For years I have had a dream: take a cheap new bass of ANY brand, Destroy it, then restore it back to new. But thats not all of what my goal is... Tt is to take that bass, and have it look, feel, AND sound better than when I got it.
The Test Subject:
Today, I went craigslist bass-hunting for an in expensive bass that I can do a lot with. After several hours of searching and calling, I came across an ad for a Stagg Warlock bass, in great condition for $75. Gave the person a call, asked if she would take $50 for it. SHE DID! Picked up the bass, it is in great condition. EXCEPT for it smelling like cigarets, pot, and hot woman funk.
Came home, took the parts off, and the neck as well, and cleaned the entire bass. I put some new strings on it, set it up. I thought this bass would sound like crap, like I was throwing a sick cat into a wood chipper. But after a little playing, it did sound better than expected. it sounded more like I was throwing a healthy cat down stairs...
The Goal:
My goal for this bass is to push the limits of what a bass can handle. I dont want to warp, or snap its neck, but I do want to cause as much damage as possible. I have been thinking/talking about what I could do to the bass. For example, drill a random hole/s in to the bass, drop it on concrete, light fireworks on it, light it on fire, cut a piece of wood off the headstock, let a toddler draw on it, OR, when I ride my mountain bike, hit the trails with the bass body dragging along behind me Napoleon Dynamite style.
But after this bass looks like Brittany Spears, (a train wreck), my goal is to fix it up: Re finish it, drop some better electronics into it, (ones that I have had laying around for years), dress the frets, and what ever else I think of. If all goes well, then It will be FAR better looking and sounding than what it is now. But, I am also going to do this with household things. Im not going to spend $0.01 more on it. I have everything to make this happen.
I feel that this whole project would give me knowledge about the limits of a bass, how to set a bass up, and how to restore a bass. Thease are all stuff that I will not do to my $5200 custom. (Just make me cringe thinking about doing that to my Pavel.)
Also, though I have several amazing basses, and this bass will not go to waste. Once this bass is done, I hope to have a bass that I can bring to a club with a Metal band. And not worry about drunken criminal-person stealing my bass.
In this project, I will be giving daily updates with photos of how this bass is doing. This is the bass:
The Test Subject:
Today, I went craigslist bass-hunting for an in expensive bass that I can do a lot with. After several hours of searching and calling, I came across an ad for a Stagg Warlock bass, in great condition for $75. Gave the person a call, asked if she would take $50 for it. SHE DID! Picked up the bass, it is in great condition. EXCEPT for it smelling like cigarets, pot, and hot woman funk.
Came home, took the parts off, and the neck as well, and cleaned the entire bass. I put some new strings on it, set it up. I thought this bass would sound like crap, like I was throwing a sick cat into a wood chipper. But after a little playing, it did sound better than expected. it sounded more like I was throwing a healthy cat down stairs...The Goal:
My goal for this bass is to push the limits of what a bass can handle. I dont want to warp, or snap its neck, but I do want to cause as much damage as possible. I have been thinking/talking about what I could do to the bass. For example, drill a random hole/s in to the bass, drop it on concrete, light fireworks on it, light it on fire, cut a piece of wood off the headstock, let a toddler draw on it, OR, when I ride my mountain bike, hit the trails with the bass body dragging along behind me Napoleon Dynamite style.
But after this bass looks like Brittany Spears, (a train wreck), my goal is to fix it up: Re finish it, drop some better electronics into it, (ones that I have had laying around for years), dress the frets, and what ever else I think of. If all goes well, then It will be FAR better looking and sounding than what it is now. But, I am also going to do this with household things. Im not going to spend $0.01 more on it. I have everything to make this happen.
I feel that this whole project would give me knowledge about the limits of a bass, how to set a bass up, and how to restore a bass. Thease are all stuff that I will not do to my $5200 custom. (Just make me cringe thinking about doing that to my Pavel.)
Also, though I have several amazing basses, and this bass will not go to waste. Once this bass is done, I hope to have a bass that I can bring to a club with a Metal band. And not worry about drunken criminal-person stealing my bass.
In this project, I will be giving daily updates with photos of how this bass is doing. This is the bass:
