Bass-ment budget fretless pub bass build / hack

[p4ul]

Following on from my SillyStratocaster Bass hack.

I Picked up a mid 80’s Applause (by ovation, allegedly m’lud) P Bass for £50 at a junk shop for a pub bass, honestly I nearly didn’t buy it because that was the food money for the week, but I thought it was Worth a shot and I could probably explain to the wife why we would just eat porridge and beans. The Fretboard was partly delaminated but truss rod sound. Now to ruin it with my epic luthier skills that i got for xmas last.

 

1- re fit fretboard and see if it plays. It does neck is nice but the action is vile

2 - will it play nice? hmm not really, better but still a bit shit frets are all over the place.

3 - de fret, because re fret is just silly. And I really fancy a fruitless because I used to own a Doug Wilkes percussive fretless in the mid 80s which I lost at a gig because I got so drunk I left it there and we parted ways, what an idiot.🤯

 

Some of you might remember this bass from the “has anybody got a scratch plate” in wanted ads.

 

well i got the scratch plate sorted thank you to @walshy @rwillett @Shepster8316 then like a fool I just went down the old fixit wormhole and went full project on it.

 

had a busted 80’s Benedetti from a Viger had that I had rewound perviously by Bloodstoneguitars (Dave is great). Got a veneer sample from ebay for £3 good shout from this excellent basschat thread

watched a bit of YT and procrastinated for over a week.

I then bit the bullet and took all of the frets out “carefully” after learning that patience was key and I’m not a very patient person so I was very patient or as patient as I could be took the frets out waited about a week for the maple to come the Maple didn’t come then I asked the guy where my maple was and he said oh I’ll send you another bit and then he didn’t send me Maple he sent me Royal Ebony instead and so I used that, because serendipity. (The maple did arrive eventually, so if you need some hit me up)

Glued in my shed

Finished in someone else's actual workshop

 

Interestingly the ebony is striped, so i put the lighter stripe at the top end of the fret so i have markers, which helps.

Griller glue for inlays and super glue to seal the board! Who knew! Finished with Gun oil because it was there. 

 

when I put it back together again, I think the old wiring loom was really shot. It would not stop buzzing no matter what I did and the pots were just dead really so I just wired in series the pick ups directly to the Jack while I save up for a @KiOgon VT VT Loom it works okay it’s a bit weird not being able to turn your base down or adjust any other tone, but it’s quite liberating in some ways not having to fiddle with your knob all the time 😁

 

 

 

routing for the B was a bit scary but i managed it with out too much damage.

now I have a pretty well playable fretless PJ hybrid thing and yeah it is a lot of fun actually but I’ve gotta get some flats for it because all my other basses are two aside and I don’t have an old set that fits and so this is currently sporting a totally mismatched set of horribleness. Again I gotta save up because I don’t have any money to buy strings. I have to buy food and pay the gas bill.😩

 

i suppose I could ruin/modify it to a 3/1  to use my old sets but i like the fenderesque headstock. So prolly not. 

Edited 5 hours ago by p4ul
Facts, links and props