Finally got my new Bass!!! (many pictures)

[Nestor]

Hello fellow men in the Z land! I am happy to announce you that I finally got a new bass... and I'm very happy to share with you some of my thoughts, experiences and pictures about this process:

[Nestor]

There are a few basses more that are not listed here, particularly, my Washburn... but you alredy know about it.

Let's move on into the new one, I now introduce you to "Resurrection", my new bass : An Ibanez RS-485

This first pic belongs to the seller of the instrument. It looked not too bad, but it was in a pretty bad condition in fact:



Here I am at home, rebuilding and refurbishing the instrument, they could not have been more careless about it. BUT, this gave me the cheap price I could pay for, so I will not complain too much about it:



In a closer look, you'll notice that they have smashed it against something, the wood box where the pots have their space, was broken, this is a pretty bad hit:



There you have the neck, pretty bad too, and extremely dirty, they have never cleaned it before:



More on the dirty neck:



Electronics where dirty too, and would make bad noises that I have to fix:



If you zoomon in this pic, you'll see many scratches:



Here's the serial number, and we can clearly see that it is made in Korea:



Well, first thing first get some lubricant and INMEDIATELY lubricate your Truss Rod, lesson learned :



Here's the Truss Rod being sprayed like crazy, about a pint , at least:



Done :

[Nestor]

Now let us get into the sanding job, and let start with some coarse sandpaper number 80:



Still into the basic stage:



Here I am finishing with the first sanding job:



Another view:



Here you see the bass having pass through 80, 150, 180, 320 and 600 sandpaper stages, which got me about 6 hours in all, not bad, and this thanks to the mahogay body, which is very soft and even, otherwise I would have spent about two to three days sanding without stop:



After having cleaned with outmost care every bit of sawdust, I prepred everything and started the barnishing job, with a very hard, high quality barnish, which is flexible, and jet, very strong and long lasting:



I have to even the neck too, because it had lots and lots of hits everywhere, and I dislike much when a neck is not even, or it is rough, so I had to sand it full too. Here you have the whoe body with the first cout:



This is a close take so you see the mahogany woodgrain:



Here we are already into the third coat, which takes quite a while, as you need for it to be dry before prociding with the second coat and so on, and some very fine sandpaper should also be used between the coats to avoide grain to appear. I ascelerated the drying process with some heat:



Another look:



Yet another look of the third coat:



Here is another look after the 8th coat. Yes, I did it 8 times, and it was worth the work and time, now I have a think coat and a well protected soft wood, which is manohagy:




Here is Resurrection entering the last stage, after many hours of work:



It is time to get a new battery in :



Now, let's clean all these particles that cause noise problems when you move a knob, and at the same time, protect circuits:



Time to through at it a good string set :



Yeaaa, I'm stringing my reburfished like new AXE, Ibanez SR-485 SoundGear Bass:



Here's the back of this shaning beauty :



And..., ladies and gentlemen, here it is the amazing new born "Resurrection":




The sound of this bass is really amazing, I am extremely pleased at it. It has everything I wanted to have from a bass, including a 5th string. I will post two or three more pictures with sunshine, so you can see it better, it is beautiful and it sound absolutely inspiring

[garyb]

[dawman]

Those are great pics Nestor. The Machine Heads look Industrial strength too.
So are you a Luthier Now...?

[Nestor]

Those are great pics Nestor. The Machine Heads look Industrial strength too.
So are you a Luthier Now...?

Nah..., I'm not a luthier, just dared

Yes, Machine Hedas are very high quality. One of the strenghs of this bass is that it hardly gets out of tune, this is also good.

Of course, I think that for this review to be completed, I will have to play the thing and let you hear it. But not now, it will be in a few days or more, I have not time left right now.

Cheers

[dawman]

Coolness.....

[wayne]

Very cool, Nestor The perfect scenario - to rescue an unloved bass! Looks good now. Did the crack glue back OK?

[Nestor]

Very cool, Nestor The perfect scenario - to rescue an unloved bass! Looks good now. Did the crack glue back OK?

Cheers Wayne

Yes, it did. Actually, if you look closer, you will not even realize that there was such a seriuos problem if I didn't tell you. The general structure is perfect now as everything got in place glued toguether. My concern was most of all about the pots, but after cleanning them, they all work fine, and noises have desapear.

