neepheid

I've had good results with Seymour Duncan pickups, but I've tended to go for higher output ones - but they do more laid back versions (Vintage < Hot < Quarter Pound). Someone will be along to recommend Wizard pickups shortly. I fitted these for someone before but haven't had much of a play so I can't comment.

That cheeky Specials number "Nite Klub", October 4th 2008, Room 1, The Tunnels, Aberdeen. I would have been 32 at the time. I don't remember much of being on stage first hand, too much adrenaline/nerves. A video was taken though, so there are some memories, even if they are second hand.

Yup, another 3500 user here, great sound and I feel completely at home with it. I got mine second hand for cheap with a dodgy valve preamp section, repaired it with the help of a friend and has been with me ever since.

During a break from sanding (which is almost done) I tackled the truss rod cover. I decided to go down the water slide transfer route. I printed off a sheet of them with a fresh toner cartridge (1 sheet of stuff + paranoia). I applied one and thought it looked pretty good: Then I decided to seal it with some clear nitro. Oops: The transfer reacted quite badly to the nitro, it ate into it a little. Let that be a lesson to you all - the white transfer paper does not like nitro. I had to sand all that off and start again. I got hold of a small can of Plasti-Kote Fast Dry Enamel and hedged my bets by applying another transfer to an old pickguard and test spraying onto that. It seemed to go OK so I pressed on with the Enamel. More problems were that the enamel reacted badly to T-cut, went a bit soft Thankfully, cutting back with 1000 grit paper and reapplying seemed to save the day. A few repeats of that process and I'm left with this: I'm pretty pleased with the results:

So that's what they were trying to do to my Victory Artist!

And for any nosy parkers who are interested, I have the bottom half

Save yourself the bother and buy my complete and fully functional one

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='897907' date='Jul 18 2010, 11:38 AM']Lots of lovely neck diving...![/quote] With a nice fat grippy strap, my Les Paul Standard bass does not neck dive. Yes, I was surprised too.

Well, just to balance things out - I don't rate them. Although I have only tried a Tokai copy, I can safely say that the T-bird is one avenue I do not wish to continue on any further. Nice enough sound, I liked the neck on the Tokai (being a bit chunkier than a Gibson), the famed neck dive was manageable (in that the bass gracefully descended to about horizontal) but the ergonomics are all wrong. Poor high fret access. Doesn't sit right on me when I'm playing. Doesn't stand up on its own. Doesn't fit in a regular gig bag/case. It would have to have been stellar in all other respects for me to keep it but it was simply OK, and I chose not to put up with all the ergonomic annoyances for something that's simply OK.

More sanding, and lesson learned - don't be afraid to give it a good scrub. It's solid maple after all. Hopefully I'll get it completely clean tonight

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='893789' date='Jul 13 2010, 02:59 PM']Looking good. That's a very pretty cavity (insert bishop/actress joke ) It's best to get rid of as much as you can though Matt. You have no way of knowing how it will react with the next batch of paint, undercoat included. Did the previous (ahem) "painter" take it back to the wood or are there gold remnants like I found in the neck pocket?[/quote] It was all the way back, only the strange remnants which were under the bridge and the ones in the neck pocket remained. I'm finding it particularly tough to get that old crappy paint out of the edges. Might have more success with some hand sanding, just use the mouse to take off the bulk of it. Also decided to try making a decal to renew the Artist logo on the truss rod cover. Ordered a sheet of white laser water slide paper, will print it black apart from the logo (leaving it white) then applying it. To avoid visible edges I was thinking of covering the entirety of the top with the transfer so no visible edges then a light coat of lacquer over the top. Sound plausible?

Body sanding has commenced: Some of that old paint is like glue. Some of it seems difficult to shift without removing a lot of wood - might it be ok to leave if it's being refinished in an opaque colour anyway? Won't show through a primer and a colour coat?

Welcome to the forum

Seeing as the "any colour you like" option has hit the front I thought I'd "bring out the GIMP" and have a muck about with colours (original picture of Jules' Victory Custom on Fly Guitars): The "reasonably historically accurate" section: From left: black, Candy Apple Red The "plausible, but incorrect" section: From left: gold, silver The others (some more silly than others) From left: Pelham Blue (an actual Gibson colour, though never applied to Victories), white, Sonic Blue, Surf Green, Shell Pink, Sherwood Green Metallic That Pelham Blue is quite fetching, actually...

