Eight Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 (edited) A guitar playing friend of mine was given this Peavey International Series Milestone I to "fix". It needs a little more work than he first thought and unfortunately, being a guitar player, he doesn't have the attention span or work ethic so has passed it on to me. The one string (of the two that are present) that can actually be tuned tells me that it could be quite a playable instrument, plus I've wanted to do something along these lines for a while. And so... here begins my first adventure into bass restoration and building. :-) Will get some pics together but here's what I've worked out needs doing so far. [list] [*]New bridge - current one is filthy, and so cheap it's not worth cleaning [*]New machine heads - only has two. [*]Nut might need changing [*]Body needs filling and redrilling since the strap pins have both dethreaded their holes [*]Respray - body is battered to hell. Not even in a cool way. [/list] Then I'm adding on [list] [*]Black scratchguard - white one not my cup of tea. [*]Chrome pickguard cover - Fender Marcus Miller style. [/list] Fun fun fun. And with the summer months approaching, I might even be able to do the spraying myself. The best bits about this project are that the owner doesn't really care about getting the bass back, and short of burning it, there's no way I can make it any worse. Plus there's no point buying expensive parts since I doubt a Milestone I is worth more than £70. So even thought I know very little about these sorts of things, I might as well take the opportunity to learn. Edit: See post further down about the pickguard poll. Edited May 17, 2011 by Eight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backwater Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 (edited) A blast from the past - my first bass was a Milestone 1 - assume it is the Jazz-styled one? As I recall, it played very well and sounded pretty good. I gigged with mine for a while before I changed to a short-scale Musicmaster. When I bought mine new (in 1995) they were around £200 so your guess of about £70 sounds about right. Looking forward to seeing how it comes out. Andy P.S. Don't be afraid of doing the spraying yourself - I tried it and it worked out very well! Have a look here : [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=21695"]My precision respray[/url] Edited April 6, 2010 by backwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 6, 2010 Author Share Posted April 6, 2010 It is the Jazz, ja. I was actually quite impressed when I first picked it up. I can imagine these being great basses for that end of the market. Oh and thank you very much for the link to your project there - useful info for a newb like me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bass Doc Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 And I think you know where to come for cheapie parts. H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 6, 2010 Author Share Posted April 6, 2010 [quote name='The Bass Doc' post='797617' date='Apr 6 2010, 02:53 PM']And I think you know where to come for cheapie parts. [/quote] Ah good call!!! I'll peruse your offerings when I bring the Vampyre and Curbow down. And I'll make a list of things to ask you hahahah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 6, 2010 Author Share Posted April 6, 2010 Got a strange urge to try and fit a Warwick height-adjustable Just-A-Nut III to this thing. But when the nut is half the value of the instrument, you know you're being daft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essexbasscat Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 pics please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 6, 2010 Author Share Posted April 6, 2010 Some pictures. Not sure you can tell from this photo just how minging the bridge is. Something missing...? Something else missing...? The electrics work, thankfully. But I'm a bit concerned about the truss rod so might hang on until I can get the Doc to take a peek before doing much else to this bass. Does the neck need to be screwed to the body to check that the rod turns? Maybe a dumb question. Can't quite tell whether the allen key socket part is broken or not, but then the light isn't great in here tonight. Every single screw on this bass is rusted and filthy - I don't know exactly what's happened between a problem developing and me getting hold of it, but I suspect this bass has been in a few sheds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bass Doc Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 Bridge and machines - no problem, cheapies in abundance. Truss rod tweak? Can be done 'on board' but crucial to use the right allen key. Replacement t/r nuts again readily available. H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 6, 2010 Author Share Posted April 6, 2010 [quote name='The Bass Doc' post='798020' date='Apr 6 2010, 09:01 PM']Truss rod tweak? Can be done 'on board' but crucial to use the right allen key. Replacement t/r nuts again readily available.