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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on November 28, 2014 at 4:26pm

Here's the auction's picture of the old Ampeg and both monitors. The power amp sold with this group. This small picture does not do justice to what these items looked like. They looked way worst in person.

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• fi80.cgi.jpeg, 23 KB

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Permalink Reply by gary herget on November 29, 2014 at 7:53am

Someone put alot of miles on those things.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on November 29, 2014 at 9:15am

Not sure if it was miles or abuse. Every bare metal part was badly rusted. Some of the tollex looked like it could of flaked off. Possibly stored in a wet and damp place. Or just left out in the rain for a few years. Hard to imagine how that much rust could happen. The transformer and heatsink of the Ampeg amp reminded me of an old rusted metal sign.

The finish on the bass is really beat up. No saving it. No chips of paint missing. But enough dings and scratches to look like a shot gun blast. Be a great one to relic. Good news is the frets have absolutely no wear on them at all. Back of the neck is scuffed up but not bad enough to refinish. Fretboard looks really good. Guess the strings kept it from getting chewed up.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on December 4, 2014 at 9:17am

Still not able to adjust the truss rod in the bass neck. There was, and somewhat still is, a lot of dirt shoved up into this opening. Either I don't have the right tool to turn it or what needs to be turned isn't there anymore. The warp isn't bad enough to make it unplayable. But it will play slightly out of tune. Got a shim back under the neck to rase the body end up. The bridge was adjusted all the way down to the base plate.....someone thought it was a good idea to remove the shim. : ) This isn't the fist guitar I've seen this way. No idea why anyone would think removing a shim is a good idea.

If I can't adjust the truss rod I'll replace everything cheaper parts.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on December 19, 2014 at 5:24pm

Update, got some help with the truss rod. Working!!! Right now the bass is in pieces. There was a lot of rust inside and out. Going to replace everything with better parts than originally came with it. This will be an after Christmas project.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on December 27, 2014 at 5:58pm

My bass is complete! I may try one more adjustment to it to lower the strings a bit more. But for playing it's up and running! The total cost for me was less than $250. Case and all. Only because i know how to adjust the truss rod, fix the bridge and set the intonation myself. Went with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders Basslines. Also went with a paper and oil capacitor. A bit pricy but well worth it. There was nothing wrong with the tuners. Kept them. I'll hit the back of the neck with some 400 to 600 grit to smooth out the rough areas. Give me a nice satin finish to boot.

I'm relicking the finish. Having fun with that. Nothing like taking a sander and banging metal tools onto the body of a guitar. : ) I may use deep woods Off to smooth out the ruff areas. Have a new camera. Still haven't ordered my new iMac. This camera wont talk to this old computer.

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on December 29, 2014 at 1:28am

Ha..."deep woods Off to smooth out..." Now that's classic. Good to hear you got the banged up bass running, cheers.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on December 29, 2014 at 3:14am

Don't forget Duct Tape. A relic build must properly have Duct Tape on it to solidify its rednekkidniss. ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Diglydog on December 27, 2014 at 11:45pm

Great that you've finished it.  Do you have a card reader that could transfer pics to the computer ?  Cameras normally link up OK if you treat them as a storage device.

I now want to build the bass project that's been lying in my bench for months.  Trouble is, it's now freezing out there !

Looking forward to photos of your 'new' bass :-)

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on December 28, 2014 at 5:09am

Sorry Diglydog, my mac doesn't haver a card reader. Go for the build when you can. Playing bass is a lot of fun. Well, as long as your not planning on playing old country and western stuff. ; )

Well I'm almost finished... The pots I have are 1/4 inch solid shafts. The knobs I have are for 6mm solid shafts. I'll search thew ebay and a few electrical sites for chrome dome knobs for this thing. I could go with different knobs. But then it wouldn't look like a Fender. If I can't find anything cheap enough I may go this rout. Drill a shaft into a dowel rod the right size. Use a wood screw whit it's end clipped off as a set screw. Paint the thing silver and nutmeg to look like rust.

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Permalink Reply by Diglydog on December 28, 2014 at 7:09am

That's a pity, but looking forward to the pics whenever you can publish them.

I agree that the bass is fun.  I built the 3-string Digly Bass and have a Modern Player Jaguar Bass. I'm now looking to build a 4-string using a factory neck.

Can you carefully drill out the knobs with a 1/4" drill of similar.  You're only looking to take out 0.3mm so it shouldn't take too much force.

Alternatively, you should be able to get a couple of chrome knobs for less than $10 on eBay:

e.g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-HIGH-QUALITY-1-4-CHROME-BRASS-GUITAR-OR-B...

Good luck !  ETA - I'm assuming that I'm seeing $14.95 postage because I'm in the UK - it may be one of those places with cheap items and expensive shipping :-\

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Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on December 28, 2014 at 8:26am

Great find mr Blue rat - time and money well spent! I have a McCartney violin style left handed bass and Ampeg bass amp  I use on recordings with a great tone, will be using it a lot over the next few weeks! :-)

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