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hi all. this old Jazz Bass came into our shop last year and i documented the process of bringing it back to the customers request. the original paint had been stripped off some time in the 70's, and a dark, furniture stain was applied. because the wood wasn't protected with a top coat such as polyurethane or nitro lacquer, the wood had worn away from thumb wear. well, the customer had wanted it to be a gloss white. since you can't paint on an uneven surface, and sanding down to the lowest spot of the wear would have removed too much material, some other option was necessary. i've seen plenty of gouges like this filled in with wood putty, bondo, super glue, plaster, expired caramel candy. . . okay, maybe not that far. but i am not a fan of filling with a foreign material. after all, the nitro finish requested would print into whatever material was under it, and it would be increasingly evident over time that something was under it, other than wood. So i decided to rout out the center piece (since it was a 3 piece body) about a quarter of an inch deep, and inlay a new piece of alder into it. that way, it would have the same seams as the 3 piece glue up, and the only new seams would be on the end grain of the body. I felt that these seams would be inconspicuous over time given their location and proper glue up. So here's the process from beginning to end. enjoy!

Here's the finished product. . .i was cut short on the number of attachments last post.

I approve!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Yeah, nice save!

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George :-)

Very nice work.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Excellent !! I wish I could router out some of the Acoustics I repair that way ! Nice work on that bass !

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As soon as I started reading I thought, gotta fix it with wood - and you did! Very nicely done!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Man, as I scrolled though your pictures and got to the routed stage of the repair, I got excited. I thought you were on your way to a great save, and you WERE. Congratulations. I think that looks great.

Bravo - very well done!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

I agree very nice work!

When I first read what you wanted to do, I was a bit skeptical. You made a believer out of me. Great job !!!

hahaha, thanks! Ya know, one of the best thing about some of the "venturing into the unknown" repairs that i'm fortunate to work on is the skepticism that I myself have. I'm always confident that the results will be satisfactory, but sometimes they go beyond my own expectations, and even further beyond the customers. this was definitely one of those jobs.

Totally awesome!

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

My first thought was early 60's Jazz bass......just clean it up and set the action, then I saw what You were up against. All I can say is that You did a great job of rescueing a piece of musical history.