After decades of neglect this 70 Hohner Jazz Bass is in a real mess - bowed neck, dead pickups, rusting parts, and a broken tuner. Can this instrument be brought back from the dead? Fretting tools - www.crimsonguitars.com/collections/fretting?ref=csguitars Music Nomad Tool Kit - thmn.to/thoprod/543748?offid=1&affid=367 Coil Winder - www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-electronics/pickup-building/build-your-own-pickup-winder-220-volt/ This video was made possible by Patreon support - www.patreon.com/csguitars More details on how CSGuitars implements product promotion - www.csguitars.co.uk/disclosure #restoration #jazzbass #scienceofloud More from CSGuitars: Support on Patreon: www.patreon.com/csguitars Join CSGuitars Discord - discord.gg/csguitars Buy CSGuitars Merchandise - www.csguitars.co.uk/store Website - www.csguitars.co.uk Contact - colin@csguitars.co.uk ____________________________________________________________________ *Description contains affiliate links. Purchasing using one of these links will generate a small commission for CSGuitars at no additional cost to you.*

@richsackett3423

9 ай бұрын

If you run out of adjustment, you have to made a little bushing from another bored-out cut-off truss rod nut. Got one on my desk right now, as it turns out.

@joekoons1937

4 ай бұрын

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That neck bow is frustrating. Maybe try using heat along with clamping?

@ChrisHopkinsBass

9 ай бұрын

Dave from Dave’s World of Fun Stuff has a method of doing just this

@miahconnell23

9 ай бұрын

@@ChrisHopkinsBass gonna take a look, thanks for the recommend 🙏

@j3xh

9 ай бұрын

be careful when you do this, i just twisted one of my necks with a misplaced clamp

@rockerwill777

9 ай бұрын

'Zackly what I was gonna say. Well clamped, with a cheapo hair dryer pointed at the problem area, and a nice long cool down time under clamp pressure.... Job's a goodun 👌👌👌

@AaronNGBnTech

7 ай бұрын

I did that with an old les Paul copy and it worked fine

As a bassist who loves your Axe From the Grave series, I think this is my new favorite video of yours! The end result looks amazing Colin, moderately playable and still retaining it's patina! What about removing all of the frets and making it fretless?

@lenwhatever4187

9 ай бұрын

been there done that.... then I bought a fretless, I'm not going back. One of the biggest problems with "cheap" basses is that money is saved in materials used. A fretless needs a good hard fretboard (fingerboard?) or it is hard to get a clean note. This is aside from other mods aside from just pulling frets and filling the grooves. Also, a fretless is more sensitive to bend in the neck than a fretted bass.

@ErickvdK

9 ай бұрын

Soft fretboards can be made durable with ca glue.😊

@BillyTheCheeseMonger

8 ай бұрын

Good idea!

@lenwhatever4187

8 ай бұрын

@@ErickvdK Durable and hard are not the same thing though hard is often also durable. I would have to feel a fretboard treated with CA as a fretless before tried it again... on someone else's bass ;)

I was not prepared to hear Colin scream "sweaty c**t flaps" into a bass today. That is the hardest I've laughed all week!

@ChrisFranklyn

9 ай бұрын

I completely lost it at that point!

A sadly now passed away friend had a fretless Honher p-bass with that bridge. Always liked the design.

I can't stress enough that 'Axe from the grave' is my favorite series. Keep doing more!

Like a few other contributors here, I love this 'Axe from the Grave' series - it shows what can be done, and should be done, with old, misused guitars. It shows, also, what shouldn't be done, i.e. throwing money at an obviously cheap guitar. Finally, it shows your restorative skills, and sideways, inventive thinking, off to great effect. Keep them coming, and 'gaunyersel'!!

Nice tip on the white vinegar, cheers for that one.

This is so much fun to watch, as someone who some day aspires to build a parts-o-caster this is invaluable. Thus far I've bought the strings and a pick.

Clamp the neck into a back-bow as you mentioned, with a heat gun (start slow) with some light heat mostly in the problem area, wait till it cools off, unclamp and check it, proceed if needed. For this process, I loosen the truss rod while clamping and applying heat to the neck. I have fixed many "impossible" necks this way. Good luck!

youve got my appreciation by only restoring the playability of the guitar and leaving the personailiy of the guitar intact. seeing the old Slipknot and Vans sticker threw me back to high school and trying to start metal bands with my friends

I think it's kind of refreshing what you're doing with this one. It's in such a horrid state but it has character and you keeping its character is awesome. Whenever I watch other restorers they always rob it of any character it had.

I love this series, the restoration process is always so satisfying to watch.

Yey, another Axe From The Grave video Absolutely love this series

I find this super satisfying!

