Deccabird - something borrowed, something blue?

Continued from Danelectro Coral Deluxe Bass project You can check this thread for some preliminary pics and info.

That was fast! - this 'project' 60's Decca body was supposed to arrive next Thursday but was waiting for me yesterday when I got home. Like my Teiscobirds, I will be redefining it from its MIJ short-scale origins into a full-scale bass. The 34" scale bridge saddles will be at where the string-stop is on this bridge. The upper horn is not as close to the 12th fret as my '65 Del Rey so there is a chance of some neck dive. The Teiscobird isn't exactly at the 12th fret either but it balances well w/no dive. The 1-1/4" thick body 'as is' weighs 4lbs/10oz and the neck w/o tuners is 1lb/14oz. Seems like it could come in around 8lbs give or take. The bodies horns work nicely with the T-bird hs 'hook' and it looks purposeful/cohesive/deliberate. I have some vintage-flavored knobs that look pretty much like the ones it came with originally.

As I knew looking at the sellers pics, the front had been sprayed black over the tobacco-burst finish. (for whatever reason) I used a gold marker to highlite the pg shape for cloning. I will be installing a Hipshot KA bridge, same as I used on my Teiscobirds.

Like my past Deccazuki short scale project, this Decca body is also ply. Once the finish is stripped off, I'll see what it looks like for a possible trans-finish. (or not) Most likely it will sport on of my lo-fi glitter-burst finishes to stay in retro-character.

I left the edges of the Deccazuki exposed which looked cool, and finished the top and back. We'll see...

Unusual for 60's basses in general, a 6 bolt neck plate! The lower 'peak' is a nice detail.

Moulded control plate is nicely worn but needs a bit of mallet work to flatten its dented surface. It is light-weight material and so it shouldn't be too difficult. Cool shape and yes, looks like a squashed Nike Swoosh with a nose and eyes.

This is something I've never seen - a strange tiny post/screw pu surround attachment. In general all the screws are tiny - the bridge had 7 small thin screws and the pg screws are 1/2 the size of a current standard pg screw.

Attempted to unscrew the tiny bolt and it snapped due to it being frozen. The shaft's are threaded, but when the pg is in place none of them touch anything. ? The pu's would be attached at the 2 surround holes and also wouldn't touch these odd shafts. No clue.

Pick-guard traced and determined where the Guild RI Darkstar will sit - looks like it was meant to be positioned there. It's near where the original bridge pu rout is but will require some extra routing at the top side. One pu, two controls - rock&roll.

 

Routed for the Epi neck, opened up the bridge pu cavity for the Guild DarkStar, stripped the finish (with a heat-gun), filled extraneous holes & dings, and shot white primer nice and thick. (for much sand-back)

 

Sanded the primer, filled the grain with Bondo, and re-sanded for the next coat of primer. Once the grain and holes/dings are flat - I use the primer to coat it evenly and then sand with a flat block to level it off. I have some Reranch Pelham Blue lacquer that I will use on this one. As the chrome control cover will look worn, I think I'll do an aged finish on the body, similar to the Coral but not as extreme. I want to do an amber glaze that will give the PB that green tint. Not sure what material would be good for the pg, but maybe the aged pearl w/vintage (greenish) tint would compliment the amber'd PB. The Epi neck is in good condition so may leave it as-is. (dark brown)

 

I was thinking about now having done quite a few 'rescue' basses. I think it all stems from my first bicycle. My dad assembled it from parts - not a new store-bought bike. I don't think I knew any better - it's not like I wanted a store-bought bike. Later as I got older I would see bikes in stores and wish I could own it.
One in particular was this one -

The Bowden Spacelander. I saw a few of them (red/white/black) one Saturday afternoon helping my mom shop in a department store and thought they were sooo cool! Still think they're cool! (and expen$ive as collectors items) I have a nice Die-cast model of one in red. Anyway, I guess I got the fix-up bug from my dad - we never had repair-men in our house. He fixed whatever needed fixing, and usually by mending a broken part if it was possible. I'm the same way. So this orphaned 50+ yr old Decca will live again and rock another day!

 

More primer coats, more sanding - repeat until smooth. Nice sunny day for curing. Ordered all parts; Hipshot KA bridge (chrome), Goth tuners (chrome), 2 CTS 500k pots, D'Addario EXL 160 med [50-105] strings, mint pearl pg blank and a Guild DarkStar Bi-Sonic pu.

 

Pelham blue (Reranch) - 3 coats and it's lookin good. Some curing time, wet sanding and on to adding an amber patina and a bit of subtle distressing.

 

That's the plan!

 

Plywood gets no love but it always make me think of the multi-lam maple necks that appeared on many low-end 60's Japanese guitars/basses which re-emerged later on the high-end Kubicki Ex-Factor. Not to mention all the 'hippy sandwich' guitars and basses (especially basses) made of multi-ply exotic wood. Wood is wood and multi-ply is another way of saying lamination. (ply/laminate wood) So is an Alembic any less a good bass because it's ply-wood? (exotic wood or not, it's all laminated) Judging from the price they go for I'd say no. I concede that it 'looks' more pretty but in the wood-is-wood dept it just depends on how far down the tone-wood rabbit hole you want to burrow. And I'm not dissing that concept - I'm a firm believer that it makes a difference. I guess what I'm saying is this plywood body is still over 50 yrs old, is made of an accepted guitar wood (mahogany) and we'll see, but I bet it'll sound pretty good.

Bridge and pots arrived - 60's Teisco knobs installed - it looks more pale in this flash pic and is already leaning toward green compared to a modern factory Pelham blue finish. It has more of a silvery blue-green hue. So far so good.

 

Pick-guard material & DS pu arrived yesterday, cut the pg/routed for pu, and a mock-up to assess. Also started some amber staining/glazing of the Pelham blue - "dirtying it up" as my British friend used to say. It needs a bit more of that leaning it toward green. Pelham blue is like Burgundy Mist Metallic - there are many versions.

 

Last mock-up before disassembling and addressing all little things before the final assembly including: some more finish work, drilling a bridge ground channel, wiring it up and setting/intoning bridge saddles. It weighs in at 8lbs flat - a very nice number. It neck dives a little, but a grippy strap mostly addresses it - not bad at all.

 

Thanks Brad! It sounds good unplugged so I'm hoping it will sound good plugged in.

 

This post has got to bump this thread to page 2 already! (but amazingly enough - it didn't!)

So... I messed around with the finish some more, re-golden oak stained and re-satin clear-coated it and now it's ready for assembly! Just to let any distressed basses critics out there know... a distressed/road-worn/relic'd finish is only a finish, like any other finish. Like it/don't like it/love it/hate it - it's up to you. I'm personally attracted to this look as an artist. To me the real thing is beautiful and it's an artistic challenge to assimilate that "look" with my own approach/sensibilities. If you like abstract expressionist painting done in the 40's -50's (some in the 60's) - these artists were looking at the decay/degradation around them, and assimilating it (along with other things) into their work. It's all in the way one sees things. Anyway... I'll post more pics tomorrow, but here's the finished body with pu/control cavity shielding paint.
Looks beat-up, but it's gunna' roar under the hood!

 

Wired up, makes bass-like sounds, some set-up to follow but mostly finished. The Deccabird lives! Start to finish all on page 1! Gotta be a new record! Finish looks more nuanced in person - these pics only allude to its subtleties. Feels nice too - satiny smooth.






Gotta love a 1960's 6-screw neck plate!





Goth tuners - quality, style and excellent function