[/quote] Cool. I resisted the urge to start poking allens in there. Methinks I showed remarkable uncharacteristic restraint. But I did take the neck off, and binned the strings and the machine heads. Kept the bridge in an airtight bag for now - to stop the filth escaping - just in case I need to match the size or whatever later. The other thing I've noticed from looking at those photos... carpet could use a hoover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 Right... everything is heading in the right direction so far. But I'm a bit unsure what to do with the neck. With the machine heads etc. removed, you can see it was once a nice wood colour and is now not only very dirty, but has also discoloured. Debating whether it's worth sanding it, replicating the headstock decals and refinishing. Or whether just to clean it as best I can and leave it at that... I don't like the idea of cutting corners on the neck, but if I re-do everything on the bass then I'm just throwing money and time away. Just using this thread as a bit of a diary so I can look back one day and re-live the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 Ok, got a question. I've severed the pickups from their pot connections without too much hassle. But it looks like the whole circuit is grounded to a thin blue wire that disappears through the wall of the control cavity but doesn't go anywhere (unless there's another hidden cavity under all the paint somewhere). Is it just fixed into the wall rather than leave a loose ground in with the pots? Can I safely snip it and fix it back in somehow later when the body has been resprayed? I know a little bit of electronics but would rather not get this wrong and have to rewire the entire thing. Cheers guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bass Doc Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 The earth wire from the cavity should re-appear under the bridge - maybe corroded away judging by the state of the bridge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 8, 2010 Author Share Posted April 8, 2010 [quote name='The Bass Doc' post='799329' date='Apr 7 2010, 11:07 PM']The earth wire from the cavity should re-appear under the bridge - maybe corroded away judging by the state of the bridge?[/quote] Hmmm... I didn't notice anything when I removed the bridge but then I wasn't looking. Will take another peek this evening. Cheers H, you're a star. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 8, 2010 Author Share Posted April 8, 2010 Doh. The mystery earth wire extended about an inch into the body, with about 5mm of stripped wire at the end. I hadn't wanted to pull it incase something broke before solving the mystery, but it just now fell out when I moved the body. No sign that anything is wrong with it, must just be the way Peavey built the thing. On we go... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 11, 2010 Author Share Posted April 11, 2010 Note to self: sanding through multiple layers of primer, paint and nitroceluose is hard graft. Not the relaxing passtime I was expecting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 12, 2010 Author Share Posted April 12, 2010 Slow day at work so I decided to whip into Photoshop. I'm not sure now whether I want a black pickguard, or just to get a replacement white one. What do you think? If I can work out how to do it, I might set this up as a poll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allighatt0r Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 My vote is for Black. Definitely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velvetkevorkian Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 Indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman69 Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 Yea, black Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 I have just won one of these on ebay for £31, so im interested to see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 12, 2010 Author Share Posted April 12, 2010 [quote name='daz' post='803970' date='Apr 12 2010, 06:14 PM']I have just won one of these on ebay for £31, so im interested to see how it goes.[/quote] Slowly The more work I put into this, the more I'm becoming attached to the Peavey Milestone I model... though it's a bit like stockholm syndrome. Have you got the link to the auction? Just curious. I'm happy to see black is winning the vote so far - tells me my first instincts might have been correct. But I'm interested to see how the vote progresses. Thanks for all the comments guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backwater Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 [quote name='Eight' post='804012' date='Apr 12 2010, 07:07 PM']Have you got the link to the auction? Just curious.[/quote] I'm assuming it's this one : [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Peavey-Bass-Guitar_W0QQitemZ250607952555QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item3a5965e2ab"]Ebay auction[/url] It's listed as a milestone one but I suspect it's a milestone 3 as it has a precision style scratchplate and 2 jazz pickups. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted April 12, 2010 Author Share Posted April 12, 2010 (edited) [quote name='backwater' post='804034' date='Apr 12 2010, 07:31 PM']It's listed as a milestone one but I suspect it's a milestone 3 as it has a precision style scratchplate and 2 jazz pickups.[/quote] Yeah, I don't think it's a 1... with all the Googling etc. I did, I'm pretty sure both the precision and jazz models had the same Fender jazz pickguards (with the chrome bit). But as for what it is... I wouldn't like to guess. I haven't seen any IIs, IIIs or IVs which have the precision scratchplate on the jazz bass... but that doesn't mean much. I'm not exactly an expert. Daz, make sure you let us know exactly what it is when you get your hands on it. You lucky bugger - I likes a bit of mystery. Especially at that price. Edited April 12, 2010 by Eight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velvetkevorkian Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 Yeah, that's a Milestone III, just like mine AFAIK the I is a J copy, the II is a P and the III is a hybrid of both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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