As I've stated before, I have a soft spot for Fender Musicmasters, particularly '78s, (I am currently on my third, and last one)...
Several months ago, a friend that I work with received a beat up Musicmaster "gratis"... The story is that another workmate had a Musicmaster years ago and was selling it on consignment in a local store. The store closed unexpectedly, with the owner absconding with several instruments still on the shelves... Fast forward to the "internet age" and the store owner is contacted through email. He says something to the effect that "I no longer have the original bass, but I'll ship you another one". When it arrives, it is beat to poop and tossed in a closet to remain unplayed. After a time, it lands in my buddy's hands... While he's a great player, he's not much for working on basses, so he asks if I'd like to take a shot
The bass that I received was roached... Numerous dings through the finish in the back of the neck, body finish is thrashed (oddly "melty" in a few places), hardware corroded, Dimarzio Model One pickup laying loose underneath the makeshift (surprisingly okay) brass pickguard... As always, I should have taken more "before" pix, but I always forget in the heat of the moment!
'78 was a bad paint year for Black Fenders, so the color coat stripped off okay, (messy, but no heavy sanding)... The clear coat underneath was thick, mostly intact, and provided a good canvas for a rattle-can cream... I cleaned all of the hardware (leaving some slight pitting on the incredibly rusted bridge), used my '78 pickguard as a template to create a new tort guard, (my friend chose the color scheme, which I like), cleaned up the pickup and fashioned a wooden mount to allow proper mounting to the new pickguard, replaced the destroyed electronics with CTS pots and OrangeDrop capacitor, stripped and oiled the neck (cleaning the nasty gunk off the fingerboard), dressed the frets, etc...
After a setup, it plays and sounds great... That very old Model One is a beast and gives this bass a different voice altogether. The one thing I couldn't make right was a slight buzz at the 7th fret on the G string, (there were several gnarly buzzes throughout when I got it)... I don't notice it when I play the bass, but it bothers me knowing that it's there...
I've grouped the pix in "Before-After" shots of the same general region of the bass...
Front
Back of the neck: (The whole neck had these awful divots!)
Lower Bout: (Again, there were numerous dings like this all over the body)
Full Frontal:
My buddy is happy, and another great little bass is out there making music again!! Thanks for looking!
-robert
Several months ago, a friend that I work with received a beat up Musicmaster "gratis"... The story is that another workmate had a Musicmaster years ago and was selling it on consignment in a local store. The store closed unexpectedly, with the owner absconding with several instruments still on the shelves... Fast forward to the "internet age" and the store owner is contacted through email. He says something to the effect that "I no longer have the original bass, but I'll ship you another one". When it arrives, it is beat to poop and tossed in a closet to remain unplayed. After a time, it lands in my buddy's hands... While he's a great player, he's not much for working on basses, so he asks if I'd like to take a shot
The bass that I received was roached... Numerous dings through the finish in the back of the neck, body finish is thrashed (oddly "melty" in a few places), hardware corroded, Dimarzio Model One pickup laying loose underneath the makeshift (surprisingly okay) brass pickguard... As always, I should have taken more "before" pix, but I always forget in the heat of the moment!
'78 was a bad paint year for Black Fenders, so the color coat stripped off okay, (messy, but no heavy sanding)... The clear coat underneath was thick, mostly intact, and provided a good canvas for a rattle-can cream... I cleaned all of the hardware (leaving some slight pitting on the incredibly rusted bridge), used my '78 pickguard as a template to create a new tort guard, (my friend chose the color scheme, which I like), cleaned up the pickup and fashioned a wooden mount to allow proper mounting to the new pickguard, replaced the destroyed electronics with CTS pots and OrangeDrop capacitor, stripped and oiled the neck (cleaning the nasty gunk off the fingerboard), dressed the frets, etc...
After a setup, it plays and sounds great... That very old Model One is a beast and gives this bass a different voice altogether. The one thing I couldn't make right was a slight buzz at the 7th fret on the G string, (there were several gnarly buzzes throughout when I got it)... I don't notice it when I play the bass, but it bothers me knowing that it's there...
I've grouped the pix in "Before-After" shots of the same general region of the bass...
Front
Back of the neck: (The whole neck had these awful divots!)
Lower Bout: (Again, there were numerous dings like this all over the body)
Full Frontal:
My buddy is happy, and another great little bass is out there making music again!! Thanks for looking!
-robert
