old school!

1000% complete badassedness

Hofner ::: pre-refinishing.

Sethenbacker 2 ::: Part Three (3)

DONE! sounds great, plays great, what more can I say?

Sethenbacker 2 ::: Part 2

was getting ready to polish the thing, and I drop it on the concrete patio.
drill a bridge screw, or two, through the body.
this bass seems cursed, thankfully it's almost done.

new project waiting

while I wait for the paint to dry on Sethenbacker 2, I'm planning the next obsession.....Found this battered basket case of the beloved Hofner 500/1 on ebay. Not much money invested, and the guy was local and super nice, so I felt confident about bidding and winning while my Son cheered me and my iPhone on. Threw a bridge and some pricey re-issue tuners on, and surprise surprise, the neck is fairly straight and it plays wonderfully. It had a neck re-set at some point in it's life, not sure how good it was done, it did include a hole drilled into the 16th fret area that I can only assume hides a drywall screw under some kind of awful looking epoxy "plug". The refinish of the surrounding area is an absolute hack job, and that's being nice. The poorly applied re-finish covered up some lovely flamed maple on the back and sides, but that's the least of this lil' guy's worries. Now to plan the restoration......

Sethenbacker #2

a few tweaks, several total f-ups, and many months later, #2 is on it's way to being done.

 I machined out chambers in the body wings, not sure how this will affect the sound, but it definitely makes the bass lighter in weight!

 Accidentally machined through the end of the truss rod while I was removing some fretboard material at the end of the neck. oops.

Remove fretboard, remove destroyed truss road, and replace both.

 Mapping the dots. Notice anything strange about the bridge routes?

 Dots installed, side and front.

 Mmmmmmm....rounded edges.

 Smacking in frets.

 Primer.

 I used Friskett to mask the Walnut wings off on the headstock. Usually used for masking shapes in airbrushing, Friskett will give you a crisp and clean mask.

 Arctic White - ready for the clear coats.