Kevstein Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 (edited) Just thought i would post one of these. I wont be doing all that much to my guitar. But its starting to look a bit tired (not surprising as it is older than i am!) Its a 1989 Charvette by Charvel model 400, 4 string bass. I bought it in black back when i was about 12 or 13 (10 or 11 years ago). Being so young, it was just a bit of a toy for me, and i picked it up cheap but never spent any real time trying to learn it until the last month or so. About a year after i bought it, i decided i would paint it red. It looks better in red, but the finish wasnt great. It has Charvel/Jackson pick ups. Only thing i have done so far is fix it. It was making a horrible loud buzzing noise when plugged in and then if you touched the tone knob it went away, so out came the soldering iron (im a mechanical engineer so anything electrical is completely strange to me lol). I noticed when i took the cover off the back, there was a random wire just sticking up vertically in the air. So that was rewired last night and now it works like a dream. Easy fix! I also restrung it with 45-105 gauge ernie balls and have (temporarily) fixed the bridge, as a saddle screw has snapped for the E string and was vibrating off the bridge plate. (I jammed a 5p in between lol). I am currently looking for a replacement. I have sourced and plan to change all fittings down to the screws that hold the back cover on. Its also getting a paint job this weekend which im going to re-do if i dont get it perfect. I want this thing looking like it came out the factory as it is mint apart from the issues above. Once fixed she will yet be ready for a long life in my hands (poor thing). I am going to upload some pics of how she stands at the moment when i get home and some progress/finished pics. It will look like a completely different guitar for what i have planned. Cheers for reading & would like to know what you guys think of her, Kev. **EDIT: Pics Added** Heres pics of how she stands at the moment. Any marks you see are either the light catching it wrong/fingerprints or reflections. Couldnt get a decent pic of the headstock but uploaded one anyways. You can tell from the pics though that shes starting to get tired. But she will look like a different guitar by time im done. Anyways, the pics: UPDATE: Here is the finished product. Painted in silver with black bridge/tuning pegs/vol knobs. [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The bass was completely taken apart. All wiring taken off and rewired correctly.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Sanded the body down last night and sprayed it. Very happy with the finished product.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I sanded it down using 40, 60, 80, 100, 140, 180, 220 grit sand paper to get the best surface for painting on. Cleaned throughly, added 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of colour. [/font][/color] Pics: [IMG]http://i42.tinypic.com/qyj11f.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i44.tinypic.com/2zgxilz.jpg[/IMG] What do you guys think? It plays and sounds better than it ever has now, but also (imo) looks much better and less tacky than bright red. Any thoughts positive or negative are much appreciated. Cheers, Kev. Edited August 12, 2013 by Kevstein Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandelion Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Wanna see pics.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevstein Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 Pics added. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevstein Posted August 12, 2013 Author Share Posted August 12, 2013 The bass was completely taken apart. All wiring taken off and will be replaced with new wiring when assembled again. Sanded the body down last night and sprayed it. Very happy with the finished product. Waiting for all my new hardware to come and then it can be all put back together. Job for tonight is to rewire everything back up ready for adding hardware when they come. Pics of the body painting process will be added tonight. I sanded it down using 40, 60, 80, 100, 140, 180, 220 grit sand paper to get the best surface for painting on. Cleaned throughly, added 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of colour. Its still hanging and drying at the moment. So will check it for any imperfections tonight and if there are any it will be sanded back down and redone, but by how it looked this morning that wont be necessary. Overall, a happy chappy so far! I have been looking at putting black strings on it but the only decent looking ones are DR black beautys and they are 37quid per pack. Are there any cheaper ones anyone knows of? At this price id rather keep the 18quid ones ive just put on it and put the money towards a better amp/pedal. Cheers, Kev. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevstein Posted August 12, 2013 Author Share Posted August 12, 2013 New pics added to first post. What do u guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myke Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Looks good How's the finish? Any little marks? Just realised this has a reverse P pickup, That's cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevstein Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 [quote name='Myke' timestamp='1376353073' post='2172813'] Looks good How's the finish? Any little marks? Just realised this has a reverse P pickup, That's cool [/quote] Cheers Myke. The finish is pretty good. There was one bit on the back that didnt get enough paint when i had string hanging it up but thankfully that is underneath the plate on the back. Its a much better finish than i got when it was red. You cant really tell from the photo because i took them on my phones camera in a dark room with a phones flash, i need to get some better pics. But im happy with it. It looks cool, having the silver and black. I noticed that it had reverse P pickup but i didnt know whether it was a good thing or not lol. There wasnt an awful lot of info on them when i googled it, what do you think about them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myke Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 [quote name='Kevstein' timestamp='1376383478' post='2172973'] Cheers Myke. The finish is pretty good. There was one bit on the back that didnt get enough paint when i had string hanging it up but thankfully that is underneath the plate on the back. Its a much better finish than i got when it was red. You cant really tell from the photo because i took them on my phones camera in a dark room with a phones flash, i need to get some better pics. But im happy with it. It looks cool, having the silver and black. I noticed that it had reverse P pickup but i didnt know whether it was a good thing or not lol. There wasnt an awful lot of info on them when i googled it, what do you think about them? [/quote] Yeah, the same thing happened to my bass I painted. But it covers up nicely Honestly I've never played one but people say good things about them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBobTTD Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 The silver looks great. Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevstein Posted August 14, 2013 Author Share Posted August 14, 2013 Thanks a lot, I much prefer it in silver. The red was nice enough but looked a bit tacky. It looks like it could have just been made like this now and as a bonus it plays better than it ever has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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