woo okay so i started this yesterday and am finishing it up today! such a fun and simple project.
so here's what the bass looked like when i got it -
the first thing i did was switch out the pots, jack, and pickup, and put it all into a musicmaster bass pickguard that I got from WD custom pickguards. the fit was a little bit weird with the regular size pots, but it ended up working out fine and looking pretty good. i got a seymour duncan cool rails pickup, coated 250k pots (it came stock with minis), and a switchcraft jack. i also shielded the entire canal with foil tape.
so the body is now put together. the pickguard didn't line up with any of the existing holes or really even cover any of them up, so i used wood filler and a jar of chrysler engine red testors paint to cover that up. i'm not thrilled with how this turned out.. it would be hard to make perfect/seamless without refinishing the body. but you can't even notice where i covered up the holes unless you're really looking for them up close.
next, i am going to tint the neck. the stock necks actually very smooth and feels really nice to me. it's not rough like some squier necks i have seen. i still went over it all with 220 grit sandpaper, and i plan to buff with steel wool at the end. i also sanded off all of the decals on the headstock. i'm using "golden oak" danish oil... we'll see how this turns out! fingers crossed
before tinting -
i am about to go put another coat on the neck, and this should all be done sometime today.