Dale took delivery of my bass a few days ago, and has begun work on her. She's a '00 V63 that started out life as a FG. The neck heel to body wings joint started that nasty separation thing, so I thought I would refinish her in my favorite colour, white.
Before I sent it, I took the time to perform some mods... the ones I could do myself that is!
1. Shortened/reshaped TRC, and polished edges
2. fabricated aluminum plate to fill the gap under the bridge, and counter-sunk a dimple for the bridge height adjustment screws. The tailpiece was also drilled out for the bridge adjustment screws to mate with the dimples. The tailpiece now sits solidly on the aluminum plate, and with the bridge also connecting directly I have noticed a marked improvement in sustain and bass response. This all came to me from reading the posts on washers being used to fill the gap, and Ted Staberow’s maple shims. Works great!
3. installed different saddle screw springs and replaced screws with hex head type, for easier intonation adjustment.
4. reshaped neck to slim ‘60s profile with volute (thanks to all that contributed to the famous "Measure Your Girth" thread!)
5. reshaped headstock “cresting wave” to ‘60s profile
6. replaced pickguard (thanks to Tony @ Pickguardian) with 4001C64 type, to better follow contours of late model bridge pickup surround
7. replaced reissue horseshoes with my original ~’67 horseshoes
Dale complimented me on my woodworking skills, which was rather flattering... especially coming from him. He's in the process of the strip now, and said he would send me pics along the way. I will post them as I get them, so stay tuned!
Along with the repair/refret/refinish Dale will be staining the fingerboard and headstock wings a DARK rosewood, and replacing the faux pearl fingerboard dots with white celluloid.
Here's a Photoshop rendering I did (thanks Andy!), that should approximate the results.
I'm looking forward to watching this unfold...
Thanks Dale!
Cheers
Sean
