Project Mud-Star.

[Alanko]

Once again I've slightly overpaid for a worn out end-of-life bass guitar. This time it is a Dearmond Jet Star 'Spel'. At one point I owned the upmarket version. It was sparkly pink and had two "Mickey Mouse" style pickups. A series of poorly judged and poorly executed things happened to that instrument...

I still have my Dearmond Starfire that I documented here previously. This 'Spel' bass is clearly the ersatz model, as it has a bolt on neck and generic P Bass pickup in place of any repro heritage pickup.



The selling point for me was that wide open expanse between the pickup and neck, crying out for pickups various. I'm going to install a Mudbucker for sure, then weigh up my options.


Realistically though, every inch of this bass has scratches, chips and dents galore. It has clearly sat on a concrete floor as the points at the bottom of the body are heavily eroded. I could strip and refinish the bass, but that turns weeks into months, in my experience. I will try and sympathetically rejuvenate the finish but not lose any sleep over it.

[Granny Gremlin]

I'm always here for a mud transplant 

[Alanko]

A mud transplant.... hmmm!

I had a peek below decks this evening.



This is the first time I've seen terminal blocks used in a guitar. This also means the pickup wires were cut at some point.

The pickup itself is very dead.



I didn't cut that white wire. The eyelet it hooks onto is totally loose and has broken the coil wire connected to it. Signs of over-soldering and snipped wires in here.



Never trust a bass that shipped without strings!

I imagine this was quite a chunky sounding pickup in its prime with those big ceramic magnets. Stock wiring harness features 500k pots as well, so maybe a big bright sounding bass originally.

[Highlander]

Hmm... is there anyone else on the site with "Mud in the 'Bird" club...?

[Alanko]

Mud my bird up!

I had my apprentice with me today.



He decided it was time to do some irreversible damage!!!!




In the bad old days I would have slapped a layer of copper shielding tape on that and called it a day. Now that I own a trim router I have a wooden template glued up and ready to go.

[clankenstein]

Hell yes.   The world needs more mudbucker basses for those folks who like actual bass frequencies.

[Alanko]

Making a hole to store some mud in.







I did this in six passes or so, removing a little wood each time. Having thought about the wiring a bit more I opted to install an additional volume control on the lower cutaway area. To do so I firstly drilled through the body.



Then routed a cavity around this hole.



...but there is no way I'm making a round control cover when a square one will do. The mudbucker template enjoyed a nice renaissance here.

[Dave W]

Coming along nicely. 

[Rob]

Clever trick using the Mud Template too!

[godofthunder]

That's looking good! Can't wait to hear it!