SO, myself and some fell TBers banded together and attacked an Ebay auction for four EB-3 bodies that had neck issues. We rolled the dice and got a pretty good deal. First, my bass showed up, neck issue was clear, the angle was insanely pitched backward. It was like the equivalent of shimming the heck out of the bottom of a Fender pocket:the strings stay flat against and bent backwards down the neck. But, I wanted to see what I could do to get this project together, so I worked on it anyway (I found a work-around for the neck, you'll see).
So when the EB-3 showed it looked like the standard Cherry basses we all know. I was too excited and started stripping it immediately, but this is the general idea of how it looked at first:
I decided I was going to add an EMG HB in the middle position, so here is the cavity drilled. Bass is covered in citristrip.
Citristrip got the outer poly coat off pretty well, and I had the cavity routed by a friend:
All primed up:
I purchased Re-Ranch Pelham Blue and sprayed it. The spray was way heavy and it sagged, I had to sand most of it off, re-prime, and start again. But, I figured i'd throw a distressed relic pic into the mix:
Much better:
So, after my last refin, I swore I would never wet-sand again. The project previous to this I used Tru-Oil on a walnut stain bass. I didn't want to sand the neck raw because I wanted to keep it is slim as possible, so I left it cherry, but also put 3 coats of the walnut stain I had left over on top of the cherry coat. Darkened it up a little, and made it less red. Here's the final finish, 3 coats of Tru-Oil on the neck smoothed down with #0000 Steel Wool, did the same on the body, but then added another 4th coat of Tru Oil.
Now with parts:
Second thing: remember that crazy neck pitch? I stacked two 1/8" thick pieces of pressboard underneath the bridge to raise it. You can see the bridge is crooked right now. I'm going to take it off, cut some steel to replace the pressboard and re-drill.
So when the EB-3 showed it looked like the standard Cherry basses we all know. I was too excited and started stripping it immediately, but this is the general idea of how it looked at first:
I decided I was going to add an EMG HB in the middle position, so here is the cavity drilled. Bass is covered in citristrip.
Citristrip got the outer poly coat off pretty well, and I had the cavity routed by a friend:
All primed up:
I purchased Re-Ranch Pelham Blue and sprayed it. The spray was way heavy and it sagged, I had to sand most of it off, re-prime, and start again. But, I figured i'd throw a distressed relic pic into the mix:
Much better:
So, after my last refin, I swore I would never wet-sand again. The project previous to this I used Tru-Oil on a walnut stain bass. I didn't want to sand the neck raw because I wanted to keep it is slim as possible, so I left it cherry, but also put 3 coats of the walnut stain I had left over on top of the cherry coat. Darkened it up a little, and made it less red. Here's the final finish, 3 coats of Tru-Oil on the neck smoothed down with #0000 Steel Wool, did the same on the body, but then added another 4th coat of Tru Oil.
Now with parts:
- Epiphone Mudbucker
- EMG HB - Active
- Schaller Tuners
- Schaller Roller Bridge
Second thing: remember that crazy neck pitch? I stacked two 1/8" thick pieces of pressboard underneath the bridge to raise it. You can see the bridge is crooked right now. I'm going to take it off, cut some steel to replace the pressboard and re-drill.
