colda Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 I've been in love with my Peavey's for a while until I managed to pick up a Squier Standard Jazz from the local Crack Converters for £60, the Jazz played nice enough but there was something lacking - a Badass II, Fender Vintage/Original pickups and some TI flats sorted this out and it's now become my main bass. Being happy with the sound and feel of my Jazz I've not really had any desire for a Precision, until one appeared locally on ebay and with a winning bid of £45 for both the bass and a Laney 30W Hardcore bass amp, there were no photos and only a sketchy description in the listing, when I picked it up I was amazed on how easy it was to play and had the lowest action that I've come across on a bass, that said the stings were awful (alternate nickel and steel in order to have red/black alternating silks), The body has many chips but very little going through to the wood, there are a few dings on the back of the neck but these will be easy enough to sand out. So, I got it home and started stripping it down, here she is with just the string removed: An hour's work with a heat gun got rid of the original finish, I did consider the idea of just rubbing down the finish and painting on top but I feel much happier having the body stripped before I start, also I wanted to have a look at the wood to see if there is a chance of a natural finish - there isn't, the body is made up of a few blocks with a veneer on top, I did consider the idea of a sunburst type finish but there is very little character in the veneer so I doubt that I'll take this route (in a traditional sense at least). As for upgrades, these are as follows: 1. Bridge - replace with a Badass II 2. Tuners - replace with Fender Standard 3. Pickups - replace with Wizard Trad 4. Strings - replace with La Bella flats (760FS) 5. Electrics - 250k pots .47 cap I'm proud to say that all upgrades (not looked at No. 5 as yet) have been sourced here on Basschat Fortunately (for me) the neck profile is rather nice, it only about 1-2mm wider than my old Vester Jazz that I compared it against and not deep at all, there are the few dings to be sanded out and the holes for the tuners will need to be enlarged to take the Fender standard sized jobbies With the sanding down and cleaning the Squier headstock logo is no more, I'm not really into the idea of just putting a Fender logo on because firstly it's not really a Fender and secondly because it's not trying to be a Fender so I'm planning to put my own headstock design, the first idea is just to go with familiarity and keep to a Fenderish font like this: Or to have a bit of fun with the design and do something like this (please ignore the jazz/precision bit - used the jazz headstock as the design photo as it already has the correct size tuners installed): Which just leaves the finish, during the past few weeks my mind has gone through many ideas from a standard black finish through to totally custom artwork but I've always held back until I knew the situation with the wood, now that it's been decided that a natural finish isn't going to happy my mind is in a state of confusion as to what to do with the body, I have the original single ply pickguard that I'm happy to replace, only thing is that it's a 14 hole thing rather than the standard 13 hole arrangement, am I right in assuming that I can still use a 13 hold standard pickguard and just have to make new screw holes where required? Any suggestions on the finish? - help me out with ideas! Am now itching to get it all together and start playing it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 [quote name='colda' post='154821' date='Mar 10 2008, 07:25 PM']Which just leaves the finish, during the past few weeks my mind has gone through many ideas from a standard black finish through to totally custom artwork but I've always held back until I knew the situation with the wood, now that it's been decided that a natural finish isn't going to happy my mind is in a state of confusion as to what to do with the body, I have the original single ply pickguard that I'm happy to replace, only thing is that it's a 14 hole thing rather than the standard 13 hole arrangement, am I right in assuming that I can still use a 13 hold standard pickguard and just have to make new screw holes where required? Any suggestions on the finish? - help me out with ideas! Am now itching to get it all together and start playing it![/quote] Yeah, pickguards are a pain. I've had success using MIM guards from WD Music. I filled the old holes with wood filler and sanded down, then placed the pickguard on the bass (having the neck attached and the pickups in place really helps to make sure everything's lined up well. I use a pencil to draw through the holes in the pickguard, drill them with a Dremel (well, B&Q's cheapy ripoff ) then you're good to go with some nice shiny new pickguard screws. Check out [url="http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/lacquer.html"]Manchester Guitar Tech[/url] for lacquer and refinishing ideas. I've been using some of the lacquers from there recently and I've been impressed so far with the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifeq Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 i have a squier affinity as a project as well will have to start a topic with photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifeq Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 any news on yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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