The only noise I have left is when I'm in front of the screens, as it seems P's have bigger magnets, so there is some interference. What I do is getting a little farther away, and the problem is solved

I'm happy with my bass

[wayne]

Sweet

[jksuperstar]

Congrats! Great job, but now you need a new Avatar!

[Nestor]

Congrats! Great job, but now you need a new Avatar!

Cheers You're right, and I have pleased you with a new one, of course, based on Resurrection

[Nestor]

Today I have used for the first time the Truss Rod, and I was nervous, a little traumatiized by what happend before, but it worked just fine, perfect. Now I have low action.

The switch from a 4-strings to a 5-strings is relatively easy, but it is more difficult to play a 5 than a 4 for sure. Just one more string gives you tones of other possibilities that where not available with 4, but strings being close to each other demand from you more precision when slaping. Of course, it plays faster for finger style. When I play songs that I know, I can see how even the tone through the whole of the neck is, I appreciate this very much.

In the Washburn Status the battery would last a long time and the sound would still be crisp, now it rest to see how long the battery can go on with the SR-485.

[astroman]

as long as you don't forget to unplug the cable...

great job, Nestor, and a nice documentation what you did about it.

this may be an excellent bass (I'm sure it's the right one for your playing style anyway)
but ... NOTHING beats that rectangle DIY on one of your history pics.
WTF gorgeous

congrats to your new master degree, Tom

[Cochise]

Good job Nestor. That bass is really born again.

The SR405 I've here was instead in perfect condition when it came; maybe better than an ex-demo... in spite it was used for a couple of years before.

I'm wondering if those D'addario strings could help making my SR405 sounding a bit more metallic, in comparison with the sound I get from the Elixir nanoweb coated mounted at now (besides even over gauge for my hand).



I definitely would not be able to do so good sanding and varnishing jobs with pots and pickups on side...

[Nestor]

as long as you don't forget to unplug the cable...

great job, Nestor, and a nice documentation what you did about it.

this may be an excellent bass (I'm sure it's the right one for your playing style anyway)
but ... NOTHING beats that rectangle DIY on one of your history pics.
WTF gorgeous

congrats to your new master degree, Tom

Astro... Astro... Astro... I was waiting for your words my friend! Thank you!

Those where crazy times, but both, the square and the both-sided basses did their job. The square one was called by people "water heater", what made me laugh a lot...

All I can say is that this new bass is a dream, trully, trully nice sounding instrument.

I will be posting more as I have some time left.

Cheers

[Nestor]

Good job Nestor. That bass is really born again.

The SR405 I've here was instead in perfect condition when it came; maybe better than an ex-demo... in spite it was used for a couple of years before.

I'm wondering if those D'addario strings could help making my SR405 sounding a bit more metallic, in comparison with the sound I get from the Elixir nanoweb coated mounted at now (besides even over gauge for my hand).



I definitely would not be able to do so good sanding and varnishing jobs with pots and pickups on side...

Thank you man

Yes those Dadario's strings sound pretty sharp and metalic, great for slaping I guess. The only problem may be that they are slightly painfull for your fingers, and tension seems to be greatter in these strings than others I have tried. But I love the sound, I whish they were a little softer in tenssion anyway.

[garyb]

actually, both d"addario and elixir string sets are nickel plated steel, so they'll be similar. i would expect the d'addario to be a little bit brighter at first, and then the elixir to be that "broken in" brightness longer, because of the coating on the elixir.

for a much brighter string, choose stainless steel(rotosound, dr, smith, etc).

for the warmest, roundest tone, choose a pure nickel wrapped steel string.

the brand is not nearly as important as the material it's made of.

[Cochise]

I'll check Rotosound (the bass player in my first band used those on his Kramer aluminium neck); as for DR I've found those a bit too metallic, on guitars, years ago, at least. Smith? I don't remember this brand name at now...
Thx garyb

The only problem may be that they are slightly painfull for your fingers, and tension seems to be greatter in these strings than others I have tried. But I love the sound, I whish they were a little softer in tenssion anyway.

Different materials can bring different hardness/softness... I don't like hard strings too, especially with bass guitars. The tension afaik is mostly related to the slant of the headstock with the neck; if I remember right, the more slant, the more tension/sustain...

[Cochise]

Those where crazy times, but both, the square and the both-sided basses did their job. The square one was called by people "water heater", what made me laugh a lot...

Wondering if you had anyway been inspired by the lamp in first pic for the shape