Peelings. Wo-oh-oh-ooo peelings... (BaCH NR and a stripper)

[chromium]

Thought ya'll might like to see one of these BaCH birds partially nekkid!

My grain-filling job ahead suddenly looks a bit easier than I expected  


















Closet Fenderbirds!   The body core looks mahog (you can barely see it there in the contour), with some sort of outer laminate that has a tight grain, presumably to make finishing easier.  I noticed the maple neck when I was swapping tuners the other day.

These pics were taken after three hits of aircraft stripper.  I'm on the fifth now, and its almost bare with only gentle scraping.  I started with a test spot under the pickguard area, and found that the original finish gives way fairly easily.

[exiledarchangel]

Czech girl doing striptease!

[Barklessdog]

I thought it was all mahogany???

SO DID EVERYONE ELSE, JOHN! 
what color you going to paint her and any mods?

[uwe]

So that is why they could make those necks so thin.  Creative our Czech friends are. 

For mahogany, the neck on my Bach is just way too stable given how sleek it is. Maho necks need a bit of beef to be stable.

Rob has all the surplus maho necks probably hoarded somewhere. Dutch people do stuff like that.   

[Basvarken]

I thought it was all mahogany???

Yep so did I. Now I want my money back.

[uwe]

"Now I want my money back."

That is the Dutchiest phrase of all! 

[Dave W]

Top laminate looks like some kind of maple too. Sure would make it easier to finish than mahogany.

[gearHed289]

Those bastards! 

Works for me. Maple is my friend.

[Dave W]

Syrup and bass necks. Hard to top that.

[Barklessdog]

Probably will sound better with the maple, more like a LP

[chromium]

 

Yeah I guess this all makes sense at this kind of price.  The maple neck doesn't bug me at all.  I absolutely love the profile - feels like home, and if I had to sacrifice that just for maho... well I wouldn't want to.  I took this to a rehearsal once before I tore it down, and played it 4-hours straight.  It plays and sounds fantastic (and that was still with the Artec), and has a lot of what the 76 that I normally play there has - and that's all that matters to me.  This is gonna be my outdoor-gig/dive-bar alternate bass.  I just got a kick out of it - totally expected their usual mahogany content to be under there  

what color you going to paint her and any mods?

I liked the original color... I mainly just wanted it to "feel" like the older tbird (that "gummy" lacquer feel).  I originally was going to scuff the poly up and spray an oly white over it, but then I saw reranch had ocean turquoise.  Kinda reminded me of what pelham blue looks like when it ages,  but a little lighter.  I couldn't resist!  That's when I decided to strip the whole thing and do it from ground zero-




I also got some of their amber-tinted clear.  I'll experiment with that on a test piece.  If it doesn't come out looking soylent-green, I might hit it lightly with that.


For the pickups, I'm routing the bass to be a TB IV, and I'm going to "Rommel-ize" a set of late model TB+ soapies that I have sitting here.  Instead of peeling them, I'm gonna try "exfoliating" them on the belt sander, and then loading the Greatdealz NOS 70s covers.  I'll do a nice wiring job on it too.

I run the ashtrays on my 76.  Usually I don't like those on my player basses, but they actually make good finger rests - so I have a set for this too.  I finally broke down and bought a $30 tugbar from Greatdealz.  Picked up some bone nut blanks for $5 - I'm going to try my hand at that for the first time.  I've already swapped tuners to some reverse Kluson-style vintage clovers (think they're from one of those road-worn Fender necks)

Oh yeah- and I have 'guard coming from Terrapin.  It's .09" Mint/B/M with laser etched/backfilled insignia (much like the one on Barkless' F-bird, except with the original graphic).  I still want one of Scott's hot-stamped .06" jobbers when he cranks out a batch.... and one of Bill's repro tailpieces to top it off.  For now, I'll just use the BaCH's original one.

I'll post pics as I make progress... just taking it slow and easy.

[Daniel_J]

I've done that on one of my projects aswell. Depending on the situation, gluing a venneer of very fine tight grained wood is easier and faster than pore filling. If it's a solid color and you have to build a bunch of the same, then it's definitely easier and cost effective.
And a maple venneer would already come on a smooth enough surface that only needs a light sanding to have it prep for finishing.

[uwe]

Now the maho doesn't breathe anymore on those things. I simply knew something was wrong ... 

Finish influences ... let's not go there!

[Highlander]

Oooh... this all looks very familiar...    just about to post mine...

[chromium]

Finish influences ...