Guitar refinishing decisions, decisions ...

Friday, June 19, 2015 -- I had some free time yesterday and decided to do some more troubleshooting on my Precision Bass clone sitting in the office awaiting new parts.

It appears that fixing the grounding better on the bridge made a difference, as the single string I put back on sounds excellent now. The volume pot doesn't work, and I can't tell the tone pot does more than create static when you run it through its range. Checking the wiring, its wired so it "should" work, though the input from the pickup on the guitar attaches to the wiper of the volume pot instead of one end. That shouldn't make a difference since both pots are wired the same. I think the pots are just corrodio beyond rescue.

But when the guitar gods were smiling on me yesterday, the audio path was fine, and the audio sounded ... well, like a bass guitar should sound. I'm beginning to wish this one was  3/4 scale bass like my Musicmaster was, it was just a little easier to play that way. The full-size will be fine, I'm sure.

In addition to the complete pickguard (with pickups and electronics), I also ordered new screws for the pickguard (the originals were rusty looking).

The pickguard apparently is not the original one that came with the guitar (though the body is routed out to accommodate the PBass pickups). It looks like someone had to whittle down the guard at the base of the neck ... I guess the fit was too tight. It's still very tight, it will be interesting to see how the replacement fits.

BACK TO THE SURF (GREEN).  My poor Spectrum strat has languished in its case untouched for many weeks. I decided to go ahead and order materials for refinishing it -- oil-based wood filler, white spray primer and an aersol can of surf green lacquer. I did NOT buy their lacquer clear; I'm going to use a polyurethane or other clear for the guitar, something with some hard gloss, one that I can shoot once and be done, then polish the hell out of. I want the durability of a poly finish, not a nitro one.

RED IS THE COLOR, BUT WHICH ONE?  After reading up on The Guitar ReRanch website, I've decided that my new bass needs to be painted Dakota Red rather than Fiesta Red. Fiesta Red is an orangey red; my Musicmaster was a deeper red that better matches Dakota Red.

I'm hoping that once I have my new pickguard in place and everything is good to go, I'll fix the dings on the PBass body, sand and fill it, prime it, and then buy a can of Dakota Red from ReRanch. In fact, I might do the bass before I do the strat, simple for some practice. I will clear it with a two-part poly clear too for durability and gloss.