week or so haha not all at once, the truss rod didn't have much more to go though

also, my apologies mods

[Spambusta]

Finally got my tru-oil in the mail, so i got some finishing done!









to do this, i oiled up the fretboard, then the body, and sanded each with 400 grit while it was still wet, went over each twice with the 400, then the same process for 1000, and 2000 grits. I cut the tru-oil with some mineral spirits beforehand. The oil sanding really helped fill some of the grain in with the paste-like residue it creates, so be sure to work that in if you're using this method! After the final sanding with 2000 i applied a generous coat and smoothed it around with my hands (make sure they're clean first) to not only apply the first "gloss" coat, but to feel for any rough spots.

While the wood that this body is made of may not be showroom quality, i wanted to get some practice doing this kind of finish, as i want to do my 6 string this way. It does have some nice grain patterns that the tru-oil really brought out, however, and the fretboard's grain is beautiful.

Side note- not sure what's up with that full fretboard pic by the nut, maybe lighting issues from the vice?

[Pilgrim]

Just scanning this thread, I'm not sure you will end up with a playable instrument. You certainly have managed to destroy any resale value the instrument had.

[Spambusta]

I went into this knowing that full well. The instrument really didn't have any resale value to begin with, and definitely wasn't exactly playable. The goal isn't to create a masterpiece, but just to get some practice (mainly with the tru oil) and maybe end up with a fretless bass to fool around on, as i've never played one.

[Pilgrim]

OK, if you went into it with your eyes open, then you have little to lose. Just please, don't ever use the words "bass" and "belt sander" in the same post again. Scary.

Tru-Oil is easy stuff - just follow the directions. The key to doing nice finish work is surface prep and more prep. The surface is never better than what's under it.