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  • Setup & Repair

  • Sometimes you Have t ask yourself.. Just what have you got yourself into Project

Tuckstir short list is what is no wrong..
1: the Truss rod

The only thing that makes me think twice about a project is a dodgy neck. Funnily your to do list is frighteningly lose to what mine was with my 34in hofner - though I had a a nut that worked.

The ferrule is available - but at (last i checked) 10GBP + shipping from a hofner parts shop in the UK. But I just cut up some golf club shafts to make a sleeve - kinda works...Thinking about it, those violin basses probably use the same tuners - that would be a useful source of parts?
I'd be tempted to swop the tuners for a set like on the Cort Action Jr - the old ones ;look sooo cool and the bass is fairly complete.

Bone can get quite brittle once boiled up (and stinky) - graphtech/tusq be so much easier.

The Gear Junkies have one (in white) waiting for a tuner and a few other bits too. Don't think they'll prt it out, but you never know.

Nice one! ?

Edit: Realizing I wrote a DIY post and didn't suggest relicing - now fixed ?

    V8 The ferrule is available - but at (last i checked) 10GBP + shipping from a hofner parts shop in the UK. But I just cut up some golf club shafts to make a sleeve - kinda works...Thinking about it, those violin basses probably use the same tuners - that would be a useful source of parts?

    The ferrule is easy, its the 2 bent tuners which pretty much makes that a moot point, I've been looking for same same tuners with-out breaking the bank to no success.. so I most likely will settle on something more bass generic.

    I've contemplated the like new value verse how much I Could/Would spend, if this was like restoring a 60's Gibson, which if i wanted to sell , where I could get premium value for back, then i would try get all original parts..but that is not the case,

    Raru has a surprisingly good selection of hofner styled parts in its Allparts selection..and although I could source original parts the shipping alone @ 50 Euro is not worth it.

        If you do end up replacing the switch just make sure that you have the correct configuration.
        The On/Off you posted only has two terminals and will simply make or break that connection. The slide you posted has 8 contacts, that probably means 2 switches, each of which can connect a center point to up to three terminals.
        ...apologies if this is old news, it's worth checking.

        Yeti If you do end up replacing the switch just make sure that you have the correct configuration.

        yeah the slide is literary the first i found.. Knowing that's is an on-off-on( was hoping nobody would notice), I just need an on-off, the pickups are 2 wire so no playing around with coil splitting etc.

        Now the current connected are 3 pole switches, and looking at the schematic 185 Year 64 is a grounded switch, would it make any difference not to ground the switch as that's not possible with the intended switch

        Now I also have choices seen as I'm redoing the scratch-plate I can Also go for the 185 Year 62 which has no switches, relys on the volume pots for pot selection

        or alternatively the 185 year 172 which has on-off switches but a master volume

        • Yeti replied to this.

            Tuckstir I'm not super clued up on guitar wiring but broadly I'd say that the only times a switch would be earthed separately from the circuit it's switching are if a) it has exposed metal components and there is a chance of it being energised at high voltage or b) there is a chance of it acting as an aerial... neither of which seems particularly likely here so I'd guess you should be fin.

                10 days later

                My first bit of work on the Bass is the tail piece, a badly corroded bit of chroming was removed and the copper tail piece polished and buffed and with a protective layer added
                before

                after

                a month later

                so A bit more progress.
                while waiting for parts to arrive, i removed the vinyl covering

                but what is not showen is a sliver of wood came off with the top covering

                the back however came off perfectly

                the Problem is with the covering off, and that sliver of top layer off some stress relief has occurred..

                so now do I try save the body and steam and weight it down or make a new body..

                and In keeping it to original, i have new covering material

                • V8 likes this.
                • V8 replied to this.

                  Tuckstir Wow, tuckstir! Never seen anyone remove the cover from a old Hofner, hattip to you sir!

                  As for re-doing it, you must have the patience of two saints and a few mothers too!

                    Awesome. That body bending is properly weird.. wouldnt have thought the vinyl would have such an effect.

