BassTool

How on earth has this been unplayed?!

Ive never seen one in that colour or that condition, amazing for its age.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1986-Westone-Super-Headless-Bass-Guitar-Matsumoku-Absolutely-Mint/202794134469?hash=item2f3778ebc5:g:~qIAAOSwWEddmd6L&redirect=mobile

Awesome.

That is all. 👌

As seen in Build Diaries on here...

My go to bass now 😎

Deary deary me, that finish 😍

Worth the wait, beautiful work 

There's some talent on here mind 😎

Lovely work! 😍

13 hours ago, Fishman said:

 

I'm afraid it's gonna be black though!

    Oh noooooooooooooo.....

..... that beautiful wood covered in black 

Just my opinion of course   

Great thread, lovely result 👍

Oh my 😍

Awesome job.

Great skill Andy, you make that look a doddle 😲 and I see you are another builder keeping a smile on the face of @SpondonBassed

🤣

Oh my 😍

Stunning work! 

39 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

  I do like a good volute you know.

You should've said... 😆

Superb work! 👍

Those are lovely, and I love the walnut one.

Just wait until @SpondonBassed sees that volute....

🤣

Oh my... 😍

Welcome back! 

Awesome work as usual, love the binding technique 😎

On 13/08/2019 at 19:30, LukeFRC said:

 

 

.....triple check you’ve locked the height of the router. 

 

👍😆

This is looking pretty awesome so far. Tru oil finish on the cards?

I know of a good 'how to' on here  😜

Respect! 😎 Great to see someone having a proper go at something brand new to them, it all looks great so far, and as usual, some expert tips being chipped in by the usual regulars.

Some great purchases for little money too 🤩

You'll not be short of excellent advice on here  👍

What's your fancy, painted or natural finish?

On 08/07/2019 at 18:27, Christine said:

I fitted the pickup risers to one of the twins and fitted the pickups, put the pots in and the knobs etc but they haven't been soldered yet

I made some truss rod covers using a little jig for the router table.

 

Roughly made the nut, I got the approximate fret height buy splitting a wide pencil as below and used that to mark a line, I undercut the lead a little to make the line a little high. I filed it to shape and then cut the slots with nut files before.

I decided on the final machine head positions, I flipped them over and had them straight. Lastly I put some strings on but that's about it for today, it's nowhere near set up.

 

I have one small problem, i think I have put the tail piece of the bridge a few mm to far back as the silk of the strings is sitting in the nut, any ideas how I can sort that other than trimming the silk slightly? Longer strings are an option I suppose

 

 

 WOW, absolutely beautiful workwomanship! 😲

Can I recommend brass for a nut in future builds Christine? I'm hoping you'll notice the difference 😎

Those look superb  

That's a bad stammer you got there Mick... 😖

Just when I thought your skills were already amazing, you go and up the ante...😲

Absolutely superb workmanship Andy, and as usual, great pics to back it all up  

On 29/06/2019 at 17:06, Deedee said:

Wasn’t sure whether this should be in here or in Repairs & Technical but here goes….

The restoration of the electrics on my '83 SB-R150 is finally complete and I'm very pleased with the result. Huge thanks go to @Prostheta for his wizardry and patience and also to Rautia Pickups for the pair of MB-1E replacement pickups.

This bass was originally listed for sale on here several years ago although I subsequently found it through an ad elsewhere (EDIT - I was actualy given the heads up by @Fionn of the ad on FB). Turned out that the BC ad was indeed still live. I purchased it because it was in such beautiful condition, including the original case. The big (very big) and obvious issue was that the original pickups and electronics had long since been removed and disposed of. After conversations with Prostheta as to what was or wasn't possible I decided to push on with trying to get it restored to as close to stock as possible.

The first pictures show the bass as I bought it, then with everything stripped out. Note the packers that had been fitted inside the pickup cavities to take the screws for the previously installed Armstrong pickups. Fortunately after some careful chipping away I managed to clear the old glue off to reveal the original pickup screw bushings.

As you can see the loom (including 6-position Varitone and preamp) that Prostheta provided is a work of art and it seemed a shame to have to try and cram it into the seemingly tiny electronics cavity in the back of the bass. It was a squeeze but it went in and it is beautifully quiet running. No humming, no buzzing, even sat directly in front of the amp with the volume up to gigging levels it is uber quiet.

Finally there are a couple of pics with this now complete bass taking its place alongside my R60 and R80. I may look out for a set of black or bronze pickup screws as the silver ones do stand out a little but all in all I'm thrilled with it. It sounds great with a powerful preamp and a huge range of tones and I know it’ll be good for years.

I'm a happy chappy and I hope you enjoy the pics showing the seemingly simple but oh not so simple transformation.  😀

 

WOW! That is a lot of love for Aria's right there! Impressive, they are lovely basses

He's done it once again 😎 Awesome work from the maestro 😍

Beautiful work 😍👌

Great work so far 👍

+1 for a natural finish, plenty 'how to' info available on here including 'Honza's Tru oil technique'.

That wood looks like it could come out beautifully, shame to cover it with paint IMO..