Prosebass Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 (edited) I was lucky enough to snap this bass up from bigthumb who advertised it on the forum. It is a Mayones B4 with MEC electric bits and Warwick hardware. Looks to be an early one with a laminated neck made from ? and a very dense heavy body in ? . If anyone out there can assist with info on this bass I would appreciate it. The first problem was delamination of the neck at the back of the truss-rod adjuster and over the volute. [attachment=155808:IMG_1738.JPG] [attachment=155809:IMG_1739.JPG] Sometimes this can be fixed with a quick re-glue left clamped overnight but because of the nature of this neck there was no chance of getting any glue into the joint and no way of opening up the laminations. So we are left with no option but to remove a section of the lamination and insert a new piece of wood. Removing the wood entails judicious use of scalpels working up from a very thin blade to one around 2mm thick. [attachment=155810:IMG_1748.JPG] [attachment=155811:IMG_1750.JPG] On removing the wood I discovered there was less than 3mm between the back of the neck and the truss rod! If you have one of these basses be very careful with it! Next I prepared a filler strip in a contrasting wood. Why? I did this to keep the bass honest. Should I ever sell it the new owner will never be able to pass it on as perfect as the repair will always show. The strip (walnut) was soaked in water for an hour and the neck was wetted before application of the Gorilla Glue which requires moisture to cure fully. [attachment=155812:IMG_1752.JPG] [attachment=155813:IMG_1751.JPG] [attachment=155814:IMG_1753.JPG] The truss rod rout was covered inside with a strip of formica-teflon to stop the expanding Gorilla Glue clogging up the truss rod threads. The glue was left to cure fully overnight which also dried out the neck. The truss rod rout was treated to a coating of epoxy simply poured in and left to settle taking care not to put too much in as to foul the adjuster or clog the threads. This will give extra strength to the repair. [attachment=155815:IMG_1754.JPG] The excess wood from the filler strip was sanded off and blended with the volute. 4 applications of superglue were given to the sanded area, each time being flatted off before applying the next. Finally a little linseed oil was applied and a good polish. [attachment=155816:IMG_1756.JPG] [attachment=155817:IMG_1757.JPG] Next problem was a raise in the fretboard at the dusty end on the E string side resulting in fret buzz. This really only affected the 20th the 24th frets so first I sanded the back of the heel to ensure it was flat. I redressed all the frets and took quite a lot off the last 5 - 6 frets under the E until I had virtually flat frets compensating for the raise.. A quick polish, a shim and a set up... Still has a little buzz on the 23rd & 24th frets on the E but to be honest I never go down there having been used to 21 fret basses! [attachment=155818:IMG_1763.JPG] [attachment=155819:IMG_1764.JPG] It is a really nice (if heavy) bass, love the MEC single coils, thanks bigthumb (Paul) [attachment=155820:IMG_1766.JPG] Edited February 22, 2014 by Prosebass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Nice job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosebass Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1393021389' post='2375458'] Nice job! [/quote] Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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