[quote name='Doctor J' post='888080' date='Jul 7 2010, 08:35 AM']It's just people chancing their arm, I wouldn't get too worked up about it, part of me believes the gullible should be exploited and this kind of marketing approach seems to appeal to quite a lot of people these days. Kicking ass and having fun just isn't enough anymore unless you're doing it on something which sets you apart from the great unwashed. [b]It draws similarities, to me at least, of the sometimes absurd prices sought (and frequently paid) for vintage basses, where when you say the year of manufacture before the model that the bass is somehow better, or there is some kind of chronological snobbery at play... I grow weary of folks saying "I was playing my 76 Jazz last night"... what are they saying the year for unless there's some kind of self applied kudos to exclusivity which massages the ego just right and gives the owner whatever it is they're missing?[/b] So yeah, someone somewhere will get an extra glow from having a [i]rare[/i] bass which, hopefully, will be worth the premium they no doubt paid for it. They can tell their buddies that it's not just a Vigier, it's a [i]rare[/i] Vigier and, for 90 days, they'll still be able to show the ebay ad as proof [/quote] Just to offer an alternative viewpoint on this - sometimes it is necessary to apply a year because it denotes a particular style of bass - for example a '51 Precision looks different to a '57 - be it a reissue or the real deal. I also don't find it offensive the way you seem to. I find it interesting to be able to place a bass in the chronology of the particular model. So if you don't mind I'll continue to let people know that my Gibson G-3 is a 1978 model (which allows those in the know to surmise that it has clear epoxy potted pickups and the body is probably made of alder) and that my Gibson Victory Artist is a 1981 model (meaning it's an early one - and not much else - Gibson at the time seemed to mix and match whatever they had lying around in the shop ).

Thanks for all the replies and votes, at this time it's black by a nose! I report good news - Schaller are absolute stars. I contacted them to see if I could scrounge (or even pay for) the parts I need to fix the single broken M4S tuner I had. It took a couple of emails to get across what I was talking about - I think I muddied the waters when I mentioned the Gibson branding, they (when I say they, I mean the MD of Schaller ) suggested contacting Gibson - I know from experience this is a waste of time when it comes to things they haven't made for 20 years. Once I sent a highlighted diagram showing the parts I was taking about he said he would send the bits I need. The parts came today - in quadruplicate! I only needed one Not only that but a full set of plectra from .018 to .043 and a sticker which I will be placing somewhere probably on a hard case to show my appreciation. No sign of an invoice, despite offering to pay. Amazing! Yesterday I begun the resurrection. Sanding down that poor, burned lacquer on the neck. Very careful around the serial number, the first two digits are not very well stamped and I might have to leave a little bit of the burning there for the sake of retaining the number. Edges are much easier than flat areas: I had to be careful at the heel too, as I removed a mess of attached new finish, old finish and an old card shim I found some interesting things: the date stamp (Oct 2 1981), someone's initials (N.S.) and a couple of random number stamps (17, 19). These are the kind of fascinating historical things that I don't want to lose. So, a first pass results in this: Still some remnants of burn marks left. I'm not sure how deep I want to go to try and remove these.

Same as a P-bass pretty much, but for a little more official flavour:

[quote name='Tengu' post='883103' date='Jul 1 2010, 03:52 PM']That logo was put on by a machine so trying to do it free-hand would never look the same. I suppose you could print the picture you have there and create a stencil but you would still need to be very precise. It might be easier to try tacking down a replacement from somewhere. I'm sure there must be places online that sell spares like this.[/quote] A replacement will be difficult to find, not to mention expensive. As alluded to below, a decal might be the way. [quote]theres people on ebay that do custom waterslide headstock decals, i'm sure they'd do one of those for you for not very much.[/quote] I suppose so. I'm going to have to cut real close to the edges, then probably spray some kind of clear coat over the top - I'm guessing acrylic would be best for on plastic?

Hi there The truss rod cover of my Gibson Victory Artist is bare - someone painted over it with silver Hammerite and either removed the Artist logo first or it came off with the Hammerite. It's supposed to look like this: What would be the best way to restore this logo? It's pretty intricate, I dunno if I am good enough to paint it freehand. A stencil will be an interesting challenge. Is paint the best way to go?