                    Is that 2 slabs sandwiched together? Dont know how well steam would work on slabs that thick. Worth a shot i guess. If thats a slab sammich.. id be inclined to take the top slab off and make another and reglue. Then press it for a while to see if it straightens.

                    Years back i had a warped maple cap i wanted to straighten. Wrapped it in hot moist towels and loaded it with weight. It did remove some of the warp.. but not all. Glueing it to a new blank sorted it though

                    V8 As for re-doing it, you must have the patience of two saints and a few mothers too!

                    haha.. patience and me are difficult friends at best.. but i want to try keep this as original looking as possible.
                    I have this thin that I dont like standard looking guitars.. 'I hate a Sunburst.. plain.. is well just to plain ect.. like something different and vinyl wrapped is as different as you can get.

                    guidothepimmp

                    It made out of 8 pieces.. a 6 piece laminate slap.. roughly 50mm in width, with a top and bottom cap..about a 1mm thick.. and the top cap came off with the vinyl, had actually separated before I removed the vinyl, hence why the top is lighter, and I think that's why it bent..the top section dried out/ got exposed to moisture and warped

                    here hopefully you can see the slabs from the top.. but they are so evenly matched its hard getting to to pickup on the camera

                    the back with the capping, you can see how the grain of the capping is perpendicuar to the rest of the body

                    and the grove that runs right around the body, this is for a plastic beading that was the difficult to remove.. 50 odd year old plastic is kinda brittle. it go removed mostly intact.. but doubt it will be used again.

                    and I'm in 4 minds of what to do..
                    1) try steam it.. but a decent steam needs at least 2 hours of steam, But I'm concern about what will happen with the glue,
                    2) get new wood and re-cut..
                    3) use as is, and hope the curve gives character
                    4) plain the top flat , and hope it doesn't become to thin..

                          a month later

                          So After A long bit of soul searching to see if I could live with a bent and warped body, I finally came to an Conclusion.

                          I simply Cannot, So new wood has been Ordered, I have Ordered Enough Wood for 2 Bodies, With the Intention of making a matching set Guitar and Bass,

                          This is really turning into a What Have I got myself int Project

                          10 days later

                          I'm getting excited..
                          Collected my wood and Have received my second neck, have most of the bits so I can start measuring and drawing.

                          have drawn up the profile and checked it to the original. so now its just getting everything fitted and spaced out correctly

                          2 years later

                          so lets do some topic necromancy..
                          so finally some progress, had my body blanks cut at work.. finally.. Its been close on 2 years I've been waiting to be able to do this update.


                          so next step.. do the outer radius routing, some comfort carving,

                          • V8 likes this.

                          so managed to do some work.. not much..

                          first step was to make a router table..
                          take on scrapped student desk with damaged top, and replace top with some pine.. drill holes and attach router

                          Now this is ok for now, but in future I want to make a metal top, 6mm Mildsteel Powdercoated should do nicely for a more robust table, and can design in a fence system.

                          do a few test passes on a piece of wood first.. then try your guitar body

                            now for the ugly part.. My Bodies unfortunately have an Ugly side..Namely the wood has biscuits in, which unfortunately made some booboo's on the edge

                            which will need to be filled in with wood-filler. so now nice grain pattern staining happening here, but my intention was to always wrap it anyways, to make it more original anyway.
                            and on the guitar body, I did an oopsie or two and let the body slip and rip..

                            lesson learnt,, go against the blade not with... rookie mistake

                              and the reason why i went down this rabbit hole in the first place.. the old body against a flat piece of wood.

                              and the old body against the new..

                              the eagle eyed will notice a biscuit in the neck pocket which is unfortunately has left areas needing filling.. not ideal in the neck pocket but will have to work around it.

                                7 months later

                                This looks very cool. How's the progress?
                                I have an old 185 myself, but have been struggling to find a bridge. The one you have there looks like the violin bass bridge, have you fitted it up yet? All good?