| Author | Message | ||
| poor_nigel
Senior Member Username: poor_nigel Post Number: 411 Registered: 11-2009 |
Bought a new-to-me petite SI off the For Sale page and had it sent to the factory. This will make the second time I have paid more to fix a bass up than I paid for it in the first place. Not generally smart move, but someone down the road should bless me daily for it in the future. I'll post some of the pictures Greg sent me of the bass as it currently is, and then some later after: Complete refinish Amber tint to match current color install Ebony fingerboard, fretted install Side LEDs in violet 2@ 1-12-24 install Front Laser LEDs in Blue or Violet 2@ 1-12-24 install Mother of pearl ovals install Mother of pearl star @first fret (not too plain, not too fancy) reveneer peghead with Zebrawood Bookmatched front only Bevel front and back of peghead Bronze inlaid logo with shell Install customer supplied pickups, bridge, tailpiece Plate Pickup selector Plate Large Kidney with holes Plate Rounded rectangle 2 battery Set of ebony and gold knobs I'm sure there will be some other minor changes along the way. This will also be its Factory to Customer page, pix posted when I get them.  | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 4873 Registered: 6-2002 |
That bass is already beautiful looking Nigel I'd be really interested to watch that thread to see how it progresses. | ||
| poor_nigel
Senior Member Username: poor_nigel Post Number: 412 Registered: 11-2009 |
 This is an all-in-one thread. One-stop lookin. Above is a decent shot of an old hand-cut silver sheet metal logo. Pictures will be going up slowly. Mainly due to operator head spacing issues . . . | ||
| poor_nigel
Senior Member Username: poor_nigel Post Number: 413 Registered: 11-2009 |
 Peghead has cocobolo front and back. Logo is leaving, along with the cocobolo, but the scalloped nut is staying. I love adjustable ones, but . . . Machine heads will be gold Schallers or gold Hipshot ultra-lights. I prefer the larger pegs of the Hipshots and their 20:1 turning ratio. I have a couple sets of the Schallers sitting around, so packed one up to go to the factory with other parts I have for this bass. I'll decide later. Hipshots have a larger mounting hole, so no going back once drilled for em. | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 788 Registered: 6-2014 |
I'm looking forward the restoration thread. I just LOVE these classics, and hope to have one of my own some day. | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 235 Registered: 2-2010 |
It looks like another one from the zebrawood log. It has almost exactly the same grain as mine.  Beans? What beans? I was with a band that toured Great Britain, and a strange little man in the north of Scotland went bonkers over my Alembic. A couple years afterward he emailed me that picture from out of the blue. I have no idea what the beans have to do with anything, but as I was flipping through pictures looking for one that showed the grain of the zebrawood, that one is the best. I'm a big fan of Salvador Dali and Stanley Owsley, so there ya go. (I've always thought that it was a fantastic picture of beans on toast as well, if only somebody would get that Alembic out of the way.) | ||
| growlypants
Intermediate Member Username: growlypants Post Number: 158 Registered: 3-2011 |
WOW! Those are some big beans! | ||
| poor_nigel
Senior Member Username: poor_nigel Post Number: 414 Registered: 11-2009 |
 Typical 'run'of'the'mill' old SI shorty. Pickups are toast/plain ugly, bridge is ???, tailpiece is not good. Unusual dot configuration for an Alembic, but the front LEDs would obliterate them, so gone. Fret board is listed as ebony, but it looks like a very close grain rosewood. Off it goes with MOP oval to fit the LED better. Might change the electronics to SII volume and pan. Might . . . Considering removing the stereo jack in favor of an installed LED dimmer for the fronts, or a selector switch for Side, Front and Side, Front, and Off positions. Might . . . I never use the batteries to tune with and my tech ran away decades ago when I never paid him, so . . . Also recessed truss rob cover w/serial number etched into it and back battery cover recessed, as why wasn't it in the first place??? Can't see it on these pictures, but the hum-canceller is push in about 1/4" on the 'E' side, so will be replaced and glued in properly. Fun, fun, fun! More to come later. Ugly pix of top of peg head with bad chips out of the woods, requiring replacements of front and back, plus I like headstocks to kind of match body woods. My personal glitch, I suppose. | ||
| poor_nigel
Senior Member Username: poor_nigel Post Number: 415 Registered: 11-2009 |
 Some people like buck-eye burl, and some don't. I am one of the former people. I do not like sap wood, etc. I don't like ugly, dead, defective, whatever woods. Just a wood snob, I suppose. This bass has sap wood in the back of it. When Mica saw it she said, "Why'd they put it in the back?" As it was a good thing. Some people like it, some don't, obviously. Nothing I can do about it. I will take bets that Chris the master wizard with wood there will make that strap hole disappear to where only a microscope can detect it when he is done with it. I wish he would make the worm wood disappear. No such luck, says she in charge. Oh well. | ||
| flpete1uw
Senior Member Username: flpete1uw Post Number: 606 Registered: 11-2011 |
Hi Thomas, Having the sister Bass to yours I am watching this progress with baited breath! Please keep all the current details posted. I might contact you on the finer details. ;-) Forge on my friend. Peace, Pete | ||
| willie
Advanced Member Username: willie Post Number: 283 Registered: 11-2003 |
Nigel If you are changing the fret board bridge and tail piece then you should think about a new adjustable nut too. Just a thought. Good luck with it. Look forward to seeing it done. Willie | ||
| keith_h
Senior Member Username: keith_h Post Number: 2351 Registered: 2-2005 |
Well Thomas if the "defective wood" disturbs you that much you can always send the bass to me. ;) Keith | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 4877 Registered: 6-2002 |
Or have a book matched to centre piece put on the back. Although I can imagine the labour to do that would increase your budget for the project somewhat. | ||
| poor_nigel
Senior Member Username: poor_nigel Post Number: 416 Registered: 11-2009 |
Hey Willie, it has a scalloped nut, so no chance of it getting changed. Rare outweighs proficiency in a few cases. And Kieth, I will happy send you this bass for a mere handful of hundreds. No more than an inch thick, promise! Jazzyvee - I thought about that, and it could easily be done, for more than I paid for the bass, I imagine. I dream about doing that to Monty - Never would, as it ain't my bass, but the evil thoughts do creep in once in a while. I do not hate the back that much. And honestly, I have never seen this bass in person, so it might look better than in the pix. Next pix will be ugly peg head shots. A lot of the work being done here is on the peg head. |
