silentbob Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 (edited) A little while back I bought myself an old Encore LTD83 which was in a bit of a bad way. Decided to give it a bit of a restoration and it's now probably my favourite/go to bass. Only problem is, I'm mostly into heavier music and it doesn't look very "metal",so when one came up on the 'bay at a bargain price I hatched a plan to build another. (Big thank you to soopercrip on here for collecting the bass and posting it down to me.) Original plan was to strip everything down and repaint in the style of an original Musicman Sub (textured black paint, metal treadplate pickguard), but I was unable to source the textured paint so instead went for a hammerite type spray paint. This was disasterous and I ended up stripping all the paint off and starting again. This time I went for BMW charcoal metallic which was alot easier to use and has turned out pretty good. Today I finished lacquering the body and I'm really pleased with it (what with it being my first time at painting a body). I did end up with a slight orange peel effect which I was going to get rid of with a rubbing compound, but the more I look at it, the more I like the way it gives the kind of textured finish I was originally after so I've decided to leave it. The next job to do is the neck. I need to fill a small ding in the headstock, then sand it back and paint it the same colour as the body, and add a new Fender inspired Encore decal. I'm also going to give the neck a light sanding to hopefully get rid of the years of dirt build up it's aquired, then finish it with a couple of coats of danish oil. Hardware wise, I'm again using my favourite Gotoch components, this time in cosmo black, and I'm going to rewire using EMG HMZ pickups, CTS pots, Switchcraft jack socket and an orange drop cap. All that leaves then is the scratchplate. I have spoken to Howard (bass doc) about cutting a treadplate plate, but it's not something he can do, so I'm now looking at carbon fibre as a possibility, either real, or the fake plastic look-a-like stuff. Anyway, enough talking, here's a few pics of the body in various stages of compleation. Edited July 13, 2013 by silentbob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silentbob Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 So after ten months or so since starting this thread.......it's finished, well, as near as dammit. I cannot put into words how happy I am with this bass. It looks, plays, and sounds amazing (imho), So, what did I do since the last post? First off I screened all the cavitys with graphite paint, a lot neater and a lot easier to use than copper tape, though I did still use tape on the rear of the pickguard. All the cavity screening has worked a treat, there is no unwanted noise whatsoever. The pickguard itself was a job and a half for Howard. I went for carbon fibre in the end and it was a bugger to work with, so much so that Howard said he would never work with it again, so thank you very much Howard for your perseverance, it really makes the bass look fantastic. On to the neck, this had a light rub down to clean off the years of grime that had built up, then the headstock was painted to match the body. I had a major problem getting the decal on so in the end just decided to ditch it and leave it blank. Once the headstock was painted, I gave the neck a few coats of danish oil, then set about drilling new holes to take some treaded brass inserts. These would turn the neck into a proper "bolt-on" and would make life easier as the neck has to come off to adjust the trussrod. Next it was just a case of soldering the electrics and putting it all back together. There are still a couple of little jobs to do, but nothing that can't wait. So here are some pics, hope you like what I've done with her and would love to hear any feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silentbob Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 Few more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBobTTD Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 Nice...I like it. The scratchplate looks fantastic. Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Sweeeeeet! Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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