This is so deeply satisfying to watch. Please consider many more of these.

I love that you keep the mojo the bass has. Some guitar restoration channels bum me out since they make them so generic and lose the vintage vibe and personalization

AFTG is my favorite series of yours Colin keep up to amazing work my friend and thanks for showing some love to us Bassists!

For the pickup dipping: It is helpfull to reduce the pressure in the pot. You can find stuff for that in the automotive world for removing air from a brakesystem.

Nice job! I like that you kept the stickers and the painted fretboard, sometimes it makes me kinda sad when a restorer scrapes and scrubs away all the history of the instrument. Only thing I would've ditched were those strat knobs, imo they just cheapen the look of any guitar then go on. Even strats! haha

@rivalmindss

8 ай бұрын

I purposefully put strat knobs on my Fender jazz bass, lol. I like the way it looks. I didnt like the orignal jazz knobs.

Oh thats some good tone right there

as a big fan of these old japanese instruments, and as a bass player, i absolutely loved this. these old copies are definitely a mixed bag, sometimes you get a real gem, other times you get an unplayable guitar shaped object. that said, this one maybe isn’t a gem, but it’s definitely a great project piece

Woah! What an amazing video! (And somehow very satisfying to watch!) Cheers Colin!

This is one of your best videos. Thanks!

Crazy how you turned that bow into a bass.

Thanks for sharing.

The background music was perfect for this. Fantastic work!

This is such an amazing series of videos to watch, I'd love to give something like this a try myself but there's so much I need to learn first!

You can switch from .105" to .100" for the low E string, and from .085" to .080" and that will help the neck."

Another bass restoration video, let's go!!!

Love these videos, so interesting, and who doesn’t like working on their guitars? can’t wait to see how the neck turns out! As for the playing… yep that’s a guitarist who’s picked up a bass lol, but I have faith!

I love these types of videos. Keep it up,.Collin!

That's one of my favorite series to watch.

Impressive restoration work. Normal guitar repairers probably wouldn't re-wind a pickup for you. I'm also impressed by the subtle swearing spoken like a true Scot!

I clamped up a 73 Strat neck with the opposite problem (too much backbow) and left it in a hot garage all summer, worked great. Can't wait to see what you come up with?

10:19 I learned some new vocabulary. LOL

My Hohner Arbor series telecaster from 1987 has a similar keyhole bridge plate. I like this design.

Beautiul work!!

Another awesome video! Reminds me I need to get my jazzmaster finished.

Very good video. It was rather interesting

This is great, please do more restoration videos

Combine the neck clamping with a heat blanket and you could be onto a winner. Ted Woodford and Dave Raume have vids showing this in action and most times it works wonders

Alot of hard work, colin! Thanks for showing us this even though it didn't quite work out. You reminded me of a dan erlewine video where he massaged a p bass neck as he adjusted the neck relief

Oooo, Crimson Guitar tools, a man of culture I see! Ben is a mad genius!

Yes!!!! Do more bass stuff

The biggest damage done to that bass was the Slipknot sticker!

My first guitar ever was Hohner Tele copy. Same design - maple neck, body all black. Actually it was a pretty decent affordable guitar. especially in that time period.

Your Axe From The Grave series inspired me to fix up an old Yamaha J bass that needed some love. Not as bad as this bass, but it had a broken pot shaft, tarnished gold hardware, old strings, it was dirty, and needed a setup. I replaced the volume pots, shined up the hardware with vinegar and a toothbrush, oiled the fretboard with lemon oil, gave it new strings, a set of Bartolini pickups, and a setup. I sold it to a music school because it wasn't the sound I was looking for, but damn, it played like a dream!

Restoration Bluballs lol I respect staying in your lane and making a great video.

I have had a little binge of your repair videos. It's a bit disappointing about the neck but it's all part of the process

READYMADE!

Love it

Yop, that’s a Slipknot fan’s guitar alright

This vid series is sooo satisfying to watch. It's got me thinking about a bass of mine that's currently stuffed into a gigback and forgotten about under my bed: a 2010 MIM Fender Jazz bass which also has some annoying neck bow that won't go away. I'd be very interested to see whether your plan of clamping the neck works for you, because that might be the only thing that would work on mine...

This pickup is microphonic 😂

yep i wanna see an update with the neck on this one!

Cool

I've had some success clamping a neck into a back bow, but also applying some heat to convince the wood to bend.

Turned out really nicely so far. I hope we get to see how you get on with the neck. Btw, something that you might find useful for dealing with rusted parts is boiling them in water. It's a very non-invasive way to convert active rust into passivated rust that won't damage the parts any further. I've found it works extremely well for dealing with old firearms.

