spent a few hours sanding last night.  the thin polyurethane finish came off pretty easily.  the stained areas around the controls looks like some man-made (water + battery acid?) spalting.  there is also a bit of the same spalt/stain around where the tailpiece was.   It appears as though it definitely is stained through the thickness of the maple top.

I was looking up bleaching wood for a non-Alembic project, and thought that maybe this information might be helpful to you, Toby.

Funny, before I saw Mica's link I was going to suggest trying some extreme oxidizing on those spots with hydrogen peroxide just to see what it did... we use some pretty potent laboratory-grade stuff at work. I use it to clean up iron and manganese stains on monitoring equipment. I'm guessing that black might be tarnished brass/copper residue.

thanks for the link, Mica! I will have a read and take a shot at bleaching those spots.   Worst case scenario it doesn't come out and I go with an opaque finish. I can live with that period hopefully I can save it though. There is some beautiful flame in the top

Gregory,

That's probly not a bad call on the copper staining.   Someone had lined the electronics cavity with copper foil and things had clearly gotten wet at some point.

Thanks to Mica and Mary I have a new wiring harness to install in this bass once I finish sanding and refinishing. 

Both pickups still worked, but the original wiring harness was trashed.   This bass will be getting an upgrade to Essence electronics. Had to have that filter

Essence + Q/3 is a mighty fine electronics package, especially if you got extry holes already there. 

I can't remember who it was here that advised me once, (may have been you Toby) "forsake not the filter"... 

never owned an Alembic without double filters, much less none.  I had to get at least one in there

I'd go for two volumes, two filters and two three-way Q switches. You may need to enlarge the back cavity, but seeing that you're already at it ...

Great thread! Any updates ? I would be great to see the finished product : )

I have all the bits and pieces here. But, 2020 happened and it's been on the back burner to other required projects and time burners.  It will probably stay on the backburner for another few months. But, it will happen. Just a matter of knocking a few things out first.


I've also been playing around a lot on an old fretless Peavey T20 that I have and it's made me wonder about converting this one. A couple of the frets on this are in pretty bad shape, but there are also some pretty decent end of fretboard grooves (from either slap or some heavy right hand work?)... I've considered the idea of turning this into a fretless, but would love some expert opinions on feasibility based on the condition of the fretboard.

I sure hear ya' on 2020 being a wash-out for projects, I know I sure have a backlog of fun-stuff to get on as soon as time permits.   

Sure is good to see you back around here, Toby. 

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on November 02, 2020, 01:17:43 PM
I sure hear ya' on 2020 being a wash-out for projects, I know I sure have a backlog of fun-stuff to get on as soon as time permits.   

Sure is good to see you back around here, Toby. 

I've been lurking, but just chasing my tail with umpteen things that have had me preoccupied. 

The forum is always a safe place!!