Repair and Restore or Gut and Gore?

[skibum5545]

I have a 1983 G&L SB-1 bass, black body, maple neck. Here's what's wrong with it:

The truss rod is maxed, and the neck has a slight curve (not twist tho, luckily)

The finish is chipped, dinged (down to the wood in some places) and has other varied ugly marks

Bad nut buzz on the open E

Frets worn, warranting a possible refret

Besides the nut buzz, it plays very well. Even the slight neck curve isn't bothersome. Also, the neck has turned a very pretty vintage yellow.

My question:

Do I overhaul it, and if so, what can be done about the truss rod?

OR

Do I sell it on eBay as a well-loved tech special?

[Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars]

restore.

[weezerboy]

i say restore too...i have no idea how, but lets face it, you;re in the best place to find out....plus whats the fun in money? when you can have a guitar that you've worked on

[westhemann]

alot of bass necks have this problem...here is what i would do

1)replace the truss rod with a dual action and add carbon rienforcement

or

2)build a new neck for it...a 5 piece laminate of maple and ebony ,put in a dual rod and you are good to go...plus you can put really cool onlays on it if you want...or you can reuse the old fretboard on the new neck..

lots of fun options

[Scott Rosenberger]

Restore, pull the fretboard and put a 2way truss rod in. Maybe some carbon rods and put the fingerbaord back on

[JPL]

The easy fix for the truss rod (maybe not the best but a pretty standard fix) is to pull the nut and add a washer or two to give you some extra room for travel.

[skibum5545]

THanks for all the help. First of all, I have nowhere near the skills necessary to build my own neck. Also, it is maple/maple fb, but (i think) with a catch:

The neck is 2 piece, and it appears that instead of installing the truss rod and then placing the fb, they routed the, well, rout into both halves, and then glued the neck together around the truss rod. I say this because there appears to be no separate fb. However, I will try the washer thing first.

Thanks all!