Soloshchenko Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 (edited) Just got this nice little 1970s Columbus Jazz bass for a cool £70 on ebay. Really chuffed because been looking for a cheap project for a bit. The bass came fully working but full of gunk on the neck. I'm looking to refinish the bass in black (w/black pickguard), re shape the chunky neck (apparently this is fairly easy, I'd really welcome any advice as never done it before) and change the pickups to some Fender Mexican Jazz pickups I have lying around. Also gonna test the theory that leaving metal in coke shines it up on most of the hardware (does this actually work?). Anyway, just finished taking off the original finish. Took me 4 hours with a heat gun and scraper. Not as tricky as Ithought it would be. Don't think I'm going for a natural finish on this particular piece of ply! Edited September 25, 2010 by Soloshchenko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 it's cleaned up nicely - good work that man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted September 25, 2010 Author Share Posted September 25, 2010 [quote name='ahpook' post='967926' date='Sep 25 2010, 07:58 PM']it's cleaned up nicely - good work that man.[/quote] Cheers mate, was actually surprised how easy it was taking the front and back off with the heat gun. The sides were tricky but I thought I would take advantage of the nice weather up north today. Next step sanding, filling then final sanding before applying the new finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 You're doing a hell of a lot better job than i did to my columbus bass!: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted September 25, 2010 Author Share Posted September 25, 2010 [quote name='EdwardHimself' post='968007' date='Sep 25 2010, 10:03 PM']You're doing a hell of a lot better job than i did to my columbus bass!: [/quote] Wow!!! How the hell did you do that finish??! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 (edited) [quote name='Soloshchenko' post='968015' date='Sep 25 2010, 10:22 PM']Wow!!! How the hell did you do that finish??![/quote] bit of Glow in the dark paint, bit of sandpaper... Great that you got it for £70 though. Mine was £150, in much better nick than it is now though lolz. Edited September 26, 2010 by EdwardHimself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted September 26, 2010 Author Share Posted September 26, 2010 [quote name='EdwardHimself' post='968219' date='Sep 26 2010, 11:03 AM']bit of Glow in the dark paint, bit of sandpaper... Great that you got it for £70 though. Mine was £150, in much better nick than it is now though lolz.[/quote] Yeah, I was made up with the price to be honest. It might have helped that 2 other Columbus basses went that day. Okay so I've sanded the remains of the finish off and wood filled her. Minor moan, Ronseal woodfiller is crap out of a tube. They've made the end so small it won;t come out and this is clearly orange rather than the "natural" it said on the tin! Good job I'm going for a solid colour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subthumper Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 (edited) Hi, not seen one of these since I sold my old one back in 88. I learned to play on it. It was a state when I got it and I did a refinish in Ford midnight blue and grey pickups. I thought it looked the mutts nuts when I was 17. Cost me £40 and my old fishing rod at the local 2nd hand shop. It played pretty well as I remember. Played it for hours. Good work hope it goes well. Cheers Just Edited September 27, 2010 by Subthumper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 Interesting, looks like yours has a sandwich body with front & back veneers, you find these on a lot of middle-range JapCraps. Mine was proper stripy, splintery plywood, but otherwise identical. I've turned my nose up at a good few of these because I assumed the bodies were rubbish! J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 [quote name='Bassassin' post='970877' date='Sep 28 2010, 04:55 PM']Interesting, looks like yours has a sandwich body with front & back veneers, you find these on a lot of middle-range JapCraps. Mine was proper stripy, splintery plywood, but otherwise identical. I've turned my nose up at a good few of these because I assumed the bodies were rubbish! J.[/quote] Mine is like that too. It's 3 layers thick. I'm doing a recording with this bass. It actually sounds totally awesome even though it looks like $hite! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Aha ! A Columbus thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted October 13, 2010 Author Share Posted October 13, 2010 That looks awesome mate. Love the maple neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 Thanks mate - original pickups too. One of which was rewound by Andy at Wizard. ABM bridge + Varitone electronics switching. Had some minor fret levelling / polishing done It sounds bloody good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 That looks a lot nicer than my one (originally!). Guess it's probably one of the better ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 I changed the bridge and lectronics on mine, so i would imagine they're the same, just different necks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 [quote name='fleabag' post='987375' date='Oct 13 2010, 08:36 PM']I changed the bridge and lectronics on mine, so i would imagine they're the same, just different necks[/quote] true yeah. The maple board is nice but i think the biggest improvement has got to be those full size tuners! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 You got different tuners on yours ? Perhaps mine were changed in the past - I wouldnt know, as thats how it came Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted October 15, 2010 Author Share Posted October 15, 2010 Yeah my tuners are the smaller ones like on Eds. In fact the more I look at Ed's before he changed the neck and everything the more I think they are really, really similar, possibly the same year? Sure Jon could help there. Flea, that is awesome that you got your PUs rewired. Does Andy provide such a service? I have Wizards in my main squeeze (a MIM jazz) and I love them. In fact the original MIM PUs will be tried out in this project. I love how you've get yours mainly original but tweaked the parts to your tastes. Mine is ultimately going to look really unoriginal in comparison, mainly due to me not liking the thick neck which needs totally sanding down and re shaping. btw is yours fairly chunky as well? I'm even thinking custom decal because I'll lose the Columbus one when I strip the poly finish. Apologies in advance to the Japcrap purists! At the minute I have the bass totally filled and ready for final sanding before starting the nitro process begins. After much thought and a quick flirt at Sherwood Green metallic I've decided to stick to the original idea of Black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 (edited) I think the big old elephant type tuners seem to suit JB's and PB's, so i'm happy to keep them on, even though the finish has aged a lot. Yep, this pickup. It was dead, and in trying to fix it, the end of the windings came off the hot and ground wires, and when you see the width of the copper winding, its time to give in. I sent Andy a dead pup, copper wires trailing. Came back in a couple of days all fixed. The guys a star i tell ya. Unlike yours, I like the neck on mine, as it seems to be very slim, which i prefer. By the way, take a photo of your Col. decal, as there's plenty of guys on Evilbay that will knock a copy out for you. Just make sure you get a Waterslide decal and not Vinyl or similar Edited October 15, 2010 by fleabag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted October 15, 2010 Author Share Posted October 15, 2010 [quote name='fleabag' post='989495' date='Oct 15 2010, 06:01 PM']I think the big old elephant type tuners seem to suit JB's and PB's, so i'm happy to keep them on, even though the finish has aged a lot. Yep, this pickup. It was dead, and in trying to fix it, the end of the windings came off the hot and ground wires, and when you see the width of the copper winding, its time to give in. I sent Andy a dead pup, copper wires trailing. Came back in a couple of days all fixed. The guys a star i tell ya. Unlike yours, I like the neck on mine, as it seems to be very slim, which i prefer. By the way, take a photo of your Col. decal, as there's plenty of guys on Evilbay that will knock a copy out for you. Just make sure you get a Waterslide decal and not Vinyl or similar[/quote] Cheers for the advice mate, I'll do that. Quite like the Columbus decal and might be nice to keep it's history intact if I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 [quote name='Soloshchenko' post='989476' date='Oct 15 2010, 05:44 PM']Yeah my tuners are the smaller ones like on Eds. In fact the more I look at Ed's before he changed the neck and everything the more I think they are really, really similar, possibly the same year? Sure Jon could help there.[/quote] Actually the original neck is the current neck. Long story... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 [quote name='Soloshchenko' post='989476' date='Oct 15 2010, 05:44 PM']Yeah my tuners are the smaller ones like on Eds. In fact the more I look at Ed's before he changed the neck and everything the more I think they are really, really similar, possibly the same year? Sure Jon could help there.[/quote] Yours & Ed's (and my old one) are the same - rosewood board, little tuners, chrome truss cover & Gibson-type nut. The maple neck's more accurate which probably made it a slightly more expensive model, although everything else looks the same. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted May 1, 2011 Author Share Posted May 1, 2011 The thread's alive again! Though the body will be nitroed black, I bloody love the feel of tung oil necks so applied my first thin coat of the nutty stuff today. Will probably do 8 -10 coats over the coming weeks. It really makes the grain look beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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