Hunk-A-Junk Basses Club

[Ostie]

An

Ugly duckling? Not many people would consider NuKitty (my Badtz Maru Bronco was already named Hello Kitty, so that name was taken) "pretty." Unique? Yes. Eye catching? Yes. Pretty? Uhhh...

She started out as a plaid (PLAID!) HB MB-4 stingray clone from the want ads for €35: NBD - Harley Benton MB-4 in plaid

Then, a few weeks later, this thread started: The Hello Kitty Bass Project

One thing led to another, and voilá!
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There was even a book!
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And your real kitty is a tortie!

 

[fretlessman71]

"hunk-a-junk" speaks to me!

a P-lyte: it was listed in the local CL as a de-fret that for some reason 'didn't work out' and the young seller was trying to ditch it for $150. the de-fretted neck was just ok, the body had been stripped and sanded some (prep for a finish the seller never attempted), but: it had new EMGx PJs with the EMG/BTC pre-amp, IIRC. anyway, the kid needed the money, i wanted the electronics and the body, so we had a deal. i took out the hardly used electronics to apply elsewhere and set the body aside after removing the neck. then it hit me: i'll do an epoxy pour and make the neck work for me! i tried, but it was a fail! earlysecond (who has passed, sadly) and the luthiers were all very helpful, but the pour was a bit uneven (deep here, shallow there) and it would take too much work (for me ) to sand off and start all over....

then i tore my rotator cuff. i had gigs, but my mains' (two-octaves) tuning machines were too difficult/painful to reach in order to intonate. i bought an eden fretless neck, shaped the headstock as small as i could, 'swept' the tuners as extremely as i could (to relieve some reach), threw some passive pickups into that unfinished body, and gigged it for months! and, for the first few gigs = the bridge-to-ground wire was external! it embarrassed others, i think, but it got me through the most painful period re: my shoulder, so big whup. i had a button extender on it for a while, and i moved the back strap button up, too, to help with the shoulder condition.

here's some pics:
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i recently disassembled it in order to use the neck on a different ax...but that's my "hunk-a-junk" story, which i'm sticking to, for the time being!

Fantastic! What's with the fingerboard right up by the nut, though?

 

[brushfirewolf]

You want a face only a mother can love? Check out my first spray paint refinish attempt. All the chips, scratches, chunks, and the lacquer bubbles— all intentional. Relic artistry at its absolute finest here folks.

 

[fretlessman71]

You want a face only a mother can love? Check out my first spray paint refinish attempt. All the chips, scratches, chunks, and the lacquer bubbles— all intentional. Relic artistry at its absolute finest here folks.
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Nice! Looking forward to seeing it as a finished product!

 

[brushfirewolf]

Nice! Looking forward to seeing it as a finished product!

Thanks! That makes one of us. LOL

 

[Pauly 4001]

I wouldn't call my beloved Shaftesbury bass a hunk of junk but it sure is cosmetically challenged.
It would have started out like this which is from the Rose Morris factory with nice mahogany wood:

but by the time I came across it it had been repainted with latex house paint, the head stock had been amputated so the bass would fit in a hardshell guitar case and the bridge and tailpiece were incomplete.
Still needs a new nut, repainting and need to find the upper pick guard. My tailpiece solution was pretty funky too I guess: I found a used tailpiece from an Ovation Typhoon and had to bend it to fit. Yikes.
It's still a real fine bass.

 

[bobyoung53]

I don't have a picture here but I bought a 60's EKO Beatle bass for 50 bucks from a soundman that used to hang on his wall. The finish is almost worn off and the neck is sunk into the body where it meets the body but the things sounds really good. It sounds nothing like a Hofner, I think the pickups may be single coil. If you're giving out memberships with fake pictures I'll take one

It's similar to this, the pickguard is missing and the pickups are a little different and this one is in much better shape:

 

[fretlessman71]

I don't have a picture here but I bought a 60's EKO Beatle bass for 50 bucks from a soundman that used to hang on his wall. The finish is almost worn off and the neck is sunk into the body where it meets the body but the things sounds really good. It sounds nothing like a Hofner, I think the pickups may be single coil. If you're giving out memberships with fake pictures I'll take one

It's similar to this, the pickguard is missing and the pickups are a little different and this one is in much better shape:

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What was your soundman doing hanging on his own wall?

