The Last Bass Outpost

Since I got my 78 ebony Ripper, I've had real problems with the sound I get from it. Eventually I worked out that the bridge pickup, which is a rebuild by Kent Armstrong, was wired single coil and reversed polarity. I can't get my head around the effect that has electrically, with the 4 settings, but I used the pictures on Jules' site to wire it correctly, and it's better. It still sounds completely different from the earlier alder/maple Ripper I have, but I'm not too surprised at that.

When we played for the Jubilee in June my daughter filmed some of the set and I was using it in position 2, so the KA is solo. Sounds very aggressive to me. What do you think, does that sound like a Ripper? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR_fg5B3UpU&feature=plcp

(There may be other factors, the 1x12 combo for example. BTW, I know my playing was awful, we'd been laid off since Feb and had 1 rehearsal.)

For the US contingent at least

The Stone Roses are resurrecting, with a world tour starting in June next year.

Several worrying aspects to this: Ian Brown's legendary inability to sing in tune live, new songs, price of the tickets, world tour when I gather they're not widely known outside Europe. Would it be a Spinal Tap experience for them to tour the US?

http://www.gigwise.com/news/68089/The-Stone-Roses-Reunion-Tickets-At-Heaton-Park-Priced-At-55-Pounds

Not sure what to make of this. Can you really make an SG "active" just by wiring in a battery?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiwA3MLuFQ4&feature=channel_video_title

Is this a standard finish for a G3? It looks too red to be sunburst?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220837695733?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

I've got a 3-point bridge where the studs have been attacked by an inadequate tool and the chrome has split and rusted. Rather than replace the whole thing I was thinking of getting a bridge cover, which would conceal the smaller front stud and then replace the two rear ones. But, can't find bass studs. Does anyone know if these "stop tailpiece studs for USA Gibson Guitar" would also work for a 3-point?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NICKEL-STOP-TAILPIECE-STUDS-USA-GIBSON-GUITAR-/230606519644?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item35b1383d5c

So, having bored you all to death with my 78 Ebony Ripper, I finally got it to sound like I wanted and now love it to bits. So much so that I've bought another one. Not quite the same, though, and with cosmetic issues rather than electronic.

This is/was a natural finish, serial number 182193, which Guitar Dater suggests is 1970-72, but I guess must actually be 73 or 74. It has the pickups with screws through the body and the 4-way chicken head selector pointing north, but the ring with the numbers on is missing. Knobs look original, maybe missing metal position markers? I'm not at all certain about the pickguard - it has one small hole above and two below each pickup and they look very neat to be a DIY addition. Pickups are good, except the bridge pup has an indentation in the top - looks like it's been screwed down too tight at some point. Works fine though, both pickups sound great and all the selector positions work.

On to the finish. The body has been resprayed matt black, with a lot of orange peel all over and a lot of buckle rash on the back. Haven't had the pickguard off, but it looks like there might be original finish under it. Where the black is worn away it feels like the original finish is still there. Neck has some kind of clear lacquer on it, worn in places. Serial number, with Made in USA under it, is quite faint and there is what looks like lacquer runs around it, so I suspect it's been tampered with. Great low action, neck plays very nicely despite the worn finish.

Main question then is - what would you do with it? Is it likely to be feasible to remove the black back to the natural finish, if so any tips on how? What about the neck, would you do anything about the lacquer? Any thoughts on original bits that may be missing?

 

Rather than hijack the Hague Rivoli thread, I'll put the picture of our 14th Century beam here.

The really old bit is the arch construction coming up through the floor and across behind the desk to the door, where it was terminated by a 17th century property developer putting in new stairs. That arch would have been supporting the roof of a large hall, and would have been one of several. None of the others have survived. You can see that later construction built a larger timber frame around the structure of the old hall. In the 19th C it was all plastered over and the ceiling beams boxed in, so they could have a new idea in decoration called wallpaper. It stayed like that till we took off the old, blown plaster, and then had to get an architectural historian in to tell us what we'd found.