TRBboy Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Howdy BCers! I'm going to tell you a story, make yourselves comfortable.... When the Gibson Les Paul Junior Tribute DC bass (catchy name) dropped, I fell in love! Which felt weird, because at heart I am a 34" 5 string, dual pickup guy. But it looked and sounded so cool! Knowing it wouldn't be a main bass for me (and being perpetually skint), I decided I couldn't justify buying one. Then they were promptly discontinued, which made me want one even more.... Not many around on the used market, prices were high, and still my rationale for NOT buying one existed.... But I felt an itch I needed to scratch... Hmmmm..... So, I set off on an odd quest of sorts, to keep my eyes peeled for a pretty unusual bass, but open to any options, provided they met my parameters: •32" scale, preferably •Double cutaway •Single humbucker, preferably •Cheap, as I knew this would be a 'project' bass for fun, and likely not a main player. Pretty niche..... I looked at various things that came up, but nothing really ticked the boxes, UNTIL I spotted an Ibanez GAXB150! Now, I've had the guitar version (GAX30) for many many years, from when I worked in guitar shops, and knew that this whole range punched way above it's low price point. Excellent playing instruments, with surprisingly good stock pickups. I won the eBay auction for the princely sum of £73, which I considered a bargain. It's clearly not been loved particularly, but after a clean up, fret polish, lem oil and re-string, it's absolutely phenomenal! I haven't even needed to do any setup on it, low action, amazing neck, and sounds killer! I do think I'm going to rip out the toggle switch and install a conventional tone pot for more subtle sound sculpting. The toggle basically has a couple of different caps attached, so you have the choice of really bright, really dark, or bypass direct to the jack. The stock pickup is great, it's a DX4, which were installed in the BTBs of the time, and clearly the older SRs had the active version (ADX), which were hugely popular (these remained in the Fieldy Sig long after Ibanez stopped using them in the rest of the range I believe) HELP ME! I want to refinish it, because let's face it, it looks a bit boring, but I can't decide what to go for. Initially I was going to refinish it in TV Yellow, and make a black pickguard (like a classic Les Paul Junior), but also seriously considering Purple flake 🤣 Any suggestions from you guys are very welcome, as I'm struggling to see beyond those two options. Thanks! 😊👍 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Love the look of these and often wondered what they are like. How much does it weigh, do you know? I'd say - it's your bass, do what you fancy. Personally I like black with no pickguard, but that's me. When the bug bites deeper for DC shorties, there's a couple of other basses that might appeal. There was a shorty Antoria LP DC that was made for a while, came in TV yellow to start with. They were only about £350 new and, as and twhen they pop up second hand, around £250. If you have a good back the Hondo H1015 was medium scale, sometimes with DiMarzio pup. Fabulous necks on these but also the much maligned 3-point bridge that, apparently, on this model had an inclination to bend. Heavy, though. Usually under £200 on eBay, I bought one for under £100 a while back. Another cheap shorty is this Encore, although if I saw one I'd probably fight you for it Got this one for under £100, weighs just 3kg. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 Some cracking basses there @Paul S! I had seen the Antoria before, but couldn't find one for sale anywhere... I was also looking at a couple of Aria Cardinals(?) MIJ, but quite heavy for a small bass. A little more than I wanted to pay too. I need to weigh this Ibanez, but I'd guess at about 3.2-3.4Kg. feels light! Maybe I just leave it black.... 🤔 But I do like colourful basses! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeEvans Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 I love orange basses myself and I reckon yours would look great in the right kind of orange with a cream pick guard... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 Just now, JoeEvans said: I love orange basses myself and I reckon yours would look great in the right kind of orange with a cream pick guard... Not a bad shout at all! Think I'd probably go black pickguard personally though, partly because I already have some black PG material 😅 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Purple metalflake all the way, if you ask me, assuming they're all out of pink. Ages ago I saw one of these modded into a reasonable facsimilie of a Grabber/Ripper, as they have a pretty similar body shape. If it was me I might toy with the idea of a big Grabber-shaped scratchplate. Would cover up a lot of purple metalflake, though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Purple flake FTW. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassApprentice Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Depends how you plan on going about the refinish - but I used the Montana Gold spray paint on a bass and was really happy with the finish and how it came out. Yes it wasn't a full professional paint job but with a tiny bit more effort in sanding and coats you can get a great finish and the cans of paint are really affordable at about £7 a can. Huge range of colours too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 19 minutes ago, Bassassin said: Purple metalflake all the way, if you ask me, assuming they're all out of pink. Ages ago I saw one of these modded into a reasonable facsimilie of a Grabber/Ripper, as they have a pretty similar body shape. If it was me I might toy with the idea of a big Grabber-shaped scratchplate. Would cover up a lot of purple metalflake, though. I think if I go purple flake, I probably won't bother with the pickguard tbh. I would love to do pink, but the build I've just finished was pink, so probably better to do something else 😅 Hmmm... What about a fuschia flake though... 🤔😍👌 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 6 minutes ago, BassApprentice said: Depends how you plan on going about the refinish - but I used the Montana Gold spray paint on a bass and was really happy with the finish and how it came out. Yes it wasn't a full professional paint job but with a tiny bit more effort in sanding and coats you can get a great finish and the cans of paint are really affordable at about £7 a can. Huge range of colours too. Yeah I've used Montana a couple of times on basses now, it's great stuff! If I go for flake, it will be Kustom Canz, they've been recommended to me and the colours are great. 👌 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandy_r Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 3 hours ago, TRBboy said: HELP ME! I want to refinish it, because let's face it, it looks a bit boring, but I can't decide what to go for. Initially I was going to refinish it in TV Yellow, and make a black pickguard (like a classic Les Paul Junior), but also seriously considering Purple flake 🤣 Any suggestions from you guys are very welcome, as I'm struggling to see beyond those two options. ...ok - Keep existing colour scheme and apply whole-body decal, two-tone (ie, white hilite, black shadows), moody headshot of your fave player - 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Take it back to bare wood first and see if it would look good natural. It's not unlike a bass version of some of the Gordon Smith range of guitars. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gordon+smith+guitar&atb=v391-1&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 1 hour ago, TRBboy said: I think if I go purple flake, I probably won't bother with the pickguard tbh. I would love to do pink, but the build I've just finished was pink, so probably better to do something else 😅 Hmmm... What about a fuschia flake though... 🤔😍👌 Well - this is the sort of thing I had in mind... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 48 minutes ago, Bassassin said: Well - this is the sort of thing I had in mind... Oh wow! Quite like this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Cherry red, like the Gibson basses of yore! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StingRayBoy42 Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Sparkly Purple all day long! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 46 minutes ago, MoonBassAlpha said: Cherry red, like the Gibson basses of yore! I'm not planning to fully strip it, on such a budget instrument I don't think the wood will be good enough to stain. It's Agathis I believe 2 hours ago, tauzero said: Take it back to bare wood first and see if it would look good natural. It's not unlike a bass version of some of the Gordon Smith range of guitars. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gordon+smith+guitar&atb=v391-1&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images I LOVE Gordon Smith instruments, I've owned a couple of their guitars. As above RE stripping and staining though ☝️😬 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Like this? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 12 minutes ago, MoonBassAlpha said: Like this? Lovely! I had a GS1 in cherry and a custom GS2 natural. I really don't think the wood on this Ibanez will be nice enough to get away with it though. And it's a lot more work to strip the entire finish to find out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandy_r Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 (edited) 19 minutes ago, TRBboy said: I'm not planning to fully strip it, on such a budget instrument I don't think the wood will be good enough to stain. It's Agathis I believe ... but a slightly 'sunburst' stain finish from dark green into slightly yellowish could still look cool Edited January 6 by sandy_r 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 I don't think the wood grain would be very noticeable with a dark cherry stain 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelDean Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Purple sparkle all day long! I've also kept an eye on the Kustom Canz stuff. They've got a great range of paints. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 17 minutes ago, MichaelDean said: Purple sparkle all day long! I've also kept an eye on the Kustom Canz stuff. They've got a great range of paints. Dave from Firecreek basses (can't remember his BC handle) recommended them to me, he's used them on builds a few times with great results. Do you think the purple or the fuschia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelDean Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 2 minutes ago, TRBboy said: Dave from Firecreek basses (can't remember his BC handle) recommended them to me, he's used them on builds a few times with great results. Do you think the purple or the fuschia? Either would be cool, but I'm bias as purple is my favourite colour! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 1 hour ago, sandy_r said: ... but a slightly 'sunburst' stain finish from dark green into slightly yellowish could still look cool That's gorgeous! Not sure I'd have the talent to pull that off though 😅 I can do an alright solid spray can job, or a straightforward stain, never tried a burst though! Plus like I said, I don't think the wood underneath will be anywhere near as attractive as your picture there. 😬 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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