The deconstruction of a USA Lakland

[willsellout]

So I am in the process of shielding the Lakland. This morning I took all electronics out and shielded the electronics cover with shielding tape. So far it's going fairly smooth. I'll post some pics as things progress until it's done. I wanted to note a couple things though about what I learned in taking this bass apart.

1. The soldering seems sloppy based on my limited knowledge of soldering.

2. The Pickups had a very chintzy sticky foam underneath to cushion them and move the PU's up and down. I would have thought a bass that costs this much, they would have a better way of doing things but I guess not:confused:

 

So anyway it's all apart and I'm contemplating a couple things. I was thinking about replacing the P pu with a Nordie because I don't really like it, but I'm going to wait until everything is back together with a fresh set of strings and a setup to decide. I'm also wondering if I need to shield the back of the pickguard and the PU cavities?

 

 

 

 

Dan

[willsellout]

Ok here are the shots of what I did today. Basically I took everything out and off and shielded both the PU and electronics cavity as well as the cover. I have two more coats to go on the cavity and PU's though. I found this bass is also routed for a J in the neck position which is cool...although the routing is sloppy. I'm not a routing expert but it aint impressive. Anyway here you go.

Here is a shot of the PU cavity..that black stuff is their "Pickup height adjustment material".

 

Here she is all stripped down. You can see the route for the J neck PU.

 

The electronics cover with Dan Lakins signature dated 2001

 

this is what it looks like now.

[willsellout]

Here is the cavity prepped for painting on the shielding paint

 

Here the cavity is painted with 1 of three coats. In order to keep the work clean I immediately stripped the tape off and wiped down the edges with a damp cloth which removed any excess that made its way onto the bass body.

 

Here is the PU cavity prepped, a PITA to tape off!

 

 

and here is the finished product. Two more coats over the next two days and she will be ready to be put back together with a fresh set of DR Sunbeams.

 

 

Dan

[Emprov]

Cool!

[Kindness]

Did you rough up the areas you were painting to make sure you get good adhesion?

 

It looks nice.

[catphish]

 

Why is the rim of the cavity painted black already? Was that you, or did it come that way?

[willsellout]

 

Did you rough up the areas you were painting to make sure you get good adhesion? It looks nice.

 

 

Yeah I used an 80 grit to rough it up and then wiped it out with a cloth until there wasn't any more material on the rag.

As far as the black rim, I have no idea, it came that way.

 

 

Dan

[Goofball Jones]

OK, did you buy this thing new? If so, why not send it to Lakland and let them take care of all this. Or did you just want to do it yourself?

[willsellout]

 

OK, did you buy this thing new? If so, why not send it to Lakland and let them take care of all this. Or did you just want to do it yourself?

 

 

No it's used and was made in 2001. I don't know what Lakland is doing nowadays but judging by this bass alone, I wouldn't want to send it back to them. I feel much better about doing it myself. This way I know it will be done to the level that I expect.

I'm also learning how to work on my basses so that I don't have to depend on anyone else to fix things.

 

 

 

Dan

[Super Bass]

Thats some good work Dan!

 

I can't believe how much of a difference shielding makes. I'm gonna try shielding my older Aria at the weekend if I get the time.

 

The new one has shielding paint in its cavities.

When I'm done, all my basses will be shielded properly.

[ivanthetrble]

Is this a US Lakland? Hummm, US 55-94 deluxe looks different than mine. The control cavity of my was already lined with the foil. Oh, and I want a muffin damn it!

 

[willsellout]

Is this a US Lakland? Hummm, US 55-94 deluxe looks different than mine. The control cavity of my was already lined with the foil. Oh, and I want a muffin damn it!

 

No muffins for you!

 

Yeah this is a USA 44 series, although not a 44-94. It was a custom order and It's passive with a vol and tone control for each pickup. It has Dimarzio P and J pickups in it. I love the J pickup but the P pickup seems a bit anemic, especially on the E string. But that could very easily be because the strings might have been old.

 

That's good that yours was shielded. I would hope that in the 7 years since this one was made that they would have improved their way of doing things. This bass as is was not worth a 3K price tag brand new.

 

Dan

[fretless]

Nice !