A handful of folks have seen my acquisition and then quest to get repaired to working order a '60 P that got sold, in terrible shape, to a MusicGoRound in the Atlanta area. I wish I'd taken pics of when I first saw it! Cheap black paint on the tuners & pup covers, a really amateur-hour clearcoat "finish", chewed frets, no decal, and a totally wrecked truss rod nut.
After investing time and money into both cleaning it up and getting it to stage-ready condition, I had it looking thus:
The obnoxiously awesome chickenhead knobs and rather crappy but usable pickguard were aftermarket, as were the flathead screws in place everywhere. Electronics-wise, I've got the original stuff but put a fresh harness and an incredible-sounding Curtis Novak PB-V in.
Well, my stepfather, Michael Ellis, lead singer and guitarist of the Radio Ramblers and 20-year dj of WRFG Atlanta's Good Morning Blues Progam, who trucked me up to Nashville twice in getting the bass refretted, and who was a giant of a man in character and passion for music, passed away in February. Shortly after, I decided to take the last planned step for the bass that he'd helped get to working shape.
So I found Holland Musical Instruments in Acworth, GA via a bassist friend. Jonathan took the bass, and after consulting and deciding on the direction, he got to work.
Three months later....
It had already been refinished a good three or four times, by our estimate. Gruhn Guitars and Jonathan both verified the bass's authenticity, and the choice of the refinish job was to both be a little outlandish while just partially restoring the instrument and also reflecting its age....so there's a light relic done along with the aged sonic blue.
Personally, and my opinion is the one I'm listening to... I wish my stepfather had gotten to see the restored instrument. He got to hear it, as I gigged the dogsnot out of it with him when he was still playing, so that means a lot, but I think it's now exactly how I want it. Aged, quirky, modded a bit, but still holding to its original character.
After investing time and money into both cleaning it up and getting it to stage-ready condition, I had it looking thus:
The obnoxiously awesome chickenhead knobs and rather crappy but usable pickguard were aftermarket, as were the flathead screws in place everywhere. Electronics-wise, I've got the original stuff but put a fresh harness and an incredible-sounding Curtis Novak PB-V in.
Well, my stepfather, Michael Ellis, lead singer and guitarist of the Radio Ramblers and 20-year dj of WRFG Atlanta's Good Morning Blues Progam, who trucked me up to Nashville twice in getting the bass refretted, and who was a giant of a man in character and passion for music, passed away in February. Shortly after, I decided to take the last planned step for the bass that he'd helped get to working shape.
So I found Holland Musical Instruments in Acworth, GA via a bassist friend. Jonathan took the bass, and after consulting and deciding on the direction, he got to work.
Three months later....
It had already been refinished a good three or four times, by our estimate. Gruhn Guitars and Jonathan both verified the bass's authenticity, and the choice of the refinish job was to both be a little outlandish while just partially restoring the instrument and also reflecting its age....so there's a light relic done along with the aged sonic blue.
Personally, and my opinion is the one I'm listening to... I wish my stepfather had gotten to see the restored instrument. He got to hear it, as I gigged the dogsnot out of it with him when he was still playing, so that means a lot, but I think it's now exactly how I want it. Aged, quirky, modded a bit, but still holding to its original character.
