This 5 string fretless acoustic bass was brought into the workshop as it's original pickup system had stopped working. It's new owner managed to find a new eq system that fitted the body (although it was designed for a guitar no bass) so he also wanted to change the pickup to one suited for a bass. The problem was is the new pickup was far larger than the orginal one, so the saddle slot needed to be made larger to seat the new pickup. This was all done by hand as the size involved and positioning meant that extreme accuracy was required to ensure the bass would correctly intonate. |
As the EQ unit being used was designed for a guitar rather than a bass, a small amount of space was left at each end of the channel to allow the adjustment of the position of the pickup. This will allow manual control of the presence of the treble/bass required by repositioning the undersaddle pickup if needed.
The fingerboard was dirty with a lot of wear marker from the old strings, plus the finish of the binding wasn't cleanly done. The whole board was lightly sanded back to a smooth surface before being lemon oiled. At the same time the binding was scraped to tidy the edges. There was also a large scratch on the top of the guitar, this was stained and then a light layer of lacquer applied to seal the stain before the whole top was polished. The bass was then setup to the customers playing style before being ready for him to collect! |