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Trying to fix a worthless Bass

#101
I seldom play with a pick, but I may on this just to try to emulate McCartney's tone. I'm not terribly worried about scratching it though, especially since it will only be very occasionally.
Totally agree on the control plate. I'm hoping I can find some way to use the replacement I bought, for a number of reasons.
 
#103
Markshan said:
Oh, and even if I end up having to use that control plate I will definitely be swapping in the proper teacup knobs. Either way I think that will help the look pretty substantially.
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I have most of a vintage pearl pickguard blank. I used it to make a new pickguard and control plate for one of my basses. If you send me the size of your control plate I can cut off a hunk and send it your way. If you're interested, post measurements here and IM me your address.
 
#104
sissy kathy said:
I have most of a vintage pearl pickguard blank. I used it to make a new pickguard and control plate for one of my basses. If you send me the size of your control plate I can cut off a hunk and send it your way. If you're interested, post measurements here and IM me your address.
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What a kind and generous offer. I'll do that when I get home this evening. Thank you!
 
#105
sissy kathy said:
I have most of a vintage pearl pickguard blank. I used it to make a new pickguard and control plate for one of my basses. If you send me the size of your control plate I can cut off a hunk and send it your way. If you're interested, post measurements here and IM me your address.
Click to expand...
Thank you again for your generous offer but I think I am going to be able to make this one work.

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There are small gaps on three sides but you only really see them at an angle and as such I don't think that color matching will be critical. I think a bit of wood putty should be adequate to make it all but invisible.
When you see the backs of them next to each other I think it becomes clear that even though they are still functioning, the old electronics are probably nearly spent.
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The front one is smaller, it's just fisheye on my camera phone that makes it look bigger. I also like that the new one has the embossed labeling. I'm still going to swap teacup knobs on there, though these are at least closer to period correct. If anyone has any ideas on how to age it, in particular how to make it less white, that would be helpful.
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#106
So is you may remember from earlier I used some epoxy from another project to fill a big gap in the neck pocket and that went very well. So in this picture you may be able to see what a lousy job they did with the finish in that pocket and how little contact they're actually was between the body and the heel.
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So I took the bubble level from my turntable and placed it into the pocket to try to adjust until it would dry level. With the arched back I knew it would be important to do that instead of just letting the epoxy run wherever.
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Of course I won't know until I reassemble everything but I think this was a major success.
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Well I was mixing the epoxy and taking care of that problem I also attempted to fill in a couple of problem spots on the headstock. Even though I used exactly the same techniques, the work was an abject failure in this instance. The tape did not adequately dam the cavities I was attempting to fill and the epoxy just ran all over everything instead. I'm still not sure why it worked so well in the one application but so poorly in the other.
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I replaced the old sideways adjust truss rod nut with a modern hex key type. Since I'm going to put a piece of veneer over the front of the headstock I thought filling in those gouges beforehand would make for a cleaner installation of the new veneer. As you can see, it didn't work out that way. I guess after the veneer is glued on I'll attempt to fill those spots with a little wood putty.
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I haven't yet attempted to put the nut back on. I may have to get into that cavity with my Dremel tool and clean out some of the epoxy that ran down in order for the nut to fit. That won't be major surgery, but it's a bit of a PITA that I didn't need.
 
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#107
That was all done two days ago but I hadn't posted it yet. Today I set about getting the thick old gloppy gloss finish off the neck. I did it mostly with card scrapers, but I also use the orbital sander a couple times in between just to scuff things to make it easier for the card scraper to smooth them again. I've got about 90% of the finish off but I completely dulled all of my card scrapers and I have not bought the tool to sharpen them yet. I didn't realize I needed anything other than a sharpening stone but I have found out since that I do. So I'll finish this off when I can sharpen them back up again. The spots that look white in the photo are bare wood. The spots that look a little red have just a very fine amount of finish still on them.
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The burns I had caused with the heat lamp did not go away completely, but they did lighten up quite a bit. Now I'm curious to see if the true oil will make them darker again or if it will hide them further. I'm fine either way. It's just enough discoloration to remind me of the project.
I also was surprised to find the neck binding is actually White. I thought it was cream colored until I ran down the edge with the card scraper. Now that this is so white I actually no longer feel the need to try to age the control cavity cover. Bonus.
 
#109
Disappointing though it is when things don't go according to plan , I believe you learn quicker that way . I keep telling myself that .....
I have managed to let the magic smoke out of a couple of small class D amplifier boards tonight attempting to complete the battery powered amp project . Cheap ebay junk . Live and learn .
 
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#110
johnh89 said:
Disappointing though it is when things don't go according to plan , I believe you learn quicker that way . I keep telling myself that .....
I have managed to let the magic smoke out of a couple of small class D amplifier boards tonight attempting to complete the battery powered amp project . Cheap ebay junk . Live and learn .
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You might want to consult with @mapleglo she built one a couple years ago. She used it at Comicon with her Marceline bass.
 
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#116
So in the last couple days I got the neck down to almost completely bare wood. I took all the finish off the neck with a card scraper, but I don't think that in any way speaks to my acumen with the implement or especially with sharpening it. Frankly I think I could have done the same thing on the neck with a butter knife. On the flat parts of the headstock it was a ton of work just to get it down to where it is, and it was definitely coming off in dust rather than in shavings once I got to where there was any wood at all. I tried turning my Burr with a steel like someone suggested and that was leaving ripples on the surface. So then I grabbed a bit driver extension that is Chrome, figuring that would be a very hard and smooth surface. I did a little better with that but still not really good. So I'm thinking maybe I need something in between perhaps a screwdriver that is round but not highly polished. If I find something like that in my toolbox downstairs and don't have any better luck I'm thinking about getting one of those timberline burnishers like they sell at StewMac. I'm trying to be patient with myself as far as learning how to sharpen the tool goes because I really enjoyed using it when it was sharp. It's a simple yet very effective tool and it forces everything straight. Working the headstock it was really obvious where the high and low points were and how many of them I got rid of.

There's also a fair bit of finish left on the heel, but that is because I liked the way it was feeling in the pocket so I didn't want to remove any more material. Most of it won't be seen anyway. If the edge sticking up from the top of the pocket looks a little like a sore thumb I can either live with that or try to scrape it a little more with the chisel at that time. I don't want to mess with the fit right now.

I guess my only question at the moment is do I need to bother getting the rest off of the front of the headstock or will the wood glue and veneer stick just as nicely to the old shellac as it will to the wood?

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#117
Oh, I forgot to mention that yesterday after I got all the finish off the round of the neck I spritzed it with water and rubbed it down and then tonight I went over the back of the neck with a piece of 400 grit in hand. And boy does the neck feel nice now. I'm thinking I'm probably just going to put one coat of tung oil on there just to make sure it's protected. As far as just feel goes I could bolt it on right now and be much happier than I was before.
 
#118
I think I'm finally getting the hang of burnishing a card scraper. I found an old screwdriver that is round but not chromed. It seems to be working better than either of my other two implements did. Plus, it was frustrated because all of the sharpening videos I saw showed that you should be getting nice long shavings all connected. Then it dawned on me finally that since I'm working on basically an end piece of plywood that there's no way that the things are going to come off as shavings because it's 30 little pieces of wood glued together. The card scrapers are getting sharper, but I'm still pretty dull.
 
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#119
I am preparing the control cavity for the slightly smaller control plate. I cut popsicle sticks at 45 in my miter box and I'm gluing them on three sides. Then once they're all done I'll fill in with a little wood putty. Due to the unusual clamping requirement I can only do one at a time. I did one yesterday and one today and I will do another one hopefully tomorrow.
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