Hey Guys, I'm debaing getting some work done on my 75 ish era P and was hoping to get a bit of advice or discussion about it! Its gonna be a long post, so thanks in advance if you even read the whole thing.
So, I have a really weird franken P. Seriously has had some drastic mods in its day, but they were covered up. problem is that I love the thing and don't really want to move on; it just "fits" for me... stupid as that sounds.
Basically, it's had a different bridge pickup and bridge (probly a vibrato'd one that needed routing) installed, removed, and filled in (looks terrible once you're in there, plywood, way too much glue, the works. Really ugly, but once its got the hardware in place its not too brutal.
Here's a picture and then a description of what I'm thinking.
If you look closely, you can see where there was at least one other pickup route before the jazz was added, and then if you look less closely, you can see the plywood, gallons of glue, and random different colored section under the bridge. Seriously, this part was butchered.
What I was thinking might be doable is to just get either a piece, or all the way to the back routed down far enough to take out the plywood and such... as in where the square was added. Then have it filled in with a piece of other wood.
So, is this stupidity and going to cost so much more than it could possibly be worth? I'm going to need a fret levelling and thought I'd talk to the person about it when I'm there and see what they thought. I'd like to get it set up to string through the body and the bridge should be replaced in my oppinion, but the poor job of repairing it before is making that next to impossible without some kind of major work. Also, would the whole thing need to be refinished after or could more or less just the bit and maybe a little around it work? Maybe just get a darker wood in a slightly more aesthettically pleasing shape and leave the wood until later to break the costs down for now?
What I'd be getting is:
1) Fret Levelling
2) Block routed out and filled with a piece of not plywood.
3) Part to full refinish
4) String through bridge installed
(I have the bridge, so just the work expense)
5) the unforeseen stuff that'll pop up.
And, my only other options are to tough it out after the fret levelling or sell it and buy something else. I'm not a fan of either, although I guess if costs run up too much its going to be my plywood beauty for a while.
Here it is together so you know its not all bad. I've added a thumbrest and grabbed a pickup cover since, and wouldn't mind getting a bridge cover as well once all is said and done. Maybe drop a mini mosfet booster in there to fill the extra hole left by the Jazz Volume knob and side jack...
