WezV Posted May 12, 2008 Report Share Posted May 12, 2008 you tend to see lot more teenagers making excellent first guitars... when i was a teenager i was mainly destroying guitars and attempting to mod them without really knowing what i was doing case in point, my teisco bass: Now in fairness to me in was not a good state when i got it. I was looking to buy my first bass around the end of 96, i wanted something secondhand and if i remember correctly i had 3 choices 1, a 1963 mustang bass in a nicely faded but near perfect condition for £300 2, An original danelectro longhorn bass in near perfect condition for £300 3, A mystery, weirdly shaped bass with a bad gold refinish, obvious damage and no name on it anywhere but obviosuly old for £200 yep, i am a fool!!! So, bad gold refinish, damaged upper horn and no name!! About a year later i start seeing bits of blue under the gold and decide to strip it and refinish it in a colour closer to the original. Whilst stripping the gold i notice that there is some multiply binding in the cutaway but unfortunately its missing from the rest of the guitar. I get the refinish done (very badly) and then decide it really needs a cream stripe around its edge which i proceed to do badly About a year after that i decide i really need a fretless, so yeah, i pulled out all the frets except zero and filled the slots with wood filler. Obviously i managed to take a few chips out as well which also got filled with (cream coloured) wood filler SO, nice blue colour, bad refinsih, awfull cream stripe, damaged upper horn, no frets, badly abused fretboard and NO name!!! Thats not mentioning the stuff i dont mind too much like the shrunken scratchplates and surrogate tailpiece!! I also used it to practice wiring on so i dont think it currently produces a sound, but i did check teh pickups eariler and they do still work The last part of its journey was when i decided to refret it as practice, actually that went pretty well but i didnt sort the chips out then thats where we are with the picture at the start, an embarrasing mess thats been hidden in the workshop for far too long so i decided yesterday it was time to get the old girl working properly again and into something i wont hide away I dont have the time or money to restore it to its original state.. that would invlove grafting on a new top horn and re doing all the binding as well as trying to source some very rare vintage parts for it.. its all possible but i really dont think its worth the effort Instead i am going to strip it back, tidy up all the abused body edges and give it a proper refinish and a good seeing to http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV.../beforeback.jpg http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV.../beforehead.jpg i am not going to do much to the neck because the lacquer is just how i want it, nicely worn and crazed http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/neckplate.jpg http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/fronthead.jpg http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/backhead.jpg here are the fretboard chips, really its just a colour issue as they are quite smooth at the moment http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/fretboard.jpg hardware http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/bridge.jpg http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/pickups.jpg Body http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/body.jpg anyway, i started stripping it: top wet with spirits http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/stripwet.jpg back dry http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/stripdry.jpg its nice to see a one piece mahogany body under all the layers... whats more it only weights 2lb!!!! Naths too busy to spray this for me at the moment (and he hates it!) so instead this will get a spray can burgundy mist nitro finish with this stuff: http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/lacquer.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted May 12, 2008 Report Share Posted May 12, 2008 I like that original color scheme that is on the body. Can't wait to see how this turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted May 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2008 This is what the finish should have been like although that one seems to be missing bridge covers, switches and control plates and if you look at that strap button placement it does explain what happened to the top horn on mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Rainville Posted May 12, 2008 Report Share Posted May 12, 2008 This is what the finish should have been like I kinda liked the way it looked before you stripped it, until I saw that picture. It seems like a very sweet instrument, love the look and feel of it. I think I would have gone the refinish route myself too. and if you look at that strap button placement it does explain what happened to the top horn on mine Indeed. What were they thinking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 surprise no-one has pointed out how blatantly similar it is to a schecter avenger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 I can't wait to see this thread! I thoroughly enjoy cool stuff like this. Everytime I find a thread for bringing a guitar back to life, my eyes get glued to the screen, plus I find that more often I can pick up more ideas and creativity from a repair or restoration by a skilled builder than I would from a general build by a skilled builder. I like that you arne't going back to an exact original, though the only thing that stands out to me is the upper horn, I would have never imagined such a small difference being visable, it doesn't look bad at all, though I really like how the original looks as well as the schecter. Plus I think that horn graft would make for a cool project portion. Best of luck on your project, I know this is gonna make for a killer end result, it just has so much potential. Keep us posted!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Wow, what a classy design! Can't wait to see it restored. "I dont have the time or money to restore it to its original state.. that would invlove grafting on a new top horn and re doing all the binding as well as trying to source some very rare vintage parts for it.. its all possible but i really dont think its worth the effort" Oh, but the original top horn is so cool! It wouldn't be that hard, would it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 i am still trying to decide about the upper horn it would be pretty easy to replace and i have enough scraps to do it maybe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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