This Dean bass came into my shop about a year ago. It was in need of some MAJOR work. More work than it was
worth. It had fallen over, probably several times. The fingerboard was about 30% separated from the neck. It had been
poorly re-glued. The previous owner thought using one metal C clamp, in one spot directly on the wood, would work.
Nope. The glue didn't hold and he managed to crush the fingerboard and neck wood in the process.
The rest of the bass looked like it was attacked by a swamp rat of some kind. There was a million dings and dents all
over the place. There was also a nice big lacquer crack from the front taking a impact. Either that or a fat wolverine sat
on it. Either scenario is plausible. The active electronics were shot, the battery door was held together with duck tape.
The list goes on. The customer didn't want to fork over the money for the repair and I dont blame him. For what it
would cost to repair, he could just buy another bass.
SO, he just gave me the thing and said do whatever you want with it. It sat on the shelf collecting dust. I had a little
break from building so I decided to see if I could bring it back without killing myself. I took it completely apart down to
the last screw. The body got all the dents sanded out and/or filled. The lacquer crack got fixed. Unfortunately the nice
quilt top couldn't be saved so off to primer and paint it went. The neck was a challenge. The fingerboard got removed.
All the frets got pulled. I managed to steam out most of the dents on the fingerboard and neck. A tedious process but
it saved ALOT of sanding. The fingerboard got re-glued and then re-fretted. I also altered Deans stupid headstock
shape. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of this whole process because I thought I was just passing time with this
little project. Well its turning out WAY better than I had imagined. The bass just returned from paint. A good friend of
mine Tom Ziebell did a awesome job with it. I gave to it him and said "suprise me, do whatever you want" Blue with
purple ghost flames. COOL! More of his work can be seen HERE and HERE.
worth. It had fallen over, probably several times. The fingerboard was about 30% separated from the neck. It had been
poorly re-glued. The previous owner thought using one metal C clamp, in one spot directly on the wood, would work.
Nope. The glue didn't hold and he managed to crush the fingerboard and neck wood in the process.
The rest of the bass looked like it was attacked by a swamp rat of some kind. There was a million dings and dents all
over the place. There was also a nice big lacquer crack from the front taking a impact. Either that or a fat wolverine sat
on it. Either scenario is plausible. The active electronics were shot, the battery door was held together with duck tape.
The list goes on. The customer didn't want to fork over the money for the repair and I dont blame him. For what it
would cost to repair, he could just buy another bass.
SO, he just gave me the thing and said do whatever you want with it. It sat on the shelf collecting dust. I had a little
break from building so I decided to see if I could bring it back without killing myself. I took it completely apart down to
the last screw. The body got all the dents sanded out and/or filled. The lacquer crack got fixed. Unfortunately the nice
quilt top couldn't be saved so off to primer and paint it went. The neck was a challenge. The fingerboard got removed.
All the frets got pulled. I managed to steam out most of the dents on the fingerboard and neck. A tedious process but
it saved ALOT of sanding. The fingerboard got re-glued and then re-fretted. I also altered Deans stupid headstock
shape. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of this whole process because I thought I was just passing time with this
little project. Well its turning out WAY better than I had imagined. The bass just returned from paint. A good friend of
mine Tom Ziebell did a awesome job with it. I gave to it him and said "suprise me, do whatever you want" Blue with
purple ghost flames. COOL! More of his work can be seen HERE and HERE.
Before
After
ALL FINISHED!