 

[PennyroyalWe]

While I think all my basses are beautiful, there’s one that looks a little worse for wear. My squier vintage modified precision bass TB. It had the misfortune of being in my hands one particularly reckless night. I had just returned back to JBER AK after 10 months in Afghanistan, and needless to say my friends and I were ready to make up for all the partying we missed. So we’re have a grand time getting drunk in me and my roommate’s barracks room, and I bumped the headstock on the side table. One of my friends says “whoa, careful. Don’t wanna hurt your guitar!”, and stupidly I say “what? This bass? F@$k this bass, who cares!” And then flipped it up in the air. Oh how quickly I regretted that, for it proceeded to crash into the metal door frame, making a huge gash in the arm cut that caused the ash veneer to splinter up like crazy, and it also snapped the Screw heads off the G tuner, leaving the screw shafts in the wood. Ooof. It was months before I got it back into commission, sealing up the gash with wood glue and finding a replacement tuner in a spare parts bin at the local music store.
While it was out of commission I defretted it, but then the nut was too high. I lived with having to finger notes a little flat for about a year (it was my only bass), before I ruined the pickup by trying to pot it and accidentally cutting the wire on one coil. So I sent the pickup off to Jerry Sentell to rewind (he’s offered a wide range bass pup ever since), and had a luthier in town make and install a bone nut along with the new pickup. Finally, this bass was really playable again! It’s been my absolute favorite bass ever since.

 

[bobyoung53]

What was your soundman doing hanging on his own wall?

He said it was the sweet spot

 

[fretlessman71]

While I think all my basses are beautiful, there’s one that looks a little worse for wear. My squier vintage modified precision bass TB. It had the misfortune of being in my hands one particularly reckless night. I had just returned back to JBER AK after 10 months in Afghanistan, and needless to say my friends and I were ready to make up for all the partying we missed. So we’re have a grand time getting drunk in me and my roommate’s barracks room, and I bumped the headstock on the side table. One of my friends says “whoa, careful. Don’t wanna hurt your guitar!”, and stupidly I say “what? This bass? F@$k this bass, who cares!” And then flipped it up in the air. Oh how quickly I regretted that, for it proceeded to crash into the metal door frame, making a huge gash in the arm cut that caused the ash veneer to splinter up like crazy, and it also snapped the Screw heads off the G tuner, leaving the screw shafts in the wood. Ooof. It was months before I got it back into commission, sealing up the gash with wood glue and finding a replacement tuner in a spare parts bin at the local music store.
While it was out of commission I defretted it, but then the nut was too high. I lived with having to finger notes a little flat for about a year (it was my only bass), before I ruined the pickup by trying to pot it and accidentally cutting the wire on one coil. So I sent the pickup off to Jerry Sentell to rewind (he’s offered a wide range bass pup ever since), and had a luthier in town make and install a bone nut along with the new pickup. Finally, this bass was really playable again! It’s been my absolute favorite bass ever since.View attachment 3887258View attachment 3887259View attachment 3887262

A fretless Tele bass! That's gotta sound DEEP....

I have a Dano 3412 with a single pickup about where the 17th fret would be. It just OOZES vintage bass tone...

 

[PennyroyalWe]

A fretless Tele bass! That's gotta sound DEEP....

I have a Dano 3412 with a single pickup about where the 17th fret would be. It just OOZES vintage bass tone...

It thumps for sure! You can hear it here on the first two tracks
Down To Funk Your Face, by The Funky Wilsons

 

[Dincrest]

My "swirl" bass is kinda one of those. Somewhere around 2011 I was in a brick-and-mortar music store, when I spotted this used LTD HTB-600 Children of Bodom sig bass. The instrument had an unconventional body shape that many people would consider ugly and was sitting unloved in a corner, overlooked by everybody, covered in dust, paint chipping (its original paintjob was black with COBHC in cheesy giant letters)... so I decided to give it a try because why the hell not. I noticed that it had some quality components and was a good bass that just needed some love. I'd been looking for a backup bass at the time anyway and was able to snag this one for a couple-hundred bucks, knowing it was worth way more.

I had a luthier give it a sick swirl paint job and swap out the electronics (it originally came with active EMGs but I had him put passive Duncans in it). He even swapped out the 12th fret COB inlay for a super sick one that complements the body colors! It has a Hipshot Extender as well so I can quickly get into drop D and back. It's not the best bass I've ever owned, but it's easily one of the best sounding basses I've ever owned. Every time I plug it in, people comment on how great it sounds. I love its burly tone.

I've toured with it up and down the east coast. It's even been in photo shoots with models.

Not bad for a bass that was basically thrown away and cast aside. I want to retire this bass and make my SB5000 my workhorse, but it simply does NOT want to retire.

(For reference, here's a stock photo of that bass. Again, imagine it as described above covered in dust and sitting in a corner like a red-headed stepchild: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71HJRWc4yoL._AC_SY550_.jpg)

And, now, here's a pic of my bass posing with a model in a photo shoot:

 

[brushfirewolf]

My p bass is complete with it’s grotesque spray paint refin. Plays like a dream though. The neck is so well worn and the action is super low. Actually plays better than any of the MIA fenders I was just testing at guitar center. Sounds killer too with the new electronics.

 

[chadface]

This is my kind of thread! Check out Janky-A Rigs of Doom for the amplifier side of this!

