G&L SB-1 Restore Project

[DLaunder]

Hi guys. I trust this is posted in the correct thread. If not I'm sure the moderator will set me straight...I got this bass as a gift from my folks in 1987 when I graduated HS.

After some years and a few new basses I sold it to my brother-in-law, who decided to refinish it. After seeing what it had become I decided to buy it back and refinished it as best I could to make it presentable and playable again.

This past fall I decided to restore it, so I found a local guy and fellow Talk Bass blogger - dinkbass - and we started talking about what I wanted it to be. I figured I'd post our progress here for enjoyment by all.

 

[DLaunder]

The neck was in good condition, but was dirty from years of playing, and had a few bumps and bruises.

When I refinished it back in the 90s to the black color I tried to polish the neck. Not knowing what I was doing at the time caused some damage that you can see in the middle color sample picture.

The headstock was the pre-lawsuite design

Mark filled in all the dings and dents and cleaned up the neck

 

[DLaunder]

The body was in rough shape with a bunch or chips and a flat spot where I dropped it when my strap button broke.

Mark Started by stripping the body down.

Then sanding and filling all holes. The make shift pick guard I made had a different hole pattern than the original pick guard.

Next Step: repair the "doink" on the bottom...

 

[DLaunder]

Good news, bad news, and more good news-

good news is, Mark fixed the doink on the lower edge where it looks like the bass was dropped- got the body sanded, filled all the holes, filled some gouges, and got it into it's first coat of primer

Bad news, when Mark got it in primer, a little stress fracture at the neck pocket made it's self known

more good news- Mark plays music with a guy who repairs guitars. He told him to blow out the crack, squeeze some glue or hyde glue in there, and not to worry about it.

So from here on out, it's block sand the body, fill any dings, divots, sanding scratches etc. with a nitro putty, spray it in another coat of primer, block it again, and if happy with the body at that point, shoot it in paint. If it's not ready for paint, It keeps getting primer coats, then block sanding them down until the body is perfectly straight and ready for paint. The primer isn't thick because he sprays a coat and block sand 98% of it back off. The last coat gets sanded less right before paint, so essentially in the end, there's really only one thin coat of primer under a thin coat of paint.

 

[DLaunder]

Mark sent these to me over this past weekend and I'm super pleased with how the paint job looks!

I'm getting together with him on Thursday to do the final assembly.

 

[DLaunder]

And finally today I picked up the finished product...

I highly recommend Mark for his work. If you need a full refinish or just a mini makeover PM me and I'll put you in touch with him.

 

[waynobass]

Nice. What color is that exactly?

 

[cableguy]

NIce, older G&L's are sweet basses. I have a 81 L-1000 that has yet to be dethroned as my main bass even though I keep trying new ones every now and then. Yours looks awesome with the new paint job.

 

[DLaunder]

Nice. What color is that exactly?

Sonic Blue

 

[dinkbass]

hey all- thought I'd share my experience briefly with you here. First off, if any of you ever have the opportunity to do business with Don, or just hang out, he's a great guy!! He was extremely patient, and never asked when I was gong to finish his guitar...which was appreciated, as it's not my main gig. You see, I restore (or "preserve") 1950-1955 VW Busses for a living. Mostly what I do is take busses that are largely original, but have some rot or bad repairs from years past, and make it so they look original and untouched. For example I'll take a bus that the top half is still original paint, but the bottom had been repaired (usually poorly) sometime in the past, and repainted.

I'll fix the lower areas properly, and repaint to match the existing original paint, giving it the appearance of never being repaired. Not an easy task....

But to get back to the guitars!! I play music, and like to use my skills towards the restoration of other items that I have interest in (guitars, old bikes...etc) so I'll do a guitar here and there when I have time. Which is hardly ever....

(76 lefty Mustang Bass refin in Dakota red lacquer)

thank you again Don for being so patient! Great guy, and a great bass....I've got a new appreciation for G&L's. The quality of that bass is something you don't come along much these days in the landscape of mass production.

If anyone has any questions regarding the process used in the refinishing of the G&L, from the refinishing fo the body, to fixing dings on the neck, to refinishing the neck plate and bridge in crinkly black paint--drop me a pm, I'd be happy to help-

--mark

 

[pnts]

Good work on both!