My first project

[deneb]

Starting on a reno of my first bass. For a bit of background I bought this Encore bass for £40-£50 in probably 1996.

 

It was a bit of a mess even then, but for my purposes was fine. It had four strings and working electrics. I joined a couple of bands, had a lot of fun, then life got busy and she got relegated to the spare room and remained there through several house moves.

 

I recently got an urge to pick her up again. Obviously at this point I had to re-string, but thought while I was at it, I would have to replace the nut as to be honest it was always a concern. Had been replaced before I got it with whatever the cheapest material they could find was. Rough and ugly.

 

Once I had retrieved and cleaned her down, I noticed that over the years much of the hardware had started developing small areas of rust. Added to chopped up pickguard, replaced knobs and paint job which I think were done with a punk attitude, but with it being '96 I always associated a Brit-pop vibe which never really my thing.

 

To cut a long story short, at this point it was clear I would have to essentially replace everything to bring it up to a standard that I would be happy with.

 

[deneb]

What I'm aiming for is the following. I initially thought I wanted to repaint the body in green, but having had time to reflect, I'm considering keeping it red, but will want to repaint anyway and fix the scratches and dings

Edited December 28, 2021 by deneb

[deneb]

The issues facing me immediately are that the number and placement of the pickguard screws do not match up with most standard replacement ones that I've seen so far.

 

I'm also having a lot of confusion about repainting. I'm not set up at the moment for a full repaint, and probably won't be until the summer or if/when covid goes away and I can use the workshop at my parents place.

 

In the meantime is there a tried and tested medium that can cover small scratches and dings without having to sand down the whole body?

 

There's a fair bit of information out there, but some can be conflicting and I don't want to waste time and money only to have to end up having to do a full sand a repaint anyway.

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by deneb

[PaulThePlug]

Honesly...

I'd go for a Good Clean, Fretboard, Frets and Hardware all with some 0000 Wire Wool,

A new set of budget strings, Olympia?

And play it as it is...

Any Do-ing is likely to cost more than an old Encore is worth...

Put any monies towards something like a Harley Benton or Squier Affinity...

[kodiakblair]

1 hour ago, deneb said:

In the meantime is there a tried and tested medium that can cover small scratches and dings without having to sand down the whole body?

 

Wrap it.

 

Get yourself on eBay and buy a roll of self-adhesive vinyl. £7 for 1M x 610mm , that's enough to cover your bass.

 

Tools required. Sponge,spreader (credit card type thing will do), scissors/ craftknife & hairdryer.

[Dan Dare]

On 28/12/2021 at 13:16, PaulThePlug said:

I'd go for a Good Clean, Fretboard, Frets and Hardware all with some 0000 Wire Wool,

 

If you don't remove the pickups before using steel wool, cover them thoroughly with masking tape. If you don't they will be covered with a fur of wire wool fragments, that you will never completely get off them.

[deneb]

I removed a lot of the worst of the scratches that I think I could salvage. Left a lot of dull areas, but i'm confident once these are polished and buffed, the general surface will look good enough that i'll be satisfied until I'm set up to do a full repaint later down the line - which may yet not happen. 

 

So next job is bringing that back to a level i'm satisfied with.

 

This is gonna be a bit of a slow project as I don't have a lot of free time!