7string Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 (edited) I did have this in Bass Guitars, but as it’s becoming more and more of a project I thought I’d start a thread in this section. I was doing a trawl of Gumtree a couple of weeks ago and came across a bass. I mentioned to my wife that I remembered playing that type and model of bass years ago and it was great fun. I thought it might be good for friends of ours, but their children aren’t quite big enough yet. My wife said that if it was really fun to play that I should get it for my Valentine’s Day pressie. So here‘s “Val“: I really like these little things. A studio I used to go to had one of these with an EMG in it. They used it all the time for on-the-spot basslines as (even!) guitarists could use it as it's only a 30" scale. The original plan was to clean it up, do some fretwork, set it up and enjoy playing it. Problem was though that the more I looked at it, the more work it needed. The initial list looked like this: * Electronics are a bit dodgy. The pots are horrible and while I'm there I might as well change the input jack as well. * All of the pickguard screws are stripped as are all of the bridge screws and one of the strap buttons. The pickguard screws are of a few different sizes as well. * Fingerboard needs a good going over as it's virtually black and it's rosewood. * Frets need levelling. They're low but I think I can get away with just a levelling and not have to re-fret it. * And most importantly the Encore headstock decal has got to go. And that was a pretty good plan, but inspired by [b]Ou7shined[/b]’s pimped Encore Coaster “Betty“, I decided to go a step further and refinish the bass. I thought about which colour and how to go about it, but then I remembered that I’d seen a material finish. I found some instructions for this on the Project Guitar website, so that‘s what I‘m going to try and do; refinish the bass using cotton fabric. I’m not planning to refit the scratch plate which means I’ll have to fill in part of the pick rout. I’ve seen a “metal horn” online which will hold the controls in their usual place. I’m not a DIY’er by any means and I don’t have many tools so, for me, this project is pretty big. Hopefully, if I take my time I’ll end up with a good result. Progress so far * I decided to do the most important thing first and get rid of the ‘E’ word. [b]Neepheid[/b] put me on [b]plankspanker101[/b] on eBay and I’ve bought this. * I’ve looked into which sealers and lacquers to use and they’re on my shopping list. * I've got new pickguard screws, pots and an input jack from WD Music (quick and efficient as usual!). I already have a Sprague ‘orange drop’ capacitor. * Material has been ordered. * All holes have been drilled and plugged. Even though I hadn’t done this before, it was simple to do. I found one tip though, which is to shape the nose of the dowel and put cuts down the side so glue can squeeze out. So this afternoon I started to sand the finish of off the body. I tried stripping a body with Nitromors before and that was messy and extremely slow. It got to a point when it was obvious that the chemicals weren’t working so I took it to a local company who strip doors. Even they couldn’t do a full job of it so this time I’m sanding the finish off. Luckily, we have a dinky little Black & Decker sander which we picked up for a few quid in Cash Converters when we last decorated the house. Mrs 7 became a real dab hand at sanding doors! Combine that with some 40 grit sandpaper and here’s what you get: I’m not looking forward to sanding inside to horns though. There’s no way the sander’s going to get in there, so I’ll have to improvise a bit when I get to that point. I don’t think this is going to be the quickest project ever, but I’ll keep this thread up to date. Wish me luck Edited February 22, 2010 by 7string Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 If you have an electric drill, get a piece of dowel and staple some sand paper to it (along the edge of the paper) and then wrap the paper round the dowel a few times. Put that in the drill et voila, one rotary sanding device. You just need to make sure you wrap the sandpaper the right way round the dowel to correspond with the drill, if that makes any sense. oh, and good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorick Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 [quote name='steve' post='753646' date='Feb 22 2010, 12:01 PM']If you have an electric drill, get a piece of dowel and staple some sand paper to it (along the edge of the paper) and then wrap the paper round the dowel a few times. Put that in the drill et voila, one rotary sanding device. You just need to make sure you wrap the sandpaper the right way round the dowel to correspond with the drill, if that makes any sense. oh, and good luck [/quote] Or you could get a flap wheel... if they still exist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 (edited) Drill trick duly noted. Many thanks The fabric turned up today: Edited February 22, 2010 by 7string Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Quality! