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Cheesy project bass- what is this thing?

#24
Engle said:
Just checked and yes it is reversed.
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When I made my Teiscobird (I) I wired it like my Del Rey (reversed: just left & right tone-pot tabs reversed) ) - it got me thinking about what we consider a "tone" knob; especially on an electric bass.., wouldn't "full up" be more appropriate? Like, "more bass"? I actually think it makes more sense/is more logical than what we've become familiar with.

upload_2022-5-14_18-25-27.jpeg
 
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#26
scuzzy said:
As a fellow tinkerer, a lot of people don't understand the drive to just "do". Is it cost effective? Hell no. Will it be worth anything? Not really. But it will be different and I'll have a lot of fun doing it.

I applaud and cheer you on. Make it cool!
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I agree in general - especially being a chronic maker. But referring to "...not really" - once you treat this involvement like art (openly tapping hands-on into creativity) - you are gifted the keys to create/recreate/refurbish/resurrect a frog into a prince. One that looks good, but plays/sounds good! And you can do it cheaply/DIY. Plus, as you know there is a current trend toward short-scale basses... :bassist:
 
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#27
JIO said:
Very interesting stepped neck pocket - not a common method, especially on a '60 MIJ ss. No tr isn't that uncommon, especially if from the early '60s. And I wonder what the two severed screws on the back of the hs were for. Can you assess if it's the original finish on the body & neck? And speaking of neck - how is it? (as in, is it relatively straight?) That's the one thing I always look at first when considering an instrument like that. The frets look good - no notable wear. Many of these guitars/basses had metal pg's - I scanned my reference book and unfortunately didn't see anything similar. Could have come out of any factory then and been badged with any name. The question of it being refinished stems from it having no indication of a hs name. If a decal that was removed there should be a ghost of it, and there are no holes if it was a screwed-on plate. And the string-tree (a strap-peg with a washer?) is definitely not original. Subbed! :thumbsup:
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Definitely a Kent bass and the severed screws are from the 'MADE JAPAN' badge...:thumbsup:
image.jpeg
 
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#29
JIO said:
When I made my Teiscobird (I) I wired it like my Del Rey (reversed: just left & right tone-pot tabs reversed) ) - it got me thinking about what we consider a "tone" knob; especially on an electric bass.., wouldn't "full up" be more appropriate? Like, "more bass"? I actually think it makes more sense/is more logical than what we've become familiar with.

View attachment 4691114
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My GK has the treble controls on the left and I can deal with it.

As long as the taper works on the pot. Kinda hard to tell when tapping it with a screwdriver. There’s a resistor in there too.
 
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#34
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#35
arbiterusa said:
I think that fretboard may be Brazilian. It’s gorgeous.
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Many of the old Japanese guitars I’ve worked on had beautiful fingerboards. I don’t know if it’s Brazilian rosewood, though.

Check out the fingerboard on this guitar I rescued recently:
8836ED3F-28C9-4B66-9EC1-C14F5035686F.jpeg


One of my favourite parts of getting an old instrument like these is cleaning and oiling the fingerboard to uncover that hidden beauty.

This bass fingerboard was covered with nasty finger gunk, so did a scrub with 99% isopropyl and followed up with Dunlop “conditioner” (seems like lemon oil to me). This is halfway through the clean:
DCA0BAC8-C893-4666-BE60-07FD42788F82.jpeg
 
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#37
Andy Marshman said:
Yes to the Kent brand. Back in the day us kids could only afford Sears Silvertone guitars or Kent models. To my untrained ears they all sounded the same. I would have picked up that yard sale bass too. $30 - perfect. I would try to get it working without using any modern day parts. Great nostalgia piece.
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Yup the guitars in the Sears catalog!
I always use as much as I can from my parts drawer, but chances are it will get new tuners. I might go with a more modern bridge, but it will get a bridge cover.
 
#40
Engle said:
View attachment 4691099 View attachment 4691100 View attachment 4691101 View attachment 4691102
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If we remove the non-polepiece coil from the pickup, remove the green tape, and add the gold strip back over the pole-pieces, what we are left with is very like the original early sixties "gold foil"pickup, which basically was a kit:
the gold strip mounted over the poles, which were threaded into a nonmetallic (probably aluminum) receiver, which slipped inside the wire bobbin. And beneath all that and adjacent one another, were two magnets. Easiest pickup to dis- and re-assemble I've ever seen. I would try to save it if I could.

Here is a bit more info.

Teisco Gold Foil repair — Schuyler Dean Pickups
 
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