Show your "rescued" bass

[kenjikun]

How about showing basses found on dumps, junkshops or just anywhere. Please tell something about its condition before and how you revived it. I'll start.

Found this bass outside a second hand shop together with acoustic guitars with broken necks. Labeled as junk. Full of dirt, bowed neck, oxidized fretwires, loose knobs, dirty pickups, lots of stickers at the back of the body. No sound coming out when tried with an amp. Priced at 2,000 YEN ($20). it was 8PM and the shop was about to close. I took it for $15 . Brought it home, disassembled every parts, removed the stickers, cleaned the body with damp cloth followed by car wax. Cleaned all the metal parts with metal polish including the fretwires. Polished the fretboard with Johnsons baby oil. Assembled again. Rewired the pickups to the pots (all the pickup wires were cut from the pots, probably the previous owner tried to mod it but failed so he threw this bass away) Put on new strings, adjusted the neck relief, lowered the action and now I got a "new" Ibanez Soundgear. Oh by the way, the body and neck has minimal scratches and no dings. And this is not Korean or Chinese made. Serial numbers indicated this is a 1998 Fujigen-made MIJ Ibanez. Sounds great but my P-basses are still hotter. Not bad for $15.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[bhie_alka]

hi there,, im newbie here..^^
just amaze with the "junk" you picked.
nice choice..^^
are u really took it from junkyard..??
it looks like you just bought it from guitar shop..
hahaha..
nice work..^^

 

[MK84]

Great story and great looking bass. What kind of color is that? Blueburst? It looks awesome

 

[dukeplaysbass]

Oh by the way, the body and neck has minimal scratches and no dings.

Stickers prolly protected it!

Nice work. I've rescued a few axes over the years, but they've run me way over $15 to begin with. This one is a fave -- bought it, and a couple of junky acoustic guitars, off some guy for about $400.

It was filthy, but cleaned up nice. Turns out it's a pre-production G&L L-1000. Dale Hyatt, one of Leo's two partners, tells me the serial number doesn't appear in the books and was probably a "Leo field tester".....it KILLS....

Here's a before/after pic of a couple of tuners, just so you get the flavor of it -- bong smoke is terrible for basses!

 

[Barkless Dog]

My first, a 68 non reverse that had refinned turd brown, defretted annd knobs in the wrong locations- no neck or body breaks, not exactly a junker.

Had it refretted and I refinned it cardinal red

 

[Barkless Dog]

69 EB-0 Slot Head that had a new neck grafted on, routing under the bridge. Included the original bridge & pickup

Added a Rio grande Pitbull, Big D varitone, vintage pickguard, sperzel lightweight locking tuners, refinned it white.

 

[Barkless Dog]

A friend gave me this Ripper husk- no other parts. The body had been routed and the edges over sanded (misshapen) worn frets

I decide to make a bass version of a Gibson Blueshawk guitar (my friend has one and loves it)

Removed the neck and built a new body

Made imitation P-90 Soap-Bar pickup rings

Features rear mounted dummy pickup

Complicated wiring, new frets & it's done

 

[flea claypool]

got someones old MIM p bass project for free.. got it sprayed, new hardware and pickup and rocking it for the past week

 

[Pilgrim]

I don't have before pix - but I found the bass in a pawn shop for $60. It had good neck and body, but was covered with black runny spray paint, part of the hardware was missing. This is the first and only bass I've done a complete overhaul on.

I defretted it, completely refinished in candy apple red with a silver undercoat and black burst (about 7 lacquer coats total) changed the hardware to black (including a nice Guild bridge I found on Ebay), and installed Dimarzio pickups. I installed a stack-knob setup for individual control of volume and tone for each pickup so I wouldn't have to drill more holes in the body. all told, I spent nearly a year doing this project in spare moments. I probably put 60+ hours into it, but not more than another $100 in parts.

In the process I learned fine points of defretting, and I learned to shoot acrylic lacquer with an auto detail gun and how to use an airbrush for the black 'burst. The bass is done entirely in acrylic lacquer, even the silver metallic undercoat.

 

[GeoffByrne]

 

[Ezbass]

Great thread, wish I could add something. That pre production G&L is a stunning find.

 

[jaywa]

Agreed, this thread is really inspiring. Hope it keeps going, I will be checking back often.

 

[MooseLumps]

Man, there's a felah on these boards who found a sweet yammy if i remember correctly just sitting on a junk pile. he took it home, fixed the broken jack and called it good.

And I'm still jealous

 

[Korladis]

Got this poor bass off ebay. It's currently being restored. No, I'm not doing it myself. At first I wanted to, but then I realized I was in over my head. I'll post After pics when it's done.

 

[Willicious]

subscribed.
this is too cool.

 

[abarson]

Rats! No basses, but I've scavenged and saved:
* Roland Handsonic HPD-15
* Epiphone EP-1000 guitar amp
* DOD VoFX
* JBL Eon 15 G2

 

[depalm]

This is (was) a 78/79 Fender P body that I have since '83.

In 85 I replaced the original PU for a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound and installed a Schaller Roller bridge.

Few years later I decided to install myself a couple of Music Man pickups that I had laying around and a preamp. (I wish I have never done that):scowl:

Traded the neck for something I can't really remember now and replaced for an ESP J style.

All the original hardware (bridge, tuners, pickups etc…)is missing.

Played with it 'till 87 or 88, then I dumped and let it collecting dust for some years.

Now recently I found it among a bunch of old gear and starting to think in bring it to life again.
Just don't have no idea of what to do with it.

Any advices??

Best

 

[kenjikun]

Amazing! I'm not a big fan of Gibson - style basses but this one is just astonishing. Great job!

 

[Instagator]

Here we go..I posted this once before.
Pawn shop save.She's an 83/84 E series.MIJ.Check out the buckle rash on this one.

Stripped with a heat gun.All of the damage filled in and sanded flat.Than primed with ReRanch nitro primer.Painted with Sun Glow and cleared with McFaddens.Waited 45 days to cure than wet sanded and polished.

Curtis Novak Charlie Christian pickups..Bad to the marrow.

Well,there she is again.Sorry if that's too many pics.

Cheers.

 

[kenjikun]

instagator should should start his own guitar/bass restoration company! Amazing skill! Just amazing!