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 (edited) Cut out the fabric for the front today. First thing was to put the body on a piece of card and draw around it.... ....then cut that out with a sharp knife. The middle is kept for use later on. Now the fun bit, arranging the fabric under the template. With that sorted, the template was attached to the fabric with drafting tape. This is a low-tack masking tape which is great for masking off fingerboards and so on. I then cut around the fabric and the template leave a gap all the way around. Take the tape off the fabric and I've now got the fabric for the front. The next stage is to paint the edges of the body and then the fabric can go on. I've decided on white for the edges and the headstock to go with the fabric. That will be a slow process as I haven't done this kind of thing before. Edited February 28, 2010 by 7string Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 it's going to look brilliant when it's finished - how about using the fabric on the headstock too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 eh? it's a wee bit tae english that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted March 2, 2010 Author Share Posted March 2, 2010 As an Englishman living in Scotland, it's always nice to wave the flag from time to time. [quote name='steve' post='760322' date='Feb 28 2010, 11:54 PM']it's going to look brilliant when it's finished - how about using the fabric on the headstock too?[/quote] I thought about that but thought it might be a bit much. Plan is to paint the headstock plain white. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry44 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 looking good mark, although i also find the colour scheme quite off putting!!! will keep an eye on this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted March 2, 2010 Author Share Posted March 2, 2010 There's a slight chance I might get this finished by the time the World Cup starts. Always good to be prepared for huge disappointment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 [quote name='7string' post='761402' date='Mar 2 2010, 12:37 AM']As an Englishman living in Scotland, it's always nice to wave the flag from time to time. I thought about that but thought it might be a bit much. Plan is to paint the headstock plain white.[/quote] as an englishman living in scotland, it should have a st georges cross headstock, strap, case and plectrum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 [quote name='steve' post='762381' date='Mar 2 2010, 11:17 PM']as an englishman living in scotland, it should have a st georges cross headstock, strap, case and plectrum [/quote] as an englishman living in [i]glasgow[/i], it should have a st georges cross headstock, strap, case and plectrum and stab-proof vest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted March 2, 2010 Author Share Posted March 2, 2010 When I shared a flat in Glasgow one of my flatmates had a 6ft Scots flag in her room. Not to be outdone, I bought a St George Cross the same size. I still have it as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 [quote name='7string' post='762422' date='Mar 2 2010, 11:57 PM']When I shared a flat in Glasgow one of my flatmates had a 6ft Scots flag in her room. Not to be outdone, I bought a St George Cross the same size. I still have it as well [/quote] imperalist bawb..... wait, i bet scottish swearwords can get through the filter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted March 3, 2010 Author Share Posted March 3, 2010 Having a St George flag is fine. Having a Union Flag in Glasgow could get me in all kinds of trouble.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 (edited) Little bit of progress to report: At the weekend, I made some sanding blocks and got some sealer. The body still needs some sanding in all the bits that the electric sander couldn't get to, but the headstock now has it's first 2 coats of sealer. Tomorrow it needs sanding to 320 and then a couple more coats. Sand that back and it's ready for primer. Edited March 8, 2010 by 7string Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Hey this is going to be wicked. We could start a pimped Encore club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted May 10, 2010 Author Share Posted May 10, 2010 (edited) OK. Progress is slow but at times life gets in the way. I've had the headstock has sanded and sealed for a couple of weeks. Today it received several thin coats of gloss white. I'll let that dry for a couple of days, sand it back and see where to go from there. If it seems OK, I'll put the new decal on and spray a couple of light coats of clear lacquer to seal it. The body has just got its fourth and last coat of sealer. Tomorrow I'll do a few light coats of white paint and leave that for a couple of days. If that works out fine then I can put the material top on. Edited May 10, 2010 by 7string Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metalmoore Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 I was starting to wonder what happened to this project. Nice to see its still going on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynepunkdude Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 [quote name='Ou7shined' post='773874' date='Mar 13 2010, 09:52 PM']Hey this is going to be wicked. We could start a pimped Encore club. [/quote] Yes we should I have 2. This awesome BTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoombung Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 I'm watching this with great interest as I've just stripped a cheap bass only to discover some wood flaws that might need covering up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted June 11, 2010 Author Share Posted June 11, 2010 I haven't forgotten about this, I've just haven't been able to get round to this recently. Next step is to spray some more white and I'll post pics when I can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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