Refurbish 2010: a thumb odyssey

[D.A.R.K.]

ok, decided to refinish the '95 thumb that arrived recently.
it has some dings, some imperfections, nothing too bad for 15 years, but i am expecting some strings and will have to intonate and do a setp.... i had also planned on replacing the pickups. figured i'd go all out and overhaul it.
it came to me with a 3 band mec pre amp and bass lines..
i ordered some bartolini dual coils, which i prefer, and will keep the mec...
for now. i liked the barts in a previous thumb 6.
not sure yet which way i will finish...
lots of info here on that. still reading.
chime in if you like before it's too late.
i like the idea of hot wax/ sand/ oil/ wax like the factory, as i like the classic
deep red/brown.
bass:

strings off:



some interesting things on this bass...
it is a bit more raw than my previous thumb of the same specs.
there is a little less finish sanding. the neck is slightly less rounded, and has a bit less radius than i remember the previous having.
one interesting point of note is the fingerboard/ body joint...
needs a little cleaning up..




no volute on the neck, which i much prefer...
serial # stamp on the back of the headstock..




mec 3 band electronics:


ok, it now turns real weird. no problems dismantling at all...
then i take out a pickup... WTF? "dual-coils"? i don't recall this on my other thumb... not a bad job, but surely not stock?




"quad coils"?


well, these will work fine with the barts....
so, no biggie there, it might be the reason this bass is 12.6 lbs. and my previous was 13....
sanding/ stripping pics up soon...

 

[Grgzilla]

Hey Anthony.
It all looks pretty stock me mate.
The pickup springs are stock,but the MEC preamp's a 3 band.MEC dont do a 4 band.Maybe you're talking about the 3 band with selectable mids?
What year was your other Thumb?Maybe it had memory correction foam instead of the springs under the pickups.iirc that was stock but I dont recall from when & for how long.
Anyway,whatever the case,you have a beautiful baby there.I love the look of those wenge/bubinga necks,simply stunning.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

oh right, my mistake, 3 band....
will correct that.
my previous had a 2 band...
definitely didn't have the springs this one has, those are new to me....
cool that it's stock.
i'm with you on the woods, my favourite.
i hope to get the most out of the refin...

 

[Grgzilla]

cool.Re-fins are always therapeutic.
Please post some pics for the rest of us mate.
My baby's still 100% pristine,so a refin's outta the question

 

[Florin]

Nice!!!

The Quad Coil System (QCS) is stock

 

[D.A.R.K.]

to clarify, greg, my old bass was a '90.
definitely no springs...
a few other differences i've noticed, the heel is more pronounced on the '95
(more on that in a moment) and the lower body is more pronounced on the electronics side... the old one was a bit more tear drop on the bottom.
the neck is a little chunkier on the '95...
i will be addressing these issues.

it is really therapeutic to work on this bass, to be getting it where it needs to be. i definitely found it very relaxing... it's always nice to tweak an instrument to your linking.

i decided to begin gently and do some rubbing with steel wool...
here's that heel i don't like, some wax swirl.
this bass has a lot of wax!


you can really see that heel. it reminds me of a bolt on in a way, it doesn't flow with the body... kind of lumpy. goes the wrong way...
so i get out some 220 and a foam block, and sand:


you can see lumpy spreading across the back above there, kind of an afterthought as it doesn't follow the lines.
this bass is just kind of raw.
the heel is really important to me.. why, i don't know.
but it is why i buy neck through. so...
more sanding... damn, there is a ton of wax in this bass:


so it's looking better. lumpy is starting to thin out and relax a bit...
but it's not over:even less, some rounding now at the cutaways:


i really took off a lot of wood. the foam sanding blocks are working great for getting even sanding around curves etc.
looking good...


ok. that's closer to how i remember the old one:


a little more rounding of the cutaways and i'm set.
my fretting hand now stops more naturally with the pinky at the 26th fret, perfect.
just a bit of shaping on the neck and body, and getting below that wax...
5:30 am good morning

 

[rusty]

Looking cool, keep us updated!

