G&L L2000-Series E rebuild

[funkgod]

Thought i would have a go at rebuilding this  Very Rare Beast. the one on the right.

Its an jan 82, Hog body G&L L2000-E

i got this off a close friend with one pickup coil knackered and the Black paint crazed all over and falling off.

So thought sod it lets attack it, first off the pickup these are available from the G&L site at about $100. each you can get these in black or white.

https://g-l-online-store.myshopify.com/collections/pickups/products/mfd-4-string-bass-pickup

Lucky i had a spare one so i just split the coil and replaced, word of warning here, the early coils were dark ceramic coated and dont bulge out at the sides ( belly out) like the new ones do and will just pop out with out too much fuss, the new ones do bulge a bit with a lighter coil on them, these are abit more tricky to get out as the sides in the centre do come in contact with a divider which is part of the cover and is lightly glued in, if you pull the coil pack out you will tare the coils and split them which i did to one, lucky i was able to unwind a few of the coils to fine the end again and resolder it, some good advice if doing this is to tape the coils up before you put them back in. once in all was running fine with all switches doing their job.

The body, the best way to get the paint off is a heat gun, paint stripper will make a horrid mess and the color will go into the wood making sanding the patches out a real ball ache. the heat gun took me about 45 mins to get it all off, it does not have to be that hot so if you see the paint bubbling then thats way too hot, just use a 1.5 in scraper,  and the paing will just peel off right down to the wood, ok here is my other word of warning if you do this and have a hog body, DO NOT scrape up along with the grain  going from bridge to neck this will lift the small end grains and leave you with loads of little welts in the wood, as can be seen in the pic, again a sanding nightmare, go across the grain this i found was far better with no lifting of the wood at all.

Once all off there was a sort of red patina to the wood may have been a sort of chem sealer, this did not take much sanding to get off.

so thats where i am up to. i am just looking on youtube how to french polish the body i dont want it too dark and want to keep it as light as i can rather than have that orangy mahogany colour, so any advice here would be great any one ? here is what i have been looking at to do the job...

 

 

Edited August 3, 2020 by funkgod

[ped]

Interesting read. It looks great so far. I guess it might end up looking like this one?

https://classicandcoolguitars.co.uk/portfolio/gl-l2000-nat/

I hope you keep the crackle paint hardware. I think it looks great and wish they still used it.

[funkgod]

On 10/08/2020 at 12:07, ped said:

Interesting read. It looks great so far. I guess it might end up looking like this one?

https://classicandcoolguitars.co.uk/portfolio/gl-l2000-nat/

I hope you keep the crackle paint hardware. I think it looks great and wish they still used it.

Hello Ped, i wish the body would end up that light, but no its going to go that orangy mahog color, more like this https://www.talkbass.com/threads/g-l-mahogany-l-2000-series-e-what-would-you-do.680800/ 

so going to have a go at french polishing it, we will see. yea i am keeping that black finish, i have seen crackle finish in a can so might touch up the bridge and plates, just looking for some led paint for the control and pickup holes for screening, same as my wal. ebay seems to be the place, just hate the look of that copper paper for screening it looks so untidy,

In the soul band im in i normally use a red 2000-E have done since i retired my wal for prob the last 15 years, but i have not changed the strings on it for years wanting to keep the sound dead a thuddy, but last night i had a band practice in the 80s show band i am also in, so wanting something more bright i took the black 81 2000-E with slot pole pieces on it just cus i have not used it in a while, im very reluctant to use that one as its like new, anyway... took it out and OMG, i forgot how good that thing is, SO MUCH POWER and Honk, its got newish strings on and i reckon i could cut heads off with it,  :-) so .....All in all i cant wait to get this one finished as im going to use it for a while in the 80s show band, and i wont be too bothered about getting it scratched like the other one, really looking fwd to it, i will keep this post updated as i go,  thanks for the nice comments.

[Jean-Claude]

I spent many years restoring pianos and did a good deal of French polishing. I think there are a few general pointers that you might find useful. First, you do need to get the sanding done as well as you possibly can - the better the sanding, the easier the work will be. Second, don't be tempted to polish without first  filling the grain or you'll wind up with a speckled finish. Plaster of Paris is traditional and cheap but you need to work quickly as it sets pretty fast. Third, read up how to make a proper rubber and practice on scraps of wood to get the hang of using it.  If you make a mistake (and you almost certainly will), don't try to correct it wet, let it dry and sand it out.

As regards colour, I don't think you will be able to get a really pale finish, but you can try using 'white' polish which is the clearest grade. Looking at your picture, I think it will come out with a red cast; if it does, and you don't want it, try an intermediate coat with just a touch of green dye in the polish. This will take the red away, but at the cost of making the overall finish darker.

Good luck with it.    

[funkgod]

On 29/08/2020 at 01:03, Jean-Claude said:

I spent many years restoring pianos and did a good deal of French polishing. I think there are a few general pointers that you might find useful. First, you do need to get the sanding done as well as you possibly can - the better the sanding, the easier the work will be. Second, don't be tempted to polish without first  filling the grain or you'll wind up with a speckled finish. Plaster of Paris is traditional and cheap but you need to work quickly as it sets pretty fast. Third, read up how to make a proper rubber and practice on scraps of wood to get the hang of using it.  If you make a mistake (and you almost certainly will), don't try to correct it wet, let it dry and sand it out.

As regards colour, I don't think you will be able to get a really pale finish, but you can try using 'white' polish which is the clearest grade. Looking at your picture, I think it will come out with a red cast; if it does, and you don't want it, try an intermediate coat with just a touch of green dye in the polish. This will take the red away, but at the cost of making the overall finish darker.

Good luck with it.    

Jean thank you so much for going to the trouble of giving me all that knowledge, so much useful info cheers.

i have seen rottenstone on ebay to seal it and pumice powder

will plaster do the same job  ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/bolpol-Pumice-Powder-FFF-SUPER-FINE-high-grade-for-french-polishing-500g/142055147965?hash=item21132589bd:g:GqoAAOxyMZVTkEm3

[funkgod]

UPDATE...

As it turns out, im crap at french polishing, tried on a few bits of wood, and to be honest what a pain in the crack,  i think by the time i would have finished i would of spent so much time and care on it i would not want to take it out, and also i did not like the color on hog, it reminded me of the gibson SG bases, not my fave look, so had to have a rethink, so quick call to Doug Wilkes which is not too far from me in Keel ( by stoke on trent) and his reply was "yea just bring it", What a top guy, if you don't know dougs work and are looking for that next level thing you DON'T get in alot of custom shops, check him out, hes been around along time and really knows what its all about and is very passionate about his work and being down to earth is my sort of guy, So..after a long think i was going to go with a butterscotch finish only slightly more pale but settled on a antique burst finish, ( like sunburst without the red) so a quick treck to Dougs with a friend who took his rickenbacker 4001 bass to be refinished we left him with them, so, we will see, here is a pic on Dougs bench, and here is his site.

http://wilkesguitars.co.uk/

Edited December 23, 2020 by funkgod

[TheGreek]

I would have been reconsidering whether I'd made the right decision at this point.

Can't wait to see the finished colour.

[funkgod]

hi greek, haha yea, looks prity bleak, but at that point i was in up to my neck, and anything is better than the finish it had, you cant see in the first photo but it was bad, the back of the neck was worn as well down to the wood right along so its had a good life and used allot by someone, a testament to how good it is it could be said, so Doug said he would do that as well,  cant wait to get it back, im just wondering if i should redo the black crinkle finish now on the hardware????......  ooowwww ........go on then  :-)

[funkgod]

if you got to about 10:08 of the vid you will see it getting its coats on, and the progress of my m8s rickenbacker, was black with white binding is going to be cream with black binding

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by funkgod

[funkgod]

G&L update,

Looking good.....

 

[umcoo]

Doug Wilkes is local to me. Looks like he does great work. Will have to pay a visit when I need some bass jobs doing. 

Bass is looking really great 😊

[funkgod]

 

Thank you, thanks to doug, he is a bit of a star, he is just doing me a flame maple topped ash body for my fotoflame jazz bass, and refinishing the worn out body on my 82 wal, also doing a lacquer crack on my early goodfellow.

and his prices are very good too, any repair work needed he is very VERY reasonable, yea give him a bell

the bass is now done, as said i went for an antique finish, doug is very perticular about his finishes for example on this he did not just spray the edges black but hand done the finishe in an "antiquey" as he calls it brown and also adds something to the poly to blend in, a bit like a violin finish and its like a mirror, here ya go, thanks doug.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by funkgod

[PlungerModerno]

Looks sweet as a nut. 

[MoonBassAlpha]

Very tasteful finish. Reminds me of early Ibanez, for some reason. 

[ped]

Looks amazing. You must be over the moon with that!

[Lfalex v1.1]

That's really nice.

Back from the (almost) dead.

[JohnDaBass]

Oh my Lord that is awesome.

[funkgod]

Cheers guys, thanks for the nice comments, yea made up with it, i will get some sound bits on youtube when i get the chance,

Im now just thinking of adding a pull up switch to one of the pots, well...changing one of the pots sorry to one with a pull up switch to take out the tone cap and bypass it, so it goes full tone or add another value cap for a more trebly sound than the other one, so a bit of experimenting may be on the books soon, iv just fitted one to ians rick 4000 and makes a hell of a difference, so much more tone out of it now, i would say its transformed it to a much more usable tool. just my op. 

we will see, thanks again guys.

[Owen]

That looks very classy indeed. I wish I lived close to someone like Mr Wilkes. The concept of being able to interact face to face with someone who really knows what they are doing is very attractive.