(We now join this RM 1999 restoration already in progress)

[walker]

New cavities routed. Now it's starting to look like an RM 1999 again!

[kiramdear]

Wow! Good job! What finish have you chosen for it?

[walker]

Thanks, Kira!

Fireglo, of course! Back to the original finish.

[godber]

Looking good Mark. Great work

[heinpete]

...Fireglo, of course! Back to the original finish.

...don't forget the tooth pick or match stick to put into the hole on the lower horn before finishing!

[antipodean]

Looking very nice Mark!

[opticnerve]

It's really coming together nicely Mark! Great work!

[Kopfjaeger]

Wow Mark, that does look way better than the last time I saw it!!! Really nice work!

Sepp

[MiroN]

a fantastic job!

Fireglo, of course! Back to the original finish.

Burgundyglo, Autumnglo and Mapleglo are better solutions
my two cents.

[ram]

I think you need to put your 'mark' in the new cavities... lookin good!

[jps]

...don't forget the tooth pick or match stick to put into the hole on the lower horn before finishing!

I thought Mark was going to put one of these on to cover that hole?

Bottle Opener.jpg

Looks great, Mark,

[cjj]

Lookin' good!

[daveman]

Loving it. Genius.

[walker]

Thanks, everybody! But yes - the holes. There are PLENTY that I'm going to have to camouflage - that'll be fun. And there is still the gaping hole on the bottom right corner of the HS pickup cavity and small damage spot on the right lower section of the toaster cavity. Will have to get creative there.

Additional notes on what I did - the HS PU cavity is usually routed an inch deep, but I only went ¾" deep on mine to contribute strength to the neck wood. I'm not sure what the depth of the toaster cavity is, but I got away with 7/16" deep. I also set the tailpiece back to the butt of the body so it will be easier to intonate without jamming the saddles all the way back in the bridge.



Notice on Trotty's old RM how far fwd the tailpiece is set and how the saddles are all crammed to the back of the bridge.



You can see how the bridge is tilted back from the downward pressure of the strings, too.

[bassduke49]

I'm sure you already know this, but just in case: The positioning of the tailpiece relative to the butt end of the body varied because of the handmade nature of basses back then. Carefully measure the distance between the nut and the 12th fret, and double that measurement to find the location of the bridge. I would make that spot for the center of the bridge, leaving room for the saddles to move either way for proper intonation. Don't necessarily go with the position of the tailpiece on another bass and assume it would be the same for this bass.