New build - triple pickup franken reggae bass

[Duarte]

Hi everyone - I'm back with a build! 

It's been a little while, but it feels good to have found a project that inspired me. In a local guitar shop here in Sydney, I found some 'junk' they were selling. It was an abused and messed up body from a Tokai MJB50, an incredibly rare bass which I've never seen anywhere else. I found it in the 1989 Tokai catalogue after a little bit of digging https://guitar-catalog.com/guitar-and-amp/tokai/1989-vol15/en_03.html 

 

It is cool because it has 3 pickups, and space for some funky wiring. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the body as I got it, but it was dinged up, pickups missing, electronics seized up. It cost me $50. I've always wanted to make a reggae themed bass, with a rasta inspired colour scheme. We're going with a deep jungle green satin finish, black hardware (all gotoh), and each pickup coloured green, yellow and red (pickups from Herrick). Simple on/off switches for each pickup, with master volume and tone. I found a Tokai neck from an APB57 on ebay from Japan. It's a beautiful piece and fits perfectly- so here's what I've got so far! More updates to come very soon, as hmore hardware and pickups arrive.

 

Disclaimer: I'm a total novice working in my garden so I'm not going for pro results, I'm just having fun making and spraying on my washing line!

Thanks for looking and I hope you like the result

 

Body stripped:

 

 

 

Grain filled, primed:

 

 

first coats of jungle green, on the washing line of course!

 

 

 

Tuners and string tree fitted, and finish rubbed satin smooth on the back of the neck, musicman style:

 

 

 

Edited 41 minutes ago by Duarte

[Mediocre Polymath]

Nice work, and a very cool bass. Out of curiosity, what did you use to strip the finish? I've had mixed results with chemical strippers, including one that came highly recommended, but then just sat totally inert on the polyurethane finish like I'd poured it onto glass. I have a project on the horizon that will probably involve a fair bit of finish stripping.

 

Bonus picture of my own washing-line-based spray booth solution from a few years ago. The old bedsheet is there to stop myself spraying paint into next door's garden.

 

[Duarte]

Nice washing line!

I used a heat gun and scraper, it was a really tough, thick finish to get off. I do like this method because if you get it just right, you can take huge sections of finish off quite cleanly. I actually caused a few more gouges to the body as it was thicker than I anticipated. Ended up giving myself more work to fix everything haha.