PB-50 Headstock Re-shape

[yorks5stringer]

Varitone switch is 25 x 31x17mm so will not fit my Blueflower cavity without enlarging it and I am reluctant to do this for visual reasons( even though it will be hidden).Weird?

[SpondonBassed]

2 hours ago, yorks5stringer said:

Varitone switch is 25 x 31x17mm so will not fit my Blueflower cavity without enlarging it and I am reluctant to do this for visual reasons( even though it will be hidden).Weird?

Not really.

Is that for lack of tools or is it because you lack confidence in being able to do a neat mod?  Either way it would be easy to understand.  Hidden bodges are still bodges and just knowing they exist is sufficient to take from the joy of modification.

I'm sure someone here will have something more helpful in the way of advice or assistance.

That Varitone idea sounds worth following through with.

PS:  Does yours look like this?

Edited March 20, 2018 by SpondonBassed

[yorks5stringer]

Yes it's a looky-likey.

With regard to the mod, weirdly I have carved up my older Telebass because it is more road-worn and had been modded anyway for another pickup but the Blueflower is all pristine and it feels sacrilegious to start digging away at it! I have the tools, routers and the skills.

As you say, I will know it is there, even if it is obscured. I have another pickup which may be a bit hotter and would have no qualms about swapping that but harming those flowers seems cruel. They are real flowers....

[discreet]

1 hour ago, yorks5stringer said:

They are real flowers....

Yes, of course they are. You have a nice sit down... I just have to make a quick phone call... 

Edited March 20, 2018 by discreet

[alyctes]

7 hours ago, discreet said:

Yes, of course they are. You have a nice sit down... I just have to make a quick phone call... 

That's not going to work and it's also a blatant violation of professional ethics.  For god's sake, man, offer him a cup of tea!

[yorks5stringer]

Tea? That's made from flowers and I don't want to harm any beautiful flowers.....

[SpondonBassed]

Something has put me in mind of this character.

If only I could put my finger on who what.

[discreet]

Time for bed.

[BrunoBass]

I’ve read that the visible grain on these is a printed photo, similar to the old Fender Fotoflame off of the nineties. Anyone know if so? Has anybody stripped one of it’s finish?

[kodiakblair]

 

18 minutes ago, BrunoBass said:

I’ve read that the visible grain on these is a printed photo, similar to the old Fender Fotoflame off of the nineties. Anyone know if so? Has anybody stripped one of it’s finish?

It's true that the grain is a photo, basswood doesn't really lend itself to sunburst finishes. I know a couple of German fellas who stripped their PB-50s. I'll ask them how easy it was. Have to say I wasn't too keen on the results on one of them.

[BrunoBass]

Thanks @kodiakblair for such an informative thread, very appropriate for me right now as my PB-50 should arrive this week (if Thomann ever get round to dispatching it...) 🙂

[kodiakblair]

Oh you're welcome @BrunoBass, glad you found something of interest  4 years down the line the PB-50 is still the bass that works for me. I'm waiting a delivery so I can get started on number 5 

[kodiakblair]

If anybody is planning on stripping the finish this is what you'll find.

 

Between the varnish,photo flame paper and sealed top coat that peels off you'll lose about 1.5mm.

[discreet]

27 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

If anybody is planning on stripping the finish this is what you'll find.

 

Between the varnish,photo flame paper and sealed top coat that peels off you'll lose about 1.5mm.

Ow. I'm glad I left well alone and just painted over the existing finish...

[kodiakblair]

12 minutes ago, discreet said:

Ow. I'm glad I left well alone and just painted over the existing finish...

Wish I'd left the hell alone  No actually I wish I never thought about doing the paisley pattern finish 

[discreet]

51 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

I wish I never thought about doing the paisley pattern finish 

I probably would take the easy way out and wrap it. 

https://axedecals.com/product/pink-paisley-guitar-wrap-skin/

[kodiakblair]

20 hours ago, discreet said:

I probably would take the easy way out and wrap it. 

https://axedecals.com/product/pink-paisley-guitar-wrap-skin/

Oh dear !! 

£19.99 Vs Buying Nitro Mors, buying heat gun, 4 burns using said heat gun. 3 hours sanding, apply sealer coat,more sanding.£15 on two different sheers of paisley,£7 on spray paint. 5 minutes to balls up job. 5 hours stripping the whole bloody lot off again.

Best I go for a lie down in a quiet room 

[BrunoBass]

22 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

If anybody is planning on stripping the finish this is what you'll find.

 

Between the varnish,photo flame paper and sealed top coat that peels off you'll lose about 1.5mm.

Thanks for the heads up on this over the weekend, I reckon you saved me a whole heap of pain! 

[kodiakblair]

27 minutes ago, BrunoBass said:

Thanks for the heads up on this over the weekend, I reckon you saved me a whole heap of pain! 

Best if just one of us suffers 

 

[Andyjr1515]

On 07/05/2018 at 23:23, kodiakblair said:

If anybody is planning on stripping the finish this is what you'll find.

 

Between the varnish,photo flame paper and sealed top coat that peels off you'll lose about 1.5mm.

Can't quite work out what I'm looking at here..

[kodiakblair]

Just now, Andyjr1515 said:

Can't quite work out what I'm looking at here..

The amber on the left is the lacquer and photo flame, you can see the under side of it in the right hand photo. The curved strip of wood has me kind of beat, it's an even 0.7mm thick. It peeled off the body. I keep coming back to thinking they've sealed the body with a shellac or something similar and the heat gun lifted it too.

 

[yorks5stringer]

On 5/8/2018 at 21:35, kodiakblair said:

Oh dear !! 

£19.99 Vs Buying Nitro Mors, buying heat gun, 4 burns using said heat gun. 3 hours sanding, apply sealer coat,more sanding.£15 on two different sheers of paisley,£7 on spray paint. 5 minutes to balls up job. 5 hours stripping the whole bloody lot off again.

Best I go for a lie down in a quiet room 

Luckily it's not an authentic Fender PP pattern but still looks pretty cool....can I resist?

[BrunoBass]

I reshaped the headstock on my PB-50 today. I’d been trying to get somewhere and getting nowhere with a hacksaw. I was in the office today so I took the neck to work with me, one of the lads in the warehouse had a jigsaw and he let me borrow it. I’m pretty pleased with how it came out; I printed off a template of the Mike Dirnt Signature and drew around that. When I got home tonight I sanded back with 80 and then 120 grit paper; it’s nice and smooth now and ready for lacquering. I sanded off the Harley Benton decal too. The only downside is that the jigsaw tore up the edge of the corner I was rounding off, next to the E tuner. That meant taken off a bit more meat than I’d intended to, to hide it, but not to worry, it’ll do.

[kodiakblair]

Nice One  

Did you ditch the string tree screw ? On my B-stock the 4 bridge screws,2 tug bar screws and the string tree one were all the same length. Thankfully when they put mine together they never tightened up the string tree, screw would've come out the back of the headstock.

[BrunoBass]

28 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

Nice One  

Did you ditch the string tree screw ? On my B-stock the 4 bridge screws,2 tug bar screws and the string tree one were all the same length. Thankfully when they put mine together they never tightened up the string tree, screw would've come out the back of the headstock.

I’ve still got the string tree screw, it was tight but not too long, the tug bar screws however were so short that the tug bar almost pulled off without being unscrewed!