Hippie Dave

Yeah, I just figured that out, thanks! They work correctly now.

And now, a couple of body shots. PICTURES

Here's a few pics of the neck and fretbooard during the re-attatchment phase. I'm pretty happy with the results at this point. The real test will be when it's back on the body with strings. The neck's at the shop for drilling for the new Gotoh tuning machines. I pulled the pick-ups and related electronics for inspection and cleaning. No problems there. The butchered alterations I covered in the late 80's aren't as bad as I remember, or seemed to think at the time. I just need to find some of those wide flat pick-up bezels like the ones Lawrence Sound Research made way back when. I've decided to put the humbucker back in the bridge position and just cover the center hole with laminated pickguard material. Also considering a real Hofner bridge. HERE for pics.

Just a quick note, and you may wish to verify...Purpleheart wood , as I seen to recall, is rather toxic. I should say that the dust from sanding is toxic, and can cause all kinds of pulmonary problems. When I had a Bookstore, there was a fellow that made many awsome woodcraft items for me, several contained Purpleheart. I asked about making a fretboard out of it. It was then that i found out about the "downside" of using this wood. I'm not yelling "stop", I just want you to be aware of the potential problems of using the wood, and to be safe when sanding. It's a beautiful wood, and lends a unique quality to the appearance of an instument. I encourage you to look it up, as my information may be a little old and/or faulty, But the fellow was an experienced craftsman, and better safe than anything. Build On!!!

You know, After seeing what I'm doing, and reading your reply to my wife, she's convinced the we "projectors" will do anything, try anything, and rig ANYTHING to do the job. She's a musician and works at a local guitar shop. I fineshed the 120 sanding yesterday, and showed it to her last evening. She said the relief and the wood look great. It used to have a polyurethane finish, she suggested that I give it a good oiling and leave it at that. Having done that to a Peavey T-60 and really liking the results, I think that might be the route for me.

Well, It has begun. After some light sanding with some 220, both the neck and fretboard cleaned up nicely. I decided to try a more passive method of correcting the twist and bow. It has been humid here in Arizona, and I figured I coul put this short term jump on the barometer to use. I glued some scraps at each end of a straight 2x4, reglued the truss rod retainer back into its original postion. Blocking the back of the neck, I then clamped some relief back into the poor thing and left it alone for a couple of very humid days. Leaving it alone was the hardest part! Aftrer the rains left, it remained clamped for a week to dry out in its new position. This did such an amazing job of removing the twist in the neck! However, it didn't put as much relief as I hoped. Photos here in a little bit. The re-gluing of the fretboard text and those pics will be up, too.

Alright! Here goes...Photos. I'm on Photobucket as HippieDave_01 And here's one of the bass in question. This HERE should link you to the album.

Cool, Thanks. I don't think that I've been in a forum that responds so quickly! This is great!

Thanks. It seems that you would have to upload them from a website, is this correct? How can I take them straight from my files, is there no cut & paste way to do that?

Ummm, just how do you post photos here?

Hello, Everyone. I've been looking over the ProjectGuitar.com website, and it has given me the courage ( but not the sense NOT to...) take on this project myself! I got this bass as a birthday present from my mom on my 16th. Poor thing has never had a case, has served loyaly through many, many gigs, bands, and in one case, being held hostage by a person of quesionable values. Upon being returned, I noticed that the fretboard was pulling away from the neck at the nut. The seperation continued down to about mid 3rd fret, the neck had bowed from about two years of improper storage. And still, even with the high action, she was still playable! And sounded great! She's kind of a frankenbass at this point. She wears no bass pick-ups. I put in two DiMarzio Blade humbuckers with a phase switch and a Fender Strat pick-up in the bridge position. I can go from warm Hoffy tone to a plunky Ric sound at the flick of a switch. I'll post photos soon. The fretboard is off and intact, and a general inspection shows a very good prognosis for the neck.