Truckstop Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 (edited) Hello all! As you all probably know, I bloody f***ing love Ibanez Blazers. I bought my first last year from Flat Eric for £165 and still get blown away by its articulate, zingy, bassy tone; masses of sustain, heavy attack and responsive EQ. Great build quality, great aesthetics and Fender-killing tone! The re-furb diary of the Ibanez Blazer dubbed 'Awesome' is here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/170079-refinished-my-84-ibanez-blazer/page__p__1586111__hl__ibanez%20blazer__fromsearch__1#entry1586111"]http://basschat.co.u..._1#entry1586111[/url] Anyway, the other day I was trawling ebay for some bargains and came across this - a 1981 Blazer for £175 BIN or best offer. I emailed the guy straight away saying there's no way I'm not buying this and nabbed it for the full £175. The pictures on the ebay ad showed a little 'distressing' but in the flesh it's much worse. Nevertheless, the Blazer designated 'Wicked' will be saved! Someone in its past had decided to paint it black (ie. with a brush), the scratchplate clearly broken, neck or bridge slightly misaligned and quite a few deep dents all over the body. Apart from the shoddy re-finish, my thoughts that it wasnt a factory black bass were supported by seeing the neck plate taped over and underneath beautifully clean lacquered wood! The neck's in great shape. Nowhere near as much fretwear as Awesome and less dings too. Frets and fretboard a little grimey, but nothing a little lemon oil won't sort split quick. I eagerly took it apart (didnt even check to see if Wicked worked) to see what the innards looked like and it's actually not too bad. A little grimey, but looks sound and salvageable. So, my progress so far is documented in these pictures. Unfortunately, the sanding exposed my biggest fear: that the dents would 'carry' the black too deep to be sanded out. Nevermind, I thought. Looks like it'll have to be a black refinish! So far I've only spent a couple of hours with some 60 grit sandpaper. I'll be spending many more hours with increasingly small grit size papers before finishing on wet and dry. Once that's done, I'll be appying a black stain mixed with danish oil, before using beeswax to buff. Hopefully it'll end up looking like those gorgeous Warwick/Sandberg open grain matt oil finishes. Anyway, I'll keep this thread updated over the coming weeks, thoughts and suggestions welcomed as always! Alex edit: A thought occurs; how come the pup cavities are black, but the neck socket is natural? There's absolutely no sign of any black in the socket or on the neck at all. Guy must've been a masking tape genius. Edited May 31, 2012 by Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrdirtyrob Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 (edited) [quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1338502725' post='1675690'] edit: A thought occurs; how come the pup cavities are black, but the neck socket is natural? There's absolutely no sign of any black in the socket or on the neck at all. Guy must've been a masking tape genius. [/quote] Could it have been painted with the neck in place?? Although then there'd be paint on the neck... Anyway, good luck with this, looks like it could turn out lovely. P.S. Nice shorts. Edited May 31, 2012 by mrdirtyrob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 So, rain had scuppered my chances to do some more work on this over the last few weeks, but found myself with a few free hours over the last few days so cracked on machine style (aka 'quickly'). Firstly, I spent about 8 hours working through the various sandpaper grades until I was satisfied that I had done enough. I finished on the smallest grade of Wet n Dry I had and the wood was smooth, bro! I love sanding stuff and it always surprises me at how smooth you can get the wood. Proper glassy like! Unfortunately I had sort of hoped that all that sanding would get rid of all the black dents in the body but alas no. Still had to do on with the black stain plan! Bought some Cuprinol because as it is water-based it'd work better with the wax finish I was planning. I applied a couple of coats over an hour and left to dry for another hour. This ruined my sanding! I started to flat it in preparation for another coat but decided to carry on flatting and leave a sort of enhanced grain finish that I'd seen before on other basses I've liked. Here it is after some staining: And after some initial flatting: I went through another several grades of sandpaper and got it pretty smooth. Looks great too! Luckily the grain's interesting enough and wide enough to acheive the kind of look I was after. Here's a pic before the wax was applied: And here's a couple of shots done after 4 coats of wax. I think that's enough; I want a nice subtle sheen, dont want any shine of reflections! Read on for final completion pics! Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Very excitedly I began to assemble Wicked. Now then, here it gets tricky. I refurbed the neck slightly by giving it a little wipe down with some lemon oil and them gave it a little polish. Nothing too extreme as I want it to retain it's aged look. The brass bridge was in a right state, it had started to corrode a little and was proper tough to clean. I decided enough was enough and left it half finished because I was worried I could damage the plating with my scrubbing. Howard (The Bass Doc) made up a replacement pickguard and attached the controls/pots/input jack for me which turned out to be a perfect fit! Unfortunately the brass screws I'd saved for this project for the pickguard ended up on my pedalboard project so I had to use the screws that came with Wicked originally. Which is annoying because I'm missing a few! For some reason, the action when I first strung it up was a good 15mm at the 15th fret. I lowered the bridge as much as possible to get it down a few mm, still not good enough so I shimmed the neck using a couple of business cards and that seemed to sort it right out. Luckily I prefer a slightly high action because I have a heavy handed approach to playing bass! Without further ado, say hi to Blazer No. 2; 'Wicked'! (I took this photo ^ before I sorted out the action for the E. Have a look!) I bloody love the reverse of the body. Reminds me somewhat of my old school desks! Here's a poor family shot. Wicked and Awesome: I've learnt a lot with this refurb. Firstly, I've learnt that I prefer wax finishes to oil finishes. You get a smoother, more natural, sort of 'thick' finish that fills in any imperfections better than oil. I chose a clear beeswax for this project, I think next time I might for for a tinted one to get a deeper, darker finish. I've also improved my soldering skills and also learnt how to shim a neck! Valuable skills for the future! Anyway, hope you like it, thanks for reading and stay tuned for another project coming up soon! Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Another nice job Alex. You didnt say how it sounded. Same as Awesome or different? Anyway it looks good and hats off to you for the sanding job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yepmop Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Very nice indeed,do like that finish now it's completed, yes also agree excellent sanding job! Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 With the tone 'off', it sounds the same or near as makes no difference, although with the tone rolled 'on' to the full, Wicked sounds pretty different. More presence in the mids and a little less treble sparkle. However, I would say that that's more down to the strings I used. I prefer to use La Bella Stainless Steels, but because I have no patience I stuck on a spare set of D'Addarios Nickelwounds I had lying around. I also find it easier to play harmonics and pinch harmonics. I almost think they ring a little clearer too, but that could just be me imagining it or down to the strings (which I quite like playing actually, nice and smooth). I've noticed there is a definite Blazer signature sound that lies somewhere between the Ricky clank and the P thud. I find it very pleasing and of course it sits very well in a band mix. Bloody love em, me! Anyway, thank you for the lovely comments. I'm a bit of an amateur bodger most of the time and it's nice to get a little appreciation when I do a job I'm actually quite proud of! Not blowing my own trumpet, but the finish on Wicked I'm actually really happy with. It feels and looks (in person) quite professional in my opinion! Cheers Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monckyman Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Bah GAS! Excellent work on Wicked, she looks fantastic! I`ve had my eye on a mates 82 Blazer for a while, it`s currently sat at the back of a cupboard in poor condition. I`m a sucker for Maple necked early 80s basses with a Vox and Hohner part of the line up so I reckon a Blazer would fit right in. Could you tell me what kind of neck profile and width the blazer has,is it more P than J or something in between? MM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megallica Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Great work Alex, I had a Roadstar last year and there is something really special about those vintage Jap built Ibbys. Love the necks on them too, kinda somewhere between a J and a P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted June 25, 2012 Author Share Posted June 25, 2012 Yeah the necks have a D-ish profile and I'd say the width is somewhere between a P and J. So smaller than a P, more chunky than a J. Great basses. Collecting a Roadster tomorrow off Jigster. Can't bloody wait! Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennysFord Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Nice work Bud, I prefer the finish on this one to the last one you did, looks cool. Good effort to you for giving these cracking Basses a new lease of life, my Blazer is the one I'd save in a fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted June 25, 2012 Author Share Posted June 25, 2012 Cheers mate, I think that these aren't really worth enough to keep original so I think they're fair game for a little revamp. After all, it's the tone that matters, right? Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennysFord Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Just reading this back......That was not meant to say that you did a bad job on the former ......Great job on both, I just prefer the latter is all, a new twist and all that. I still prefer the tone on my 80 tho' hehe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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