Ibanez Axstar restoration

[Stealth]

Let's hope the new pickups, being overwound, won't be too muddy.
If they do, take an assortment of capacitors and wire one in series with the pickup - that'll kill some of the low end and hopefully just take out the mud. If it fails, try a different one till you get the sound you want.

[Rejected666]

I've already installed and tested the new pups and they're not too muddy; in fact I'm very happy with the tone I'm getting

[Stealth]

You know the rules. No clips, no tone. :P

[Rejected666]

here you go:

http://soundcloud.com/jeroendegendt/sets/axb50-stand-by-me

First one is unaltered, second one is with the tone pot on max.

[Joe Nerve]

that was an awesome transformation. first bass, ugly as sin, new bass... sweet! very well planned.

[Rejected666]

Thank you very much

[Stealth]

Sweeeeeet.

[Eater_of_Birds]

Have to say the orange is looking fine. What a transformation

[Cy_Miles]

subscribed....

I had the pleasure of playing an AxStar in some studio sessions years ago. It was by far the most comfortable bass I have every played. I have a build in my future somewhere that I think will borrow heavily from the AxStar and my 83 Roadstar RB999, another sleak Ibanez.

[Rejected666]

It has taken a long while, but past friday I finally received the final part for the Axstar; the new part for the tuning mechanism which had to be custom made.
But I shouldn't complain too much because it was done completely free


On the right an original one, left the new one.

So now the bass has 4 strings again and is ready to be played.



I've already done a rehearsel with it and I must say it's an absolute pleasure to play!
The light weight and perfect balance make it the most comfortable bass I have ever played, from this day forward this will definitely be my main bass


P.S. My apologies for the crappy pictures, I will put up some better ones tomorrow

[Rejected666]

As promised some nicer pics:


The Axstar in all its glory.


And under blacklight.

[Stealth]

Hoooo boy. That's a mean looking bass. Congrats

[cccy]

sick!

[JohnnyLiBass]

Maybe I missed it, but did you strip it before you repainted it? Sick looking bass man, well done.

[Rejected666]

No, I didn't strip it.
I did some sanding, but not through the existing finish.

And thank you all for the kind words

[saskia strange]

Beautifully done! Nice to see all the step-by-step photos of the restoration - I've got my own Axstar, with that same dingy, cracked, dented black finish, and now I've seen how nice it could look I really want some shiny new paint. And I really want to restring with Neons...