Project elcheapo frankenbasso...

thekage · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:02 pm Post subject: Project elcheapo frankenbasso...

So yesterday I picked up a cheap bass, Korean made, beat to hell and back. No manufacturer name or model number, no serial number either. It has a weird bridge setup and is short scale. Body looks like a strat copy with a sunburst finish with lots of abuse, dirt, and grime. Also has two knobs and two switches.
All of the chrome hardware has lots of surface rust and discoloration. Neck and frets are all in good shape.

Edit: No pictures I guess.. bc im a new user..

So I took the strings off and when I did, the nut came off with them.
Also the screws holding the pick guard on were so rusted and striped... I tried lemon juice/vinegar/baking soda mixture to remove some of the rust, and it did remove a lot of rust from the screws. Which only served to show me exactly how striped the heads were anyway. So I drilled them out and got pick guard off.

What is weird to me is that the body has been routed for pickups.. but the pickups are not "through" the pick guard, they just set on top of it. There is no hole through the pick guard for the pickups.. interesting.

Now I am left with the problem of how to get the screws out of the body. I actually used a finger nail file to get them as close to the body as I could without scaring the wood. I will fill around them and sand them the rest of the way.

Body is going to be flat black with a black pickguard.

I am thinking about picking up some Squier Tuners and bridge off of ebay... but what kind of pickups and switch setup should I go with? I play mostly modern rock/alt/classic, blues... I want some punch and some tone. I was thinking about a Soapbar from a Musicman and maybe a single jazz pickup...

Twisted Evil

Pilgrim · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:39 am Post subject:

You can get the screws out by taking Dremel tool and cutting a slot across the end of the screw, then turning each screw out with a slotted screwdriver. The trick is not to cut a slot in the body...so I hope you still have some of the screw's shaft sticking out to work with.

Of course, it would have been preferable to leave more of the screw stiching out and perhaps use vice grips or other pliers to CAREFULLY grab then and back them out.

I don't see how you can finish them flush with the finish without damaging the finish...but I would NOT leave them there. I'd remove them one way or another, then use wood filler to re-build the damaged areas. if you're painting it black, filler underneath is not a problem.

There's no problem with the nut coming off. just put ONE drop of glue behind it and re-mount it when you install the strings. That will hold it in place but make it possible to remove it easily if you ever break the nut and need to replace it.

I have no sage advice about a pickup other than this; if you want punch and tone, there's nothing wrong with either a P-bass pickup or a MusicMan style pickup. I personally wouldn't go with a single Jazz pickup.