Maude

The top is two pieces joined in an odd place, horizontally through the bridge area, so a trans finish would need to be fairly solid up to the join line. I think it would look odd. It's not a massively noticeable join but it's there all the same. I've considered other finishes that would disguise the top like the Fender paisley, or lace painting, but I'm pretty set on what's in my head right now. I'm just holding off buying what I need for a day or two in case I have an epiphany (or should that be Epiphone?).

Some Candy Talking - The Jesus and Mary Chain

Just a few then. I'm painfully aware that my NBD's tend to turn into rambling semi build diaries.

The thought did cross my mind but the binding, and particularly the bridge will cause problems. Ideally the bridge would need removing and I'm already in far deeper than I wanted tbh. The binding also really wants to go on after a veneer so the the top of the binding is level with the surface of the veneer. A veneer could be fitted but, in my mind at least, any workaround regarding the bridge and binding would be a slight bodge. I'm just as happy with a painted finish as a wood one so I'm not overly keen to create even more work that won't necessarily look right anyway. I'm pretty much set on a suitably distasteful colour scheme anyway now. 😁

And this, boys and girls, is why the sunburst finish was invented. The body is constructed with a pair of central blocks, a pair of side bouts, a top and bottom and a top and bottom veneer. Annoyingly the top is even two piece, joined sideways rather than longways through the bridge area. So a natural or transparent top is now out of the question. It's rather plain anyway without the flame veneer. You can see the top join running down the centre of this picture. Still got the bridge area to carefully sand as the bridge is screwed and glued. The back is veneer is quite nice, and thicker than the front one so is intact. The different blocks in the body construction. All of this means it will probably get a solid, coloured top and a transparent burst back and sides, fading to solid to hide the body joins. I've had a few ideas but I'm very aware that the BEX4 is quite a natural looking bass (like an acoustic) with no chrome bling to stand out from a dark colour. I really like how the features stand out in its now natural colour so I think it'll be a lighter colour front. The cogs are whirring but I'm almost settled on an idea, it won't be to everyone's taste though. Let's just say that Duesenburg and Gretsch seem to be doing a lot of what I like. 😁 I'll probably just get on with it and post a picture afterwards to save this post becoming like a build thread, as my NBD posts always seem to. 🙂👍

In The Midnight Hour - The Jam

The Hills Have Eyes - The Meteors

It does look nice just natural, emphasises the f holes and hardware in a really nice way. But hot pink sparkle would be cool too. 😁 Not made a start on the the neck yet. There'll be no problems there though. Just take all the finish off and then oil/wax or lacquer it. Or paint it hot pink sparkle 😂. The headstock face isn't scratched enough to be a problem either, just wet flat then re-laquer... Or paint it hot pink sparkle 🤣🤣🤣.

Yeah cos I 'need' another bass, just like I 'need' another project! 😂😂

This is completely true, and why I'm not overly worried. I'd hoped it might've just been a quick clean and polish and it would be like new(ish) again, but you can't win 'em all. For the money I've done alright. The other good thing is that although I really don't need another project right now, it's kind of forced my arm, and now I don't need to feel bad about ripping a perfectly good BEX4 apart and doing something different. It'll all come good in the end. 🙂

Slow down, slow down! 😂 That would look amazing though. You can see just how thin the flame maple veneer is in this picture. The blue stain is impossible to completely remove leaving the veneer intact. On the plus side, if you look closely at the natural wood you can see some quilting coming through. This is only sanded with 120 so a any grain will only get better with subsequent finer sandings and a finish, if it stays as some sort of trans finish. Who knows, I need to contemplate. 😁

This is now make it up as you go along. 😁 Or if I want to look clever then the wood is talking to me and letting know what it wants.😄 I'd never have been happy with the original cleaned up. Sure there's ways to disquise a lot of the damage but that's exactly the problem, I'd still see it. The turquoise is the blue basecoat that has stained into the flame laminate. To fully remove the blue staining, including in the dents, I have rubbed through the laminate. It was always a risk, it just depended on the how thick a laminate they used. The answer is very, very thin. So I'm now sanding the laminate off and see what we're left with. If it hasn't got a good natural grain then I reckon a sparkle finish might be on the cards. Or something equally crazy. 😉

In for a penny! Turquoise BEX4 anyone? 😁

News of the World - The Jam

Come together - Beatles 🤢

Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies - Machine Head

Shades of Grey - Biohazard

It's as @neepheidsays above. Zoom in in this picture, the disc is in the tray with the bridge. And this one shows the choke mounted to one of the pots.

In reality it's fine because of the price. I'd be annoyed if I'd payed proper money for it. On the plus side it's in the original Yamaha case, well I guess original as it the same as the one my other one came in (second hand as well) unless it's a huge coincidence. I've just found a couple of pictures of a natural one. Although not done too well as there's still orange paint all round the bridge. It looks amazing. https://images.app.goo.gl/mePixrMTGwy84wc87

They are wonderful, wonderful basses. Fanboi? Moi? 😉 They're surprisingly versatile with the soapbar and an under saddle piezo, blend and volume on the front and the three band EQ. The soapbar is big and punchy and not quite what you'd expect based on its gentile looks. It's got a Precision like tone but with more oomph and a touch of hollow airyness. The only very slight stumbling block is that simple bridge, no intonation adjustment, but I haven't found it a problem. The tobacco burst one above has D'addario half rounds and sounds fantastic. With a slight mid boost of the three band EQ it absolutely slices through a mix.

My stupid head is beginning whir. I bet it would look amazing in transparent black. 🙈

Your totally right, but you've no idea how much of a perfectionist I am when it comes to finishes, it's a curse. 😁

That's just it, it looks like it's just been a player, albeit slightly uncared for. A good clean and it'll just be a cosmetic issue, which can left or addressed.

Luckily I'm in a position to either fully restore it properly myself, ie completely remove the finish and do it sunburst blue again with tinted lacquer. Or wet sand and compound the worst of the scratches out and live with its history. Or take everything back to bare wood and do something completely different.

Well, I've got my comeuppance! Lately I've been lucky enough to buy some very nice basses at some very nice prices, but my luck ran out with this BEX4. It's not so bad though as it was cheap enough and it can all be sorted. Last Friday @andy67 posted that he'd seen a blue BEX4 in Cash Converters in Edinburgh. I'd kind of low level been after a blue one for a while so jumped on it. With the bass being in Edinburgh and me in Cornwall, giving it the once over was out of the question. No biggy, Andy said it looked OK, no minter, a few scratches and needed new strings but OK, and the guy I spoke to at CC said roughly the same. In fact he said he'd just been playing and it played and sounded great. Well it would, it's a BEX4 😉. It arrived today and up close it's a bit of a dog, it's had a hard life and needs a damn good clean. Poor old thing. I'm undecided at the mo whether to just give it a good clean and polish and live with its roadworn state, or to go to town and fully restore/refinish it. It looks like someone's tried to polish the body with a brillo pad and there's plenty of dents and chips. The neck wear is quite odd with some excessive wear near the nut and loads of crescent dents up the dusty end, as if a thumb with a ring on had been curled over the top edge all the time. The rest is just green and grimey. Oh yeah, nearly forgot the strings, nicely fitted 😄. Nevermind, it was cheap enough and it will still play and sound great once cleaned and set up. Cosmetic plan to be decided. With her sister.