bartelby Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) A couple of years ago I bought a Corvette Proline off a mate. The bass used to belong to a mutual friend who plays in Skindred. The bass was pretty battered and missing the electronics, just a vol control. As I only paid £150 (£50 of which my mate gave me back a few weeks after buying it), I decided to use it as a project bass. As the fretboard needed some work I de-fretted the poor thing and wired up some simple passive controls, chucked some flats on it and left it at that. It sounded pretty crap, in all honesty, the output was very low so I've hardly used it. I've now decided to revamp it and bring it back to a decent usable condition. I just received the 3 band MEC preamp from bassmanady (cheers mate), ordered a new gold bridge and machine heads (2 of the original chrome ones were bent) and a stacked pot (and knob) to wire in a bass/treble control so I don't have to drill the bass. I've also ordered some warwick fret wire, incase I want to refret it. I shall update with photos as the refurb progresses. Edited January 7, 2012 by bartelby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I shall update with photos as the refurb progresses. Look forward to seeing it restored to it's former glory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 New hardware from Thomann arrived this morning. Still waiting for new stacked pot. It's nice being able to tune to EADG again. The bent machineheads would only allow DGCF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) That's a lovely bit of bubinga there - how heavy is it? When you wired it up with "some simple passive controls", were you still powering the pickups? As best as I can tell from the photo, they are active. So if you didn't power them, then that would explain why you didn't get much volume out of them. Oh, and do you know what happened to the jack socket on the rim? If you could move the socket back to the rim then you'd have three pot-holes to work with. By the time you've finished, you should have something that you can sell for at least 2 or 3 times what you paid for it! Edited January 12, 2012 by mart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 A while back I decided to try something quite extreme. My intention was to track down some [url="http://www.q-tuner.com/bs.shtml"]Q-Tuners[/url] and create a steam punk looking bass, seeing as my missus thinks the Warwick looks like a sideboard. So I took to the hardware with some abrasive tape to remove some of the nickel and chrome. Unfortunately Q-tuners are impossible to find. So I've gone with plan B: Gold hardware. Before: After: I've yet to give it a set up, but I gave it a quick play and it does sound really nice. I've still got a fair amount of work to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) [quote name='mart' timestamp='1326377760' post='1496313'] That's a lovely bit of bubinga there - how heavy is it? When you wired it up with "some simple passive controls", were you still powering the pickups? As best as I can tell from the photo, they are active. So if you didn't power them, then that would explain why you didn't get much volume out of them. Oh, and do you know what happened to the jack socket on the rim? If you could move the socket back to the rim then you'd have three pot-holes to work with. By the time you've finished, you should have something that you can sell for at least 2 or 3 times what you paid for it! [/quote] The first photo is how it came to me. I did get a proper socket for it. It spent a while looking like this: The new preamp is a 3 band (vol/blend stacked pot then bass, mid & treble pots) so needs 4 holes. Sticking in a stacked bass/treble pot means I can use the 3 hole in the body and the 3 band eq. There's quite a bit of damage to the bass in general to be able to make much money from it. The fretboard had chunks missing (collision with cymbals) and a few lifted frets. The body has a crack from the jack socket to the electronics cavity and the headstock had to have several extra screw holes filled (where the machine heads were moved by Dan when screws broke) Weight wise: an ounce or 2 over 11lbs Edited January 12, 2012 by bartelby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Very nice! I wasn't sure the gold hardware would suit it, but having seen your photos, I think you made the right call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 When I'm not running around after the daughter I'll post a full bass shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 [quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1326381408' post='1496422'] When I'm not running around after the daughter I'll post a full bass shot. [/quote] Yes please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 Here's a phone pic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmanady Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 That's looking really good,well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblin Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 That looks lovely. Making me want to put gold hardware on mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throwoff Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 I am torn between black and gold on mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 [quote name='throwoff' timestamp='1326474868' post='1497804'] I am torn between black and gold on mine. [/quote] I'm generally not a fan of gold hardware, but it looks really nice against the bubinga. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblin Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 I never used to be a fan of gold until my Ash Corvette came. I've got the violin oil finish on mine though so it's quite a bit darker, but I reckon the chrome would look a tad pale on it. I want to put gold on my 6er which is red. Need to get the preamp fixed first though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Stacked pot and knob just arrived, along with new fret wire (surprised at how heavy fret wire is!). Soldering will be happening fairly shortly. Also ordered a battery box, gold neck screws and bushings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 So, Apart from the battery box and neck screws it's pretty much done. I did manager to forget which order the wires for the treble control were in, in the space of 6 seconds. So it boosts when it should cut. I shall swap them around when I have to fit the battery box. I think I shall keep it defretted for a while. It sounds bloody lovely now, much nicer than I thought it would. Needs to have a good polish in the near future and some lower tension strings would be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblin Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 For the strings, if you're keeping it fretless I'd suggest D'Addario ECB80 XL Chromes. Got them on mine and they sound absolutely epic! Gauge is 40 - 95 flats. And I reckon with some elbow grease with a pot of Warwick Beeswax, that grain'll pop. Looks pretty similar to mine: [IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k195/goblin92/Basses/70265f21.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 (edited) [quote name='goblin' timestamp='1326564637' post='1498970'] For the strings, if you're keeping it fretless I'd suggest D'Addario ECB80 XL Chromes. Got them on mine and they sound absolutely epic! Gauge is 40 - 95 flats. And I reckon with some elbow grease with a pot of Warwick Beeswax, that grain'll pop. [/quote] I've switched from Roto's roundwounds to D'Addario, so I may as well swap the flats too. The Steve Harris flats lovely, but I just can't get on with such high tension these days. Is there anything different between Warwick Beeswax and normal beeswax? Your bass looks lovely!! When I first got mine and defretted it I gave it a good oiling as it was totally dull and felt nasty. I wish I could get it to look like it did when the oil was soaking in. Edited January 14, 2012 by bartelby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblin Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Cheers man, it really comes to life under the right lighting too, especially stage lights. I'm not sure what differences there are if any between the waxes, everyone seems to swear by the Warwick stuff though and it works well with both of mine. The more you wax it, the less dull it'll become. Mine was flat as a pancake when I got it, used the wax a few times and it's really worked wonders. It's all about patience at the end of the day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) Beeswax polish ordered (surprising how hard to find that was. No supermarkets seem to sell it these days) from a bee keepers, now need to get some nice cloths. Had an email from Warwick to say they are processing my order, they obviously don't work weekends. Edited January 16, 2012 by bartelby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hutton Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I'm just about to take delivery of a Corvette with the Ocean Blue oil finish. Am I correct in saying that beeswax should not be applied to this finish and that normal guitar polish is the way to go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueslemac Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 That's what the manual says. Only use beeswax on the natural finish ones. From memory, it's a bit sarcastic about using it on the other finishes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Decided to take the plunge and re-fret it today. Had to order an 2nd load of fret wire from Banzai Music, as I've lost the first lot. Got a couple of frets to tap down and the ends need a touch more smoothing, but it plays nicely even though it's not been set up at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warwick_Official Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 bartelby, You've done an amazing job restoring this Corvette! Its great to see it brought back to its former glory...thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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