My hunk o junk is this: NBD - Crusty Fernandes content I bought it for $30 and it was hideous. But after a quick setup, it played very nicely. I have since painted it with a brush and a can of flat black rustoleum. Looks OK from 10' away! It lives in the garage in the gig bag that came with it. Any time I'm selling an Amp I let the perspective buyer use this bass to test it out. All have been impressed

 

[fretlessman71]

We have new members. For those of you who post after this and want a number, lemme know.

#1 - @fretlessman71
#2 - @Volker Kirstein
#3 - @Killing Floor
#4 - @filwitheneff
#5 - @Yools
#6 - @JRA
#7 - @Esteban Garcia
#8 - @HardNHeavy
#9 - @brushfirewolf
#10 - @Pauly 4001
#11 - @bobyoung53
#12 - @PennyroyalWe
#13 - @Dincrest
#14 - @chadface
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#100 - @Stumbo

 

[EatS1stBassist]

Beautiful wood, paint jobs, stains, lacquers, high-end electronics, 24k Gold hardware... it's all lovely to look at. But I have found that for whatever reason, I have a great admiration for basses only a mother could love. Preferably one with a great story behind it.

I tried to start a FB page for these, but I did something wrong and I don't seem to know how to fix it. And TBers are more likely to crow about their favorite beater bass that fits them like a glove and gets That Tone that they've been searching for anyway.

Please post your stories behind your favorite ugly ducklings - pre OR post facelift, and include a pic or two. I will start below. I hope this gets a lot of attention - the stories can be lots of fun!

EDIT: So this turned into a club! If you post your Bajo de Cyrano here and you want a number to join the club, lemme know.

Here’s mine! I bought a raw body from eBay. I gave it a burn job with a torch. Lol.
Wiped the Char off with a clean towel and sprayed it with 3 coats of Satin Oil Poly. No stain or coloring.
G.M. Alnico 5 pickups. American CTS Pots. Nickel hardware Except for the unbelievably cheap Tuning Machines. Which work perfectly. May I join and get a number? Thanks, EatS.

 

[JRA]

What's with the fingerboard right up by the nut, though?

i must have taken the pic while i was filing the nut.

 

[fretlessman71]

#1 - fretlessman71
#2 - Volker Kirstein
#3 - Killing Floor
#4 - filwitheneff
#5 - Yools
#6 - JRA
#7 - Esteban Garcia
#8 - HardNHeavy
#9 - brushfirewolf
#10 - Pauly 4001
#11 - bobyoung53
#12 - PennyroyalWe
#13 - Dincrest
#14 - chadface
#15 - @EatS1stBassist
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#100 - Stumbo

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Nothing quite as exotic and exciting as some of the other posts here but this is my Epiphone EB-0. Not the recently discontinued version but the ones they made around 25 years ago. Made in China. The body is about twice as thick as it should be and it weighs a ton. Very crude looking.

The tuners were the absolutely worst I have ever tried. The pots had dropouts from day1. The pickup was HORRIBLE (and I actually like mudbuckers, just not THIS microphonic mess). The fretwork was poor beyond belief! Buzz, buzz, buzz.

One of the saddles was the wrong type. On these 3-point bridges the saddles are supposed to be numbered 1-4 with different sized notches for the strings and different heights to make the strings follow the neck radius. This one had a G-string saddle for the D-string. Which of course meant that the D-string was too low and buzzed like crazy unless the entire bridge was lifted and the overall action much too high.

The finish is absolutely disgusting. The neck finish is ok, pretty much like it should be on these basses with the wood visible beneath the transparent cherry finish. But the body... Not only is the finish a different shade of red than the neck, it is also extremely thick and 100% opaque. The bass looks more or less like it has been dipped in plastic.

It was a total impulse buy, just saw it in a store and thought "hmmm, I've always wanted one of those Jack Bruce basses" grabbed it and paid for it without testing. Big mistake.

The only reason I kept it for all these years was that I couldn't bring myself to sell such a piece of junk to anyone or even GIVE it away. It was totally and utterly useless.

Then I heard about the Curtis Novak EB-BSx...

So I got some new tuners. Found a set of new saddles on ebay. Pulled the frets and installed new ones. Gave it a good setup. It suddenly felt like a totally different bass! Very playable.

With the bass feeling pretty good now I decided to get the EB-BSx (which costs significantly more than the entire bass...). I also replaced all the rest of the electronics.

And... WOW. It's like all the good stuff of a mudbucker but without the bad stuff. A lot more clarity than the Epi Sidewinders and much, MUCH tighter lows. It's dark sounding for sure but almost unbelievably FAT. Definitely not an allrounder but very, very cool sounding and I've actually used it a lot in the studio. To be honest I now like it better than my Gibson SG-bass.

The only things that didn't change is that the body still looks like crap and that I'll never sell it (but for totally different reasons).

And yeah, the knobs are the left hand type so the numbers are backwards, way to go Epiphone.