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A long, long time ago, I bought several Antoniotsai basses. The first was my first really playable 5-string, and that was my main bass for quite a few years (and still gets outings). The second 5-string had through-body stringing and a not terribly good bridge, and a rubbish preamp, so I decided to replace that. I took the bridge off, unscrewed the pickups, took the rear cover off, made a terrible job of filling the through-body holes, and then put it on one side for rather a long time (since 2012, to be exact).

 

A few weeks ago, I finally decided to do something about it. I'd bought a Schaller bridge a while ago in anticipation of overcoming my executive dysfunction, and back in the mists of time I'd picked up a Warwick Just-A-Nut I off Ebay which I'd put on. However, mislaid at some point were the assorted screws and the back cover. The original preamp was a five-pot job with a front jack socket and a further hole that I can't remember the purpose of.

 

I decided that I'd replace the electronics with an Artec SE3 (which has the requisite number of pots) pending any decision about the future, and I would keep the original pickups.
 

From 2012 - first, foiling the control cavity (at this point I left the preamp in situ). The atrocious filling of the through-body holes can be seen.

 

1foiled.thumb.jpg.7d4244188c456bd2bbff1ba07daa4f9b.jpg

 

This got the cat seal of approval

 

2cat_seal_of_approval.thumb.jpg.961e07c2fc3488a7244cfe9ce21be63e.jpg

 

Sadly, the cat didn't last to see the bass finished.

 

So, fast forward twelve years, and I finally lined the Schaller bridge up and screwed it into place:

 

3bridged.thumb.jpg.fea575f1fb1b52480034d133afe8701c.jpg

 

The rear cover is somewhere in the house - I have no idea where, so I bought some 2mm ABS sheet and cut the cover roughly to shape, then sanded to a pretty good fit. Holes drilled in almost the right places, then I managed to drill straight through with a countersink. Sod it, it's on the back and ICBA to do it all over again. Note careful placement of cover to conceal the atrocious filling in of the through-body holes.

 

4covered.thumb.jpg.83e55898a78be830ba3d10f500c6c7f3.jpg

 

The front of the body is spalted, and a chunk had fallen out right by one of the control holes (the one closest to the top in the below photo). I used some hard wax filler to fill the divot.

 

5waxed.thumb.jpg.5f97d71174c7520a7477fde39c772a9a.jpg

 

Next step - use some heatshrink to tidy the battery wires, and put the preamp in place.

 

6preampin.thumb.jpg.1a3e5b69fb190d9eec2bd51b67ab6658.jpg

 

Next - the gut shot prior to the pickups being wired in (the unconnected plug is the one from the blend pot).

 

7gutshot.thumb.jpg.41db6a274861f4e8762742a71249aa51.jpg

 

Finally, everything in place and the bass strung up. I'd bought a string winder bit for the electric drill and put it somewhere safe, so of course I couldn't find it, so it was strung up with my own fair hands.

 

8completed.thumb.jpg.d4f61691a19e87ebc87f200d3b283fe5.jpg

 

I put a DFA switch in because there was a hole - I would have put an active/passive switch in but doing this is rather complicated with the SE3. If I upgrade the electronics, it will become an active/passive switch.

 

Still to do - tidying up the filled holes, fret levelling.

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