jordan Posted May 18, 2007 Report Share Posted May 18, 2007 hey guys my lady bought me a new grind 6 bass, and i dont like the factory natural look simply because i dont like the look that someone can go to sam ash and buy one. so im gonna retop it myself, my questions now are: 1.) im gonna buy some cocobolo to retop it with, anyone know best quality and prices? 2.) does anyone know how to go abouts doing this, the whole retopping is new to me. anyone wanna help me please? emails would be nice, but a reply here would rock. thanks guys! jordan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted May 18, 2007 Report Share Posted May 18, 2007 You may be in over your head with the questions you're asking. There are many many ways to go about this. Are you looking to use a veneer, or a good 1/4"+ top? Why Cocobolo? Are you looking for flatsawn or quartersawn grain? The two look worlds apart in Cocobolo, I think either would look very beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted May 18, 2007 Report Share Posted May 18, 2007 what neck join does the bass have? - if its set neck or thru-neck this suddenly becomes a hell of a lot harder and very unwise. I have re-topped a few bolt-on neck guitars and its not that hard to do, but a lot of work if you havnt done anything like this before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordan Posted May 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 well... its a neck through. i was thinking cocobolo for tone, and overall appearence. i just like natural wood grain, as opposed to color. and quilted maple looks nice, but i dont think i would want it on any of my basses. maybe flamed.... yum. why would it be unwise? just wondering. im quite curious now. thanks for the help guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted May 20, 2007 Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 I love the look of coco for sure, but I believe with a neck thru you run into a lot of difficult work, I believe mainly the neck/angle/bridge area. I believe the problem is the top will increase the bridge height and throw off the neck angle thus ruining your whole action. Tough situation your in, I know I like the figured woods also. I'm curious actually how it would be done now, I'm sure I have seen a similar scenario a while back, maybe routing the top to leave the bridge and pups attached to the body was how it was done(if the top is quite thin), but I can't recall exactly. Otherwise I would suppose routing the entire body down would be required, but it would have to be very precise. How would it be done in most cases WesV? Just curious, as you said thats gotta be quite a task to undertake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted May 20, 2007 Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 with a slab bodied guitar with a bolt on neck like a strat or telecaster you simply need to remove the front of the guitar to accomodate for the thickness of the new top - the easiest way is to send it through a thickness sander a few times, i dont have one so i use a router thicknesser jig(search for articles on using a router as a thicknesser). I have done this to a tele with a handsaw before but i really dont recommend that!! Doing it to a throughneck is more difficult because the neck doesnt come off and you have to work around it. SO lets say you have a 1/4" boockmatched cocobolo top you want to attach. Firstly you need to take 1/4" of the front of the body - you can do that with a router thicknesser but you need to be very carefull around the fretboard, it can be made slightly eaiser by thicknessing with a small milling router bit with bearings attached so you can run the router against the fretboard. ANyway - thats possible but not an easy job at all!! Next you will need to prepare the surface for the new top - the router probably wont have left it smooth!! This is also made more difficult because the fretboard gets in you way!! Next job is to attach the new top - which needs to be cut very accurately around the fretboard - again possible but difficult, as anyone who has put a full top on a through neck will know!! After that obviously you will have to find where the bridge and pickups went and re-route for them (eaier if you took accurate measurements beforehand) and also recarve all the edges and refinish - thats the easy bit!! The other way to do it would be to get a thin top and attach it straight to the front of the bass but cutout for the bridge so its still at its original height. This can be done but i think it would look less proffessional and affect the way the guitar/bass played. it looks like that definately wouldnt work on a grind 6 anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyd Posted May 20, 2007 Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 Actually the Grind is a neck through with the neck exposed. It would not be that hard (for the experienced builder ) to do this. Cut off the wings, thickness the wings for new top, shape top to fit wings, clamp and glue top to wings, plane edges of wings flat, re-glue wings to neck, touch up the pup routes, refinish bass. Of course there is more too it and it wouldn’t be a simple job but very do-able none the less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The royal consort Posted May 20, 2007 Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 my two penneth... USE A VENEER... Much easier. sort out a paper template (fair bit of trial and error here) cut out veneer tidy up pickups + control knob holes... Apply finish... god it sounds so easy... this is provided its a not a carve top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted May 20, 2007 Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 I looked at the bass before posting my second reply - it does have an exposed neck now but i got the impression the original poster would prefer the whole top to be covered that sounds like a much more difficult approach than the one i suggested - once you have lost all the wood from the sawcuts and re-planing the joins you would need to either add some wood to replace what was lost (a veneer or two maybe), or recarve the points where the neck section and body wings met. It would be simpler to do it with your method and mine combined - i.e. route only the wing sections deeper. my point was not that this is an impossible task but i would not recommend somebody with little experience tries to do this on a guitar that they didnt want to harm. I might be a bit more encouraging if it was a bass somebody had for a long time but i wouldnt encourage somebody to do this to a bass that was recently brought for them by a loved one - not unless they where very understanding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordan Posted May 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 yeah i suppose that makes sense, maybe i'll copy it and make a clone? im sure the ladyfriend wouldnt appreciate the carving up of the bass she bought me.... thanks for the help guys, i'll keep reading into this more and more, i may do just the wings, but i'll think about it more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted May 20, 2007 Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 my two penneth... USE A VENEER... Much easier. sort out a paper template (fair bit of trial and error here) cut out veneer tidy up pickups + control knob holes... Apply finish... god it sounds so easy... this is provided its a not a carve top. sounds easy - dont mean it is, have you tried it? Clamping, warping, slipping and chipping being the main issues for most working with veneers for the first time. There is a good tutorial on the main site, but dont underestimate the work involved. Here is a picture of a grind 6 for those who dont know grind 6 There is an obvious issue with the dropped down section that affects how this job would be done and makes veneer a poor choice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyd Posted May 20, 2007 Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 I looked at the bass before posting my second reply - it does have an exposed neck now but i got the impression the original poster would prefer the whole top to be covered that sounds like a much more difficult approach than the one i suggested - once you have lost all the wood from the sawcuts and re-planing the joins you would need to either add some wood to replace what was lost (a veneer or two maybe), or recarve the points where the neck section and body wings met. It would be simpler to do it with your method and mine combined - i.e. route only the wing sections deeper. my point was not that this is an impossible task but i would not recommend somebody with little experience tries to do this on a guitar that they didnt want to harm. I might be a bit more encouraging if it was a bass somebody had for a long time but i wouldnt encourage somebody to do this to a bass that was recently brought for them by a loved one - not unless they where very understanding I agree 100%, me personally I wouldn’t mess with it. Not that the Grinds are priceless or anything but they are far from "high end" it would be a lot of work just for it to still have Peaveys name on it. I would just build a different one and leave that one alone. In the long run you will be much prouder of what you have accomplished by building a complete bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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