Grangur Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 I've recently become the new owner of a project that has, so far passed though the hands of at least 2 other folk before coming to my hands. This is, as the title suggests, a Westone Quantum (Westone Quantum bass (X850) There's more info on these on the Westone community site: http://www.westone.info/quantum.html How the bass came to me from Paul S of this parish, was essentially in 3 parts: Body, Neck and a box containing the harness. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/268330-sold-westone-quantum-project-l100/page__fromsearch__1 Day 1: The body looks somewhat like a power boat. It's part stripped and the Logo "Quantum" that normally appears on the body in red, on the black models is missing. It needs a re-spray. The Metalwork of the tuning heads is in pretty good nick, but the bridge needs attention. Stripping down the body, the pups have "MMK" on the back of them. This tells me they are the originals for this type of bass. Apparently it's rare to find a bass of this type with the originals still working... so fingers crossed! The neck has had some wear. It's rosewood with red dots. (Great to see in the dark huh?) The fingerboard of this one is painted black, but the black is well worn. The frets are worn, but could be resurrected if dressed. So, there she is. Where do we go from here? The question is, do we stick with trying to keep it black? As Paul said to me "If Batman played bass he'd play a Quantum". Do we go down the line of a whole new look? Here's on a Darkheart did earlier: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/226192-westone-quantum-restorationmakeover/page__p__2345392__hl__quantum__fromsearch__1#entry2345392 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 In looking at the question of the over all look in the finish I thought about the fingerboard and the dots. As a Warwick Fan, I'm not worried about fingerboard dots. So the red isn't a real big deal. The dots on the side are also red. This isn't good news. I'll re-paint them in white, so I can see them when playing. I can re-dress the frets. I've never done that before. Re-fretting is more in my comfort zone, but lets give a re-dress a try. The body; Black isn't my thing. These basses did also come in red or white. .... mmmmm .... nahhhhh. I'm not into writing on the body, so not too keen on the logo there. But should I try to keep with the history of the bass? On with the work. I started stripping the body further. I started by stripping the body and sanding. This took ages, or so it seemed, and I decided to change to going for the full strip with the blow-torch. Lesson learned here: Sharp pointy edges get hotter than flat surfaces. On one corner the paint got hot and burned under the blow-torch and burned some of the wood. This is not a good start as it's now dulled the sharpness of a corner or 2. It's not drastic, but not great. This brought about a slight change in strategy - back to the first thought - back to sanding and I got this done to a sensible level. All the gloss lacquer is gone and there don't appear to be any rough and flaking parts any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 The neck. I've decided not to stick with the goth look of the black neck and got a Stanley knife blade and scraped away all of the black paint. The neck is now oiled and looking dark, but serviceable and will look good with the black metal-work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 I'm intrigued Rich;) Tbh , the red dots on the neck seem pointless , unless they really do glow in the dark. A sims job is too expensive unfortunately . A bottle green colour wouldn't be bad for the overall finish .or maybe an amber Whats the sound like ?similar to a hohner cricket bat ? Can't wait to see the end result Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 Intrigued? Me too Ray. I've never seen this bass in one piece. I've no idea what I've got sound-wise. There is a hole drilled from the neck pup routing to the neck pocket. So there is a path if one wanted to fit a neck with LEDs or fibre-optics. Somehow I don't think this will be treated to that type of technology. Besides, there's no battery compartment in the body, so it totally impossible. Thanks for the ideas on the paint finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyctes Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Interesting Paint-wise, I'm not all that keen on white, generally, but I love the white and pale grey that Yamaha do on the RBX4A2. That should work really well on the faceted body, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 Thanks for the input guys, but after all that I've done my own thing. It's not as perfect as I'd like really, but here's the finished result: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 There are a few places to re-touch, such as the screw heads and some red on the bridge. I've strung it with Elixirs and the sound is good. It's certainly on the aggressive side but can be coaxed to give out some deep bass too. "Is it good for metal?" She certainly is. Is she good for me?... mmmm... the jury is out. I've enjoyed it as a weekend's work. That's what matters to me. It may be in the Marketplace in the next few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roman_sub Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 deep purple finish? good job and you work fast!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 [quote name='roman_sub' timestamp='1441030475' post='2855472'] deep purple finish? good job and you work fast!!! [/quote] Many thanks. THE there's parts of it that would have me rub it down again for a better, smoother finish, but I'll keep it as it is for now until I decided what to do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Looks very good to me, Grangur... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 bloody hell that was quck! The one that I repaired was in a worse state than yours, it was missing frets, the bridge, pickups, and the string retainer it now sports an Schenker esque painjob, twin mm humbuckers and a self engineered string retainer, plays lovely, sounds massive and if you put a strap button just under the top radius sits nice and square on the strap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 [quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1441038616' post='2855558'] bloody hell that was quck! The one that I repaired was in a worse state than yours, it was missing frets, the bridge, pickups, and the string retainer it now sports an Schenker esque painjob, twin mm humbuckers and a self engineered string retainer, plays lovely, sounds massive and if you put a strap button just under the top radius sits nice and square on the strap. [/quote] True. In fairness to you, I linked to your thread as an alternative inspiration suggestion option on the paint job. Many years ago I did a 2 colour paint job on a motorcycle petrol tank. The paint of the second colour bled under the masking tape, so I fully respect the job you've done. I was really lucky that my project started out being complete. All I had to do was strip, sand and respray. Full respect to you. In some way you're lucky having something that challenges you. This one took no time, which is nice as a weekend project. At the same time as doing this I've also rebuilt a neglected Peavey. So this has been a cool weekend for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 im thinking of getting mine painted again but better than I can do it and just a solid colour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 I've been working on the set up. It's getting better. The TR is getting stiff though. Does anyone (I guess I'm asking Darkheart here) know if this is a TR that bends the neck alone under tension, or do you need to slacken the strings and manually bend the neck? I've been known to break a TR in the past. I've no intention of going there again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 A TR should never be adjusted under full string tension! It's expecting a lot of an 3/16" steel rod. Manual manipulation of the neck is the answer. If it's getting hard to adjust I'd loosen it off, clamp the neck in the rough shape you think it needs to be in (search YouTube for "Dan Erlewine Straightening Bass Neck"), then tighten the rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I always slacken the strings through force of habit so that probably doesnt answer your question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Brilliant job there Rich . Didn't take long either . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Many thanks for the info on the neck. I thought this might well be a more "vintage" type that would need some more help. The action is pretty good now and the tone is getting good too. It's a nice, small bass. Could work well as a travel bass as it's shorter than your average. It's also easy for removing the neck. Mind you, if you were to remove the neck a lot I recon I'd go for changing the screws to a bolt-on option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Just seen this thread, Rich - you don't hang about! Nice job. Had you kept with black I may have bought it back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 [quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1441109168' post='2856067'] Just seen this thread, Rich - you don't hang about! Nice job. Had you kept with black I may have bought it back! [/quote] Many thanks. I have a can of Satin Black here. How much are you offering? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) You can paint mine satin black if you like ;-) Edited September 4, 2015 by DarkHeart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 [quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1441355954' post='2858148'] You can paint mine satin black if you like ;-) [/quote] I'm available for spray jobs at a good rate. PM me to discuss your requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cloud Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Congrats on a really lovely job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 [quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1441440070' post='2858851'] I'm available for spray jobs at a good rate. PM me to discuss your requirements. [/quote] Oooooh very tempted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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