W1_Pro

Gotta Gettaway by SLF. Got me into wanting to play bass, all those years ago. Still a great, catchy bassline.

Thats kind of what I thought.... High praise indeed!

Thats a great idea. They are the 'rail' pickups that Dimarzio build I think? I have a couple of those on the BC Rich NJ Mockingbird that @Andyjr1515 sorted out for me. An awesome device indeed.

Thanks John. I think it is a Dimarzio, iirc reading somewhere that Washburns of this era had them fitted as standard, but ultimately for the definitive ruling we'll need someone who's a bit more knowledgable than me. Maybe @Bassassin? It does look nice, eh? The mahogany is just lovely. A really nice piece of wood. ATB Stuart

All good here Andy, if a little quiet! I've been following your work on here avidly. Your great strength (also, you might argue your biggest weakness😂) is that you take on jobs most 'normal' luthiers would run a mile from, and then pull them off with great aplomb. I'm thinking of that Vox neck you sorted out, unbelievable job. As to the Washburn, I'm really pleased with it. I was playing it this morning thinking "this cost £110...WHAT a result". They are such underrated instuments. Nicely understated but beautifully made. ATB old chap.

I'm not sure if this is the best place for this thread. Maybe it should be in 'repairs and technical' so mods, if it needs to be moved, please feel free. Righty ho. Thats the housekeeping out of the way. A few years ago, on a whim, I bought a 1979 Washburn Scavenger. I believe these were the entry level tier of the Washburn bass range at that time, with the more esoteric versions being the Vulture, and the Eagle. Both wonderful machines, but it must be said, very rarely seen in this country. The impetus to buy the bass came from an old mate of mine, who had an Eagle guitar. Quite frankly an unbelievablely good instrument, so I'd sort of had this in the back of my mind for years. Then this came up- on ebay iirc- and the die was cast. Here is a picture taken the day after I bought it. I thought that the zebra stripe pattern might be a nicely ironic post modern comment on contemporary musical mores, but it just made me look like an over the hill refugee from a Poison tribute band. However, it played nicely and sounded absolutely great. I think the pickup is a dimarzio, but if it isn't, it sounds just as good as one. It languished in a case for a couple of years then I developed a need for a bass I can leave in my office, and not worry too much who messes about with it, and I thought: "Aha, the Washburn". So I retrieved it from it's case and decided that it would definitely benefit from a new look. I thought I might strip it and do a rattlecan nitro spray job in black. So far so good. The stripping went well, even though there was about half an inch of paint on it. Once it was down to the wood I was quite amazed at what I found. A lovely mahogany body with an ash (I think) top. So I modified plan A, bought a bottle of tru oil and got to work. Using the slurry and buff method I went through many grades of wet & dry, ending up on 000 wire wool and the end result you see below. A lovely looking bass with top notch hardware- albeit unbranded - which plays and sounds great. It is as heavy as a small star though, which is the only drawback I can find... Oh yes, one really nice touch...The original hair metal paint job was slightly iffy in a couple of spots, just bleed through I think, given the complex pattern, but as such the neckplate is stamped 'reject'. If this is a Washburn reject, I'll take the lot.

Here's my list. The ones with an asterisk are the ones I manged to part with. I think this is most of them....😬 Basses.pdf