Rusty

 

[james brunnning]

Nice bass looks good.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

just a bit more shaping with150 today...
trying to get that heel and the cutaways rounded out a bit more on the back side. taking the long way sanding like i am but it feels good



rounded the neck a bit... might do a little more.
keeping away from the headstock/ neck joint as much as possible....
found an interesting repair:


thanks for the support as i whittle my bass, all!...
that's it for now, gotta go mix a show....

 

[Grgzilla]

Dont forget the dustmask dude.
I hear the sawdust from wenge can be pretty irritating/toxic if inhaled.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

definitely using a mask now...

if it were nicer (or during the day) i'd do it on my porch.
i have a hepa micro filter running 24/7, and the windows are wide open.
i clean/ vac (also with a micro filter) regularly..
keeping the wood dust for other uses, it'd make a nice pigment for oil paint.
the wood dust has been pretty heavy, and easy to collect.
the wax in the bass is what seems to be really light and gets in the air the most... looks almost like dark/ light stripes in the grain until you get it out.
worked on the neck more, so i took the nut off.
apparently it has a couple plastic spacers:


happy with the heel now, worked on the cutaways like mad... probably looks the same, but feels much more natural:


began to work on the body...
some really deep indentations near the jack,
have to work on that quite a bit.
looking at the body squarely, you can see where a rather large bit was taken off originally from bottom center toward the top (top center and to the right in the pic)... it gives kind of jazz-bass feel to the shape, for lack of a better description.
this is where it really differs in body style from my old one which i described as more tear-drop shaped.
here it is:


i'm going to round the obvious points to make the line flow evenly, while taking out those dings.
i'd also like to take a hair more out of the lower leg rest area, to get a bit more solid feel there when sitting.
lots of wood around the electronics route and jack luckily.
we'll see- i need to be wary of taking off too much weight, and causing too much imbalance...
i'd like to try different strap positions. too bad it has the recessed locks and is drilled...
guess i'll have to try those first.

 

[daniele]

Wow, mate. What a great job!
I couldn't go much far beyond a simple waxing session.

 

[Pedro]

Really good to read that and see the pictures, keep us updated!!

 

[D.A.R.K.]

thanks.
it's falling together ...got mail today... strings!

 

[Pedro]

never seen those strings before, they any good?

 

[D.A.R.K.]

i've never tried them...
we'll see, they should be a step up from what i was using. they were a gift, a really amazing gift from some supportive musicians.
very hard to get the correct gages...

 

[gricko]

never seen those strings before, they any good?

that guy is hand wounding strings to your specification. if you need something kinky or out of the ordinary - he might be your only solution.

there's his web site address written on the package. take a peak and google around for reviews.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

finished the shaping today.
or at least, i'm making myself stop for now...
took off a bit in the leg rest area and it is balancing much nicer,
got the bottom evened out:


i worked on the heel and cutaways even more!
slow working on the wood. past all the wax on 90% so i'm going to begin lightening up the grit and move toward getting this done within the next week.
thinking more about the finishing ... hoping for a lot of depth.
i know you are supposed to sand after the initial hot coat of wax, but how much? needs to be able to take the lemon oil after, to get the shine...
wondering what it might do if i rub in lemon oil before the wax..

 

[Florin]

I think if you are in this stage, a TRU OIL finish might be much better and easy to mantain.
Please check this thread:

 

[D.A.R.K.]

thanks florin, that thread actually made me want to go all the way with the refin... still on the fence about the finish though. the tru oil sounds cool but i don't mind the maintenance of the original finish... although the original will will come out more after time. i loved the way my previous wick basses deepened over time, so i'm leaning that way still.
got a couple more days to ponder before the bass is ready.
cheers for the info...
i'd love to hear more opinions if anyone wants to chime in...