Members Rust2Rods Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 Thanks for reading this. Here's the story..... In my teen years, back in the 80's. I played bass guitar, was in a band...blah blah...was supposed to go far but things fell through on so many levels. I wasn't bad but wasn't a "prodigy" either. I played stringed instruments from age 10 through my late teens. Gave it up when I learned that I made more money as a sound man than as a musician. I also learned that a sound man didn't have to have any "loyalty" to any specific band. With that said I sold all my gear and became a sound man for 20+ years later. Fast forward now... A couple co-workers and a good friend talked me into playing again...you know just for fun. I caved in and have been playing again for the better part of a year now. It all came back very easily and I am enjoying playing again with no pressure to "break out" and play live anywhere. Now comes this sanity check....Mind you I started playing early summer this year. I now have 6 bass guitars and recently bought a Strat. (it was cheap and I had to fix it)... Anyways, I find myself attempting to replace some of the "vintage" gear that I sold... For instance, my '68 alder P-bass, my '74 Jazz and so on...looking at what they get for so called "american made" fenders now and what they get for true "vintage" gear, its out of my league and I can't see myself spending that kind of money. I've decided that now I want to build a p-bass. You know, to replace my 68 that I had. So I set out and started looking for a body for it. I found a early to mid 80's lotus P-bass. It was completely hideous but super cheap. The neck was fine and it played well, but the amount of suck that was emanating from the finish was making it sound terrible without even being played or plugged in for that matter. I got it for a mere 45 bucks with tax. I got it home and promptly disassembled it. I found that it was originally a black finished bass guitar. After it was disassembled I took it to my cousins auto body shop and sanded it with the DA sander. I got all the flat areas and then went home and did the rest by hand. I took it back to his place and mixed up by eye a "vintage white" fender color using a standard white and adding oxide yellow paint to it. It is being painted today and should be ready by tomorrow after the 3 coats of clear and wet sanding. I've ordered up a Mighty Mite rosewood fingerboard neck with fender style headstock, fender p-bass bridge, grover tuners, fender neck plate, tortoise pick guard and will load it with vintage style pots, I have some old oil filled tone caps lying around maybe even some old bumble bee style caps... But here's the thing...During the sanding process my cousin asked, "why are you sticking all this time into a lotus bass"? You know... I thought to my self, that is a good question. And I explained the same story above to him. He said he got it, but since he's a family member I am wondering if he got it because he was a family member....what do you think? Before: After: And here's what I am going for looks.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted December 5, 2011 Members Share Posted December 5, 2011 Sorry for the delay in approving this thread, sometimes when we get deluged by spammers (which has been really, really major lately) "innocent" threads get caught in the crossfire. The only consolation is that at least you're not seeing thousands of posts for Ugg shoes, Coach handbags, Vi*gra, and really, really bad porn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted December 5, 2011 Members Share Posted December 5, 2011 The "right" way to do it would have been to test fit all the new parts on the body after sanding but before painting to make sure everything fits and lines up correctly. But really, when you think about it, the worst case scenario is that you'll end up replacing the body as well and then you'll have a brand new bass that you built yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ptkbass Posted December 6, 2011 Members Share Posted December 6, 2011 It was your cousin's shop;so he understands a project. It's just building {censored}, except it's cool {censored}. If it were me, I'd put EMG's in it even though yours didn't have EMG's back in the day. And it shouldn't be too hard to find some Fender decals for the headstock. Enjoy the process! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazzneck Posted December 6, 2011 Members Share Posted December 6, 2011 Well, it's not really a Lotus Bass anymore, it's just a body you got for cheap that will probably turn out really well. You have a great thing with the shop, I'd be tempted to go the same route. If it turns out not so great, nothing much lost. I'm going for basically the same project. I was hoping to use a Mighty Mite white or antique white body but seems a lot of their stuff is in backorders that keep getting pushed back so plan B may have to be utilized. Good luck with the project, keep us posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ezstep Posted December 6, 2011 Members Share Posted December 6, 2011 New finish, new electronics, new neck, new bridge... what is left that screams "Lotus?" Nothing. Go for it. And post more pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Muddslide Posted December 6, 2011 Members Share Posted December 6, 2011 Nice work, and that vintage creamy white, red tortoise pickguard and rw fingerboard is about my favorite Classic Fender color scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rust2Rods Posted December 5, 2013 Author Members Share Posted December 5, 2013 So, since it took quite a while to get the post approved, I decided to move the build onto a different website. Here's the end result. And the link to the other website http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/p-bass-sanity-check-832365/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frunobulax Posted December 5, 2013 Members Share Posted December 5, 2013 Anderton wrote: Sorry for the delay in approving this thread, sometimes when we get deluged by spammers (which has been really, really major lately) "innocent" threads get caught in the crossfire. The only consolation is that at least you're not seeing thousands of posts for Ugg shoes, Coach handbags, Vi*gra, and really, really bad porn. sorry to go off topic here rods, but... EDIT - stupid{censored}ingnecrothread but still relevant WTF? how the hell can you say you 'approve' threads with all the total {censored}e spam that appears on the bass forum? do you use a rubber stamp? or are you using the muscle supplements? or the discount generic drugs? are you on fasomax? or am i? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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