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

Tuckstir

So Awhile ago as some might know, I bought myself a Hofner 185 Artist 30"scale Bass.

and while cheap at time of purchasing.. this is going to be a not so easy project. the short list is what is no wrong..
1: the Truss rod
2: that's it
surprisingly enough that works 100%

whats wrong..
2 of the machine heads are bent
1 machine head feral is missing
the nut is toast
frets have seen a better day
the neck needs to be refinished
scratch plate is butchered,
pickup cover chroming is flaking off
the original vinyl covering is torn, lifting and peeling.
its missing the bridge
and i need to remove the Vinyl to check the state of the wood body..
the tail piece has gone for re-chroming.

it looks like over the years the original pickups where removed, (originals are humbuckers) and at onestage 3 pickups where added, the body and scratch plate where butchered to make it fit
the wiring has 3 of the original pots which are date stamped to 1964 so its a old lady which I'm will see how like new i can restore her

V8

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 ?

Yeti

Looks like you've got a job on your hands. Looking forward to seeing what you can do with her.

guidothepimmp

Epic ?

For the nut.. pickup a cow femur from your butchery.. boil the thing to hell and gone outside so you dont stink the house up. There are youchoob tutorials.. then you can cut out a rectangular piece to file to shape.. and you end up with a heap of bone blanks for other nuts

Tuckstir

guidothepimmp or the nut.. pickup a cow femur from your butchery..

MMMMM DIY Bone Nut.. certainly a possibility, have wanted to try my hand at it,

guidothepimmp Not sure if you are looking at keeping it stock.

I normally don't like stock finishes, but in this case its so different I'm going to try keep it LOOKING stock, I love that vinyl texture and have sourced something similar hopefully

guidothepimmp I would also find some single or double ply plastic for a new pick guard
and direct mount the pups onto that

I have already draw up the Pick guard, just need the pups to get the sizes so i can laser cut a new pick-guard.. old one is too badly butchered.. was also thinking of using switch

instead of slide switch

guidothepimmp i would he inclined to bathtub rout the cavity

yeah was thinking the same.. just to neaten everything up. and its a lot easier than filling up the added holes..

guidothepimmp

Not sure if you are looking at keeping it stock.. i would he inclined to bathtub rout the cavity so there is more space under there.. the pickguard should cover it all nicely.

I would also find some single or double ply plastic for a new pickguard and direct mount the pups onto that.. that way you get rid of all the patches.. and if you wanted to.. you could also reduce the number of pots.

Damn. This thing has my creativity juices bubbling ?

Tuckstir

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.

Yeti

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.

Tuckstir

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

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.

Tuckstir

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

RobbieZ

Looks like fun ?

Tuckstir

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

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!

Tuckstir

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..

guidothepimmp

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

Tuckstir

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

peterleroux

Tuckstir What timber are you looking at?

Tuckstir

peterleroux

I have gone for American Ash.

Tuckstir

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