I did something similar with a 159 dollar Guitar Center Special... from a dead company known as "The Bass Company." A beautiful, well played in five string boi that was modded to kingdom come. Refretted, installed new hipshot hardware and a new nut... still need to redo the electronics. But it's a power player now. :D

You referenced "Dave's World Of Fun Stuff" in this video. Have you checked out the heat press he uses to correct neck issues? It seems to work well. You did a lot of work on that bass. Great video.

Little note about the stuck screw - next time try a blowtorch. Heat is a last resort, but usually does the trick.

My bass (secondhand Squier Modern IV) also had a huge action and bow. I temporarily solved it by shimming the neck and raising the saddles, thinner strings, left if like that for a few days, and it got straight(er). Finally had to put it on a jig for two weeks (I am calling jig to an ensemble comprised of an oak piece, two thick cork pads and three clamps). Now I can set it to start buzzing at any fret I want, or none at all..

Grease bucket tone control is always good

Dave's World of Fun Stuff did the clap in extreme position idea, but he made a heater for the fretboard, and it worked perfectly, and I think took only hours.

ASMR for guitar nerds. Sign me the F UP.

Damn, that tape lock is brilliant!

I fixed an up-bowed strat neck with heat. Loosened the truss rod, clamped it up and left it in my tin shed for a day - during an Australian summer. Pretty sure it got well over 50C in there. Took it out and let it cool in the clamps for a couple of days. It's been stable for over 5 years now.

This was more of a bow 🏹 than a bass. 😂 amazing its turned out how you've got it so far!

P and J bass, your set !!!!

Colin, might want to remove the truss rod nut completely and plop some washers there. That will give you a bit more thread and useful adjustment range. Can also apply _some_ heat to the neck while doing the backbow thing to coerce the wood to take on a new shape.

@richsackett3423

9 ай бұрын

"Washers" really isn't right. You have to made a little bushing from another bored-out cut-off truss rod nut. Got one on my desk right now, as it turns out.

@EversonBernardes

9 ай бұрын

@@richsackett3423 can be proper washers, Fender used to use brass washers for older guitars/basses.

@richsackett3423

9 ай бұрын

@@EversonBernardes Where would you source them? I've been wrenching on basses for 40 years and have never seen anything like that. Always looking for better solutions.

@EversonBernardes

9 ай бұрын

@@richsackett3423 Fender still sells those brass washers, IIRC. I just get them from hardware store, 8mm outer dimension, needs to fit a 10-32 thread.

@richsackett3423

9 ай бұрын

@@EversonBernardes Fender still does from what I found. Thank you.

My 2009 Mexican fender jazz bass has a similar issue with the neck, I managed to get rid of some of the bow in the neck, but the action around the 7th fret and buzzing out above the 12th fret seems to get worse by the day. So I might try what you were saying about the neck and clamping it down. worth a shot i guess

More axe from the grave!

nothing more metal than a 70s jazz bass with single coils. but i gotta admit that wood pattern on the fretboard looks cool.

More bass resurrection

Got a virtually identical problem with my 90s Fenix PJ bass - thin profile maple neck with a forward bow, and a truss rod at max adjustment. Tried lighter strings, but reckon it too needs the forced back bow treatment, possibly with added heat. Never actually liked the feel of the neck as it has very sharp shoulders to the fingerboard edges, so replacement with some finessed fitting would be the next step. Cheers, Colin!

+15 points for the Stormbringer riff

You missed a simple option for the neck. Add a spacer to the nut, so the truss rod can be adjusted further.

you can refret it. tighten the trussrod as far as it can go. sand the board flat and give the neck a compression fretjob. Done it a bunch of times.

This hits close to home, I have my very first bass back after a couple years being loaned to a friend. I'ts a very cheap P bass copy with terrible electronics, completely squared frets and an ugly headstock. I am considering to rebuild it, but I need to find the time and space (and money) to do it.

В тему анкера: в свое время сразу после покупки подержанного Фернандеса, столкнулся с проблемой того, что анкер затянут уже на максимум, а прогиб грифа все равно ощутимый. И тогда, чисто из интереса, я максимально ослабил анкер, затем начал затягивать, и во-первых, анкер стал крутиться легче, во-вторых, я смог его натянуть до нужного мне уровня.

Wow, 1988, that was 3 years before I was born

What a cool bridge. On basses, always manually bend the neck while taking up the slack and setting that adjustment with the truss rod nut. Never crank on the nut alone for adjustment. You can kinda get away with it on guitars but on basses it's a poor idea. If you run out of adjustment, you have to made a little bushing from another bored-out cut-off truss rod nut. Got one on my desk right now, as it turns out.

I have a even more budget DeVille bass with a similar but even