throwoff Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 (edited) Many of you have seen my Washburn XB120, my first bass, and as such bears the scars of a 'punk' youth. Well a few weeks back I took it out its bag where it spends it's days and decided I missed it more than I thought, and that I needed to find excuse to play it again, and then it hit me, the punkest fretless ever? I unfortuantely moved everything very quickly and only remembered to start taking photos after I have put the liquid wood into the fret slots and sanded the excess off. But here is the story. I pulled the frets with pliers but a combination of low quality fret wire and speed resulted in quite a few chips on the board, I initially thought to fill it with dark wood filler to hide it but realising I probably needed the lines (and looking at the state of the body!) decided I didnt care about the chips and would rather go with 'light wood'. I filled the holes and sanded it off resulting in this weary looking dry horrible mess of wood! I then spent a few hours lemon oiling the board and smoothing it out to bring the life back into it. Like so! Then I spent a week putting on layers of boat varnish, cutting back, revarnishing and sanding to get it smooth and slick. Then I went at it with screwdrivers, tightening all the screws back down and sorting a loose machine head, reconnected the tone control and the neck pickup threw on a set of flatwounds and I have this - And I am bloody proud of it, like I said a close look shows the light wood filler filling this chips the frets left but it has no effect on playability and most importantly the Washburn is now on pride of place on the stand and being played more than it has for years. Edited February 27, 2012 by throwoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 [quote name='throwoff' timestamp='1330357697' post='1556131'] And I am bloody proud of it, like I said a close look shows the light wood filler filling this chips the frets left but it has no effect on playability and most importantly the Washburn is now on pride of place on the stand and being played more than it has for years. [/quote] That's what it's all about, proudly carrying the scars of an entire career, or at the very least a few years of noodling Nice to see it's evolved into something that gets you using it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throwoff Posted May 24, 2012 Author Share Posted May 24, 2012 Still playing this, still loving it, needs more stickers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throwoff Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 Last night I went to pick up the P off my rack (the go to bass) and picked this up instead. Sod me if it hadn't settled all out of kilter. 15 mins with a screwdriver though and it was back to its self and I must say plays brilliantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettsguitars Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 You could easily have avoided those chips by using veneer strips and letting the rosewood dust fill the voids (with super glue). Hours applying oil? You should get it finish sanded first and then apply the oil which should take a few minutes. If you are planning to varnish anything then DO NOT apply oil to the bare surface!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throwoff Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 Done now though! Plays wonderfully. As for the chips, as I said, look at the bass! If anything the chips add some more character to the already thrashed bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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