Duarte

Just sold! Sorry for any slow responses, I was spending a lockdown without internet on a Thai island. Thanks all for the interest  

Sad to hear this news. MB1 was indeed kind and forgiving, and at times baffling. It always felt like he had my back.  RIP, basschat legend.

Here's this week's tune. Given a go at full blown reggae...

8 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

I'd hang on to the ally pick guard...

0000 wire wool should clean up the detritus but leave the patina... without scratching it.

 

Not so common as a Gold, think it would look quite unique, and keep a lighter overall appearance on natural wood over a more  usual and heavier looking black plate.

 

Offer it up for a pic...

Interesting idea. 

4 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

From what I can see it looks like a one piece body, which is nice 

Sure is. Great bonus!

1 minute ago, PaulThePlug said:

Nice bit of 'Guinness Flow' in the middle...

So what's it to be?.. Oil, Stain or Paint?

It's a really interesting grain isn't it!

Decided on oil, to showcase the grain  

It has begun. I almost changed my mind and left it as it was... but then I had a gin and changed my mind again.

The finish was thick and not easy to remove, but I'm happy with what I found underneath! 

If you need me I'll be sanding on the balcony.

Glorious bass. I'm looking out for one too. Certainly no tone control needed!

7 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

Great news on the neck!

What ya thinking about the body?...

Natural Wood, Stain or a Solid Colour?

For me, It's screaming BLACK to go with that Maple neck... or an Aubergine Purple off Black...

You thinking Rattle Cans?

That scratchplate? Is/was it white plastic? looks like it could be anodised metal, hard to tell from the pics... but i think that should also stay... so many P-a-likes have slightly different shapes or screw spacings...

Keep the bridge, that way ya sure the mounting holes line up... but as mention you could change the sadles for threaded for a bit more of a vintage look, maybe have em off something like this for £15?...

https://www.northwestguitars.co.uk/vintage-style-4-string-bass-bridge-with-spiral-saddles/

 

@KiOgon P bass loom - Quality Pots n Jack - is a good idea for £25ish - Got one for my Budget Bitsa P

Ideas!! Natural wood is my first choice. The grain is too nice to hide. Tru oil and a long lockdown of gradually getting it to a glorious sheen is what I'm thinking... It might be a terrible idea. But I won't know for sure until I've actually done it.

I love the aubergine purple idea! I am eyeballing another bass, an 80's Jazz bass special (the one with slanted pickups) which looks like it was left out in the Thai sun for year, which would be a good candidate for that kind of treatment! I''ll include a pic below. This bass is on sale for £140.

Scratch plate is anodised metal. Screw holes appear to align with standard fender dimensions, and there are 13 filled holes in the body, which leads me to believe that someone had to make a fender sized one fit. I'll go for black.

As for the bridge, I actually have an old spare fender one kicking around that fits. 

Electronics seem fine as they are. I think they've been replaced, as pots are nice and sturdy with no crackles. Also there are weird routings where it looks like someone might have added active electronics at some point. Pickups seems OG and are nice and hot. However, for the sake of getting it up to the next level of quality, KiOgon is a good shout. I installed one of his harnesses on my main player and it's top notch.

Here's that other bass I'm talking about.

5 hours ago, cheddatom said:

 

Yes it is! I used to play big 6 string basses but I have an issue with my left wrist and so it's short scale or nothing now. I do have a nice old Squier Musicmaster, but I used the Bronco just because I leave it at the studio all the time.

The little bronco hold up exceptionally well! I love it

2 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Hey Duarte, I’d leave the neck it looks cool, and if it sounds good already I’d say you only have to do the body how you want , I’d also fit a threaded saddle bridge on to add to the vintage look 👍

I'm convinced - enough of you lot have said it now! The neck stays as-is. 

Any advice for the body? I did go into this looking for a project, so something's happening to it.

1 hour ago, PaulThePlug said:

leave it... especialy the neck... it looks played..

Haha! Maybe we can settle on a compromise... strip the body, leave the neck? I do love how the neck looks as it is, and the bits that aren't dented are wonderfully smooth and rounded. The body hasn't aged as gracefully. This bass will stay with me whatever happens, so I'm not worried about it re-sale-ability. 

Is.... is that a bronco?

Sounds great btw.

Helloo BC'ers!

Since I'm in the depths of my longest lockdown, I've started a few different projects. One of them is something I've wanted to do for years - I have a project bass!

It's a 1978 Yamaha Pulser bass, in bad cosmetic condition, but it plays reasonably well and sounds incredible.  

I bought it in Bangkok for about £60, which is a great deal for something I anticipated would be much more screwed up than it actually is. Anyway, the plan is to strip the body and neck, refinish, refret, replace rusted hardware, scratch plate and these awful new tuners. Thankfully the electronics are in great shape. Also the body appears to be one piece of ash or similar wood. I'm thinking of going for a natural finish with tru oil. Basically I wanted to a project bass which had a very low possibility of ending up any worse than when I started

Any advice from anyone more experienced on any part of this project would be greatly appreciated.

Here's the 'before' pics:

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

Some top skills in evidence there. I can see children’s TV snapping you up. The Pistols’ video is very clever.

Cheers! I'm particularly fond of the pistols one.

45 minutes ago, Velarian said:

Awesome! 
 

I take it you weren’t tempted to do a “Cooking for the (Thai) King” version then? 😉

Haha! The thought definitely crossed my mind. I was even half expecting the school to censor the Cooking For The Queen song, just because it depicts general royalty in a cartoonish way. But I haven't been disappeared yet...

I'm a teacher of children aged 4-6, and in my part of the world we're in the depths of lockdown.

The school asked me to make weekly cooking class videos for the kids - and I'm happy to do so, but I aways thought the remote lessons of other teachers were a little dry. So I started recording songs and inserting mini music videos into my cooking class. It's a mixture of originals and foodified-ska versions of pop songs. The school loves it and even offered me a pay rise. Plus I'm feeling more productive than ever! Anyway, I thought some of you might appreciate these.

edit: gotta express my appreciation for logic drummer as well. It's the best.

Cheers!

Z

Price dropped.

That is truly beautiful - I'd say that rosewood board is its finest feature!

Now £350. 

Looking for a buyer  

6 ohms! Well there we have it, from the source. 

Thanks for digging that up. 

Just now, Len_derby said:

I’ve just measured mine, generation 1 Big One like yours, and I agree the dimensions.

In spite of the size it’s very light as you’d expect. 

Haha, thanks for the confirmation! Yes, it's outrageously light. Carry-with-one-hand light.

It's actually a very loud 6 ohm.

Dimensions H=75 W=53.5 D=40.5 I believe.

Cheers

New price £450!

11 hours ago, Lander4002 said:

Hi, would you send it to EU?

Unfortunately I'm not in a position to be shipping it anywhere, collection is very much preferred. Thanks 😊