Major Overhaul

[Reuben]

Hi everybody,

I have an old Gibson Grabber which has been heavily modified several times. It has 2 DiMarzio J-bass pickups in a slightly wider spread than the usual J setup. It plays like a truck, but sounds huge like nothing else. I can't even describe it.

It's in major need of total overhaul: complete refretting, new custom pickguard, bridge needs total replacement (there's coins under the thoroughly rusted bridge pieces), rewiring... I'm primarily an URB player and don't know who is good to work with on this. I need someone who will do a lot of custom work and not charge a mega-fortune. I'm not in a rush, cause I have a Stingray to gig on, but I love this bass and have a lot of history with it, so all advice is appreciated. I live in NYC, by the way.

Thanks!

[SherpaKahn]

I'm also in NYC...have you considered taking it in to one of the luthiers/shops mentioned in this thread? BASS SAFARI in NYC?
They could probably give you a quote for service.
I may need to get a fret leveling done, myself, so I'm curious how much one would cost. I do my own setups and repairs if it's nothing more than adjustment and soldering, but if you want I'd be glad to at least look at it and figure out how much work you'll probably need done. Also, unless the frets are extremely worn out, you can probably have them re-crowned and leveled instead of replaced. Last I heard, re-fretting ran something like $15-30 per fret! Keep in touch.

-Stephen