andytoad Posted May 9 Author Posted May 9 On 12/04/2025 at 10:48, Alanko said: Dark oak Briwax took the bright white out the edge of a pickguard for me. As it contains solvents it sort of etches into the plastic rather than sit on the surface. Just purchased some, so will give it a try, good idea.. 1 Quote
Longwheelbass Posted May 25 Posted May 25 (edited) On 14/02/2025 at 20:11, andytoad said: First up, the bridge. Its in a hell of a state, I don't know if I can free up the screws? If not, I'm thinking of treating with a dash of penetrating oil (careful of the body) over the period of a few days and then gentle persuasion with the screwdriver. Dissassemble, try to clean back the rot and see if the components are still usable. Possibly replace with a quality aged replacement. Any thoughts? Apologies, I'm late to the party. You did what I had to do to a 69 body that had rusted out bridge mount screws - the old 5mm diamond edged holesaw! Nice job. What you had on there was an aftermarket bridge. Those saddle height screws give the game away, they're Allen wrench, which didn't show up on US Fenders until the 90's. The saddles and intonation screws will be metric. I see you've made a lot of progress (on page 5) bass looks incredible. Have you had anyone look at those frets yet? Because I wouldn't replace them, by the looks of the closeup on page 5 there's still enough height on them for a pro to level, crown and polish them. Good luck! Edited May 26 by Longwheelbass Further observations 1 Quote
JoeEvans Posted May 26 Posted May 26 I like the black pickguard a lot. Better than tortoise to my eye... It's looking amazing, great to see an actual, genuine relic! 1 Quote
andytoad Posted May 26 Author Posted May 26 (edited) 16 hours ago, Longwheelbass said: Apologies, I'm late to the party. You did what I had to do to a 69 body that had rusted out bridge mount screws - the old 5mm diamond edged holesaw! Nice job. What you had on there was an aftermarket bridge. Those saddle height screws give the game away, they're Allen wrench, which didn't show up on US Fenders until the 90's. The saddles and intonation screws will be metric. I see you've made a lot of progress (on page 5) bass looks incredible. Have you had anyone look at those frets yet? Because I wouldn't replace them, by the looks of the closeup on page 5 there's still enough height on them for a pro to level, crown and polish them. Good luck! Ah thanks for the positive vibes! Yup. It was an interesting exercise to get it off and sorted..I ended up getting attached to the dirty old thing so put it back on 😀 It's with Andy Crockett right now, I did end up with a fret replacement in the end, he is going to get it nicely set up, looking forward to getting it back.. Edited May 26 by andytoad Spooling mistook 2 Quote
andytoad Posted May 26 Author Posted May 26 3 hours ago, JoeEvans said: I like the black pickguard a lot. Better than tortoise to my eye... It's looking amazing, great to see an actual, genuine relic! Yes, I preferred the black one, I bought some Briwax on a recommendation from this thread. I quite liked the finish, forgot to add a photo here in my rush to get it to the luthier, I will correct that when I get it back... 2 Quote
andytoad Posted August 3 Author Posted August 3 Well, finally got the bass back after a refret, plays nice.. however.... one part of the pickup needs a rewind, I'm getting zero output and a dodgy earth from it, so off to Kent Armstrong it goes... Quote
ossyrocks Posted August 3 Posted August 3 2 minutes ago, andytoad said: Well, finally got the bass back after a refret, plays nice.. however.... one part of the pickup needs a rewind, I'm getting zero output and a dodgy earth from it, so off to Kent Armstrong it goes... Andy, I had a '73 Jazz bridge pickup rewound by Ash at Oil City Pickups. He has a spool of the exact vintage wire and recreated the pickup as it was originally manufactured, right down to the nitro lacquer afterwards. He turned it round in less than a week and it cost very little to do. Just sayin.... Rob 1 Quote
andytoad Posted August 3 Author Posted August 3 5 minutes ago, ossyrocks said: Andy, I had a '73 Jazz bridge pickup rewound by Ash at Oil City Pickups. He has a spool of the exact vintage wire and recreated the pickup as it was originally manufactured, right down to the nitro lacquer afterwards. He turned it round in less than a week and it cost very little to do. Just sayin.... Rob Oft..... maybe I should give him a tinkle then? Great recommendation thank you Rob.. 🙂 1 Quote
andytoad Posted August 3 Author Posted August 3 (edited) 12 minutes ago, ossyrocks said: Andy, I had a '73 Jazz bridge pickup rewound by Ash at Oil City Pickups. He has a spool of the exact vintage wire and recreated the pickup as it was originally manufactured, right down to the nitro lacquer afterwards. He turned it round in less than a week and it cost very little to do. Just sayin.... Rob Not too far from where I was made either!! 😅 Edited August 3 by andytoad 1 Quote
andytoad Posted August 30 Author Posted August 30 (edited) Well, final update from me on this I guess, I had the treble part of the pick rewound (WD Music) as it was dead, its now been re-fretted and setup (Andy Crockett) and I've replaced the tug-bar. Strung with La bella's. regarding Pickguardgate - I went with the black scuffed up and stained with Briwax. Probably not to everyone's taste, but I really like the result. For a '75 it plays great, sounds as a P should, is fairly light with as many original parts as I could recover. If anyone has a rusty screw they are willing to post for the pickguard above the tugbar, please give me a shout. Oddly (considering the condition of the bass), the screw is bothering me 😆 Edited August 30 by andytoad 3 Quote
ossyrocks Posted August 30 Posted August 30 5 minutes ago, andytoad said: Well, final update from me on this I guess, I had the treble part of the pick rewound (WD Music) as it was dead, its now been re-fretted and setup (Andy Crockett) and I've replaced the tug-bar. Strung with La bella's. regarding Pickguardgate - I went with the black scuffed up and stained with Briwax. Probably not to everyone's taste, but I really like the result. For a '75 it plays great, sounds as a P should, is fairly light with as many original parts as I could recover. If anyone has a rusty screw they are willing to post for the pickguard above the tugbar, please give me a shout. Oddly (considering the condition of the bass), the screw is bothering me 😆 It looks great, and I'm sure it plays and sounds great too. Thanks for taking us on your journey with you, I have enjoyed it ! Rob 2 Quote
andytoad Posted August 30 Author Posted August 30 1 minute ago, ossyrocks said: It looks great, and I'm sure it plays and sounds great too. Thanks for taking us on your journey with you, I have enjoyed it ! Rob Thank you for your help and support through doing this, really appreciated top BC'er 🙂 1 Quote
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