1976fenderhead Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I have (well, my dad does) an original Hagstrom H8. It is pretty battered and I'd like to restore it. Main things I'd like to fix are these holes I hope you can see on that fuzzy mobile picture. One is to the left of the bridge, and 2 round ones behind it on the edge. They've been covered with some paste and varnished over by a friend of my dad, but it all looks very shabby. Being a translucent finish, how much better can it get if fixed properly? Will it always be obvious like that, a flat colour shape filling the hole? Or can it somehow blend and mimic the lines of the wood? Also, does anyone know how much this bass can be worth on the vintage collector market, if in good shape? Same colour as the one owned by Jimi Hendrix and played by Noel Redding, serial number a bit higher... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 (edited) It doesn't look like there's a lot to restore to be honest. You'll almost certainly do further harm its value if you try on an amateur basis. It just adds to the character as far as I can see. Now, if it was like this then the argument is somewhat different: But seriously, don't mess with it, it looks in excellent condition for its age. Edited March 20, 2009 by neepheid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976fenderhead Posted March 20, 2009 Author Share Posted March 20, 2009 (edited) [quote name='neepheid' post='440344' date='Mar 20 2009, 03:13 PM']It doesn't look like there's a lot to restore to be honest. You'll almost certainly do further harm its value if you try on an amateur basis. It just adds to the character as far as I can see.[/quote] In a way, I agree with you: I believe that 'restoration' made it worse and I wish it had just been left as it was... But as it is now, it would be a bit silly to dig those holes out again, so if it was possible to do a proper near-invisible, near-perfect repair, I'd do it... I just don't know how good it can get with a translucent finish... Hey is that a Fender neck and some dodgy mod on the bridge for 4 strings? My dad just puts 4 strings on it and sets up the neck for that tension, no need to assassinate it like that... :-D Edited March 20, 2009 by 1976fenderhead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 [quote name='1976fenderhead' post='440353' date='Mar 20 2009, 03:22 PM']Hey is that a Fender neck and some dodgy mod on the bridge for 4 strings? My dad just puts 4 strings on it and sets up the neck for that tension, no need to assassinate it like that... :-D[/quote] No, it's not the same bass - that one is a 1966 Hagstrom H-IIB which was always a 4 string and always had a rosewood bridge. It is being restored currently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 If you can coat the bare wood with some kind of coloured, matching base coat (like using a varnish stick or similar), then go to a beauty shop somewhere and get some nail buffing pads. NOT the rigid, abrasive ones, the softer, super fine polishing ones a bit like these: (Those grey and white ones - S1224 seemed to work best for me.) Then get some superglue and backfill the dent with layers of glue and let each one dry. Don't worry too much about the white staining or going over the edges of the dent too much, just don't do more than you're prepared to buff back later on. When you've applied enough layers so that the backfilled glue stands proud of the surrounding finish, use the nail buffing pad to abrade the glue filler back to match the surrounding finish level. Sometimes you can use a more abrasive nail pad if you're careful to mask off the surrounding finish to protect from accidental scrapes and use the buffing pad to finish things off. Just take it easy and be patient. Use the coarsest pad to do most of the work and then the finest pad to polish the glue surface and existing finish plus remove any superglue staining. I've done it myself on poly finishes and the repair was invisible apart from when I held it up to the light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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