It came from the black lagoon...

[neepheid]

In 2007, I put together a bass, a fancy bitsa mostly - I bought the body and neck off ebay (not your typical F style bits - a body with a fancy top which might have been home made and a F like neck but with a somewhat different headstock shape), but did some modifications myself (through body stringing, an extra hole for a mini switch) and refinished it myself in shellac (Ronseal's finest "French polish") and was quite pleased with the result.  It predates my involvement here, so it was never documented, but it looked like this:

 

But being a daftie at the time (heh, what's changed?) - it eventually got sidelined, then raided for parts, and eventually abandonded in the shed, where it sat, unloved for many, many years.  The only thing positive you could say is that it was out of the rain and wind.  Apart from that, it was in a damp, unheated shed for at least 7 years.

 

A conversation I got involved in about "why don't (electric) instrument makers use French polish as a finish?" reminded me of this beast.  For shame.  What a waste.  I retrieved it from the shed and took it in the house...
 

 

Yeah, a bit manky.  I have no idea what that discoloration of the wood next to metal parts is, it doesn't wipe off, it's in the finish or the wood.  Oh well, if it doesn't wipe off, it can't harm me, or something.  Quite a handsome top on it, and no veneer either, nice thick top...

 

 

 

Eww, and that was just the front upper bout.  But it was clean.  Needs a polish, but there's no point in doing that unless the thing works...

 

[neepheid]

So I had a rummage in the parts collection and found enough stuff to do a proof of concept at least - some tuners, a BBOT, pickups (the stock one from a Squier Jag H, and a rando J pickup).  Found the Hipshot string retainer I had pilfered off of it.  Offered it up and it seemed to fit.  Even the tuner bushings gripped the holes - needed persuasion to sit flush which amazed me!

 

 

But there's a more existential threat to the whole thing - the neck's in a bit of a back bow after years in the shed with no strings on and the truss rod not loosened - oops!  And it's not simply a case of replacing the neck, because the bugger I bought the original body and neck from back in 2007 had glued the neck in!

 

So I decided to just get the tuners and bridge installed, then string it up and hope that prolonged string tension with the truss rod backed off completely will pull it into a forward bow once more.  So that's what I did (and don't talk to me about the missing screws - I snapped three drill bits during all this and two of them are stuck in the bass, FFS!  Anyway, that's a problem for another day.  I strung it up and at first, horrible fret buzz on all strings from frets 1-4, then comes good from 5 onwards.  Sad sauce.

 

BUT

 

It appears to be recovering - it seemed to be a little better as the evening progressed last night, and it's better still this morning when I checked it before heading to work.  So that's it had about 12 hours of unopposed string tension.  Hopefully it will have improved further when I get home from work this evening.

 

I don't wanna jinx it, but it appears that the bass wants to live....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[neepheid]

I don't know what's going on - those repeated pictures just appeared, and I can't delete them out of the post, they just keep coming back.

 

EDIT: cheers to @Woodinblack for tidying up my mess!

Edited 4 hours ago by neepheid

[Happy Jack]

Bloody locking jack sockets! Why do people use these monstrosities? 🤬

[neepheid]

Just now, Happy Jack said:

Bloody locking jack sockets! Why do people use these monstrosities? 🤬

 

Not my choice, it was already mounted on the body when I bought it.  Easily sorted though...

 

 

[lemmywinks]

The body is reminding me of a Fodera Emperor, must be that lower bout.

 

 

 

Stick a butterfly decal on it to wind people up!

Edited 4 hours ago by lemmywinks

[tauzero]

3 hours ago, neepheid said:

It appears to be recovering - it seemed to be a little better as the evening progressed last night, and it's better still this morning when I checked it before heading to work.  So that's it had about 12 hours of unopposed string tension.  Hopefully it will have improved further when I get home from work this evening.

 

You could try supporting it by the body and the headstock and resting something reasonably heavy on the neck.

[neepheid]

Just now, tauzero said:

 

You could try supporting it by the body and the headstock and resting something reasonably heavy on the neck.

 

Cheers, I'll keep that in my back pocket, if organic* progress halts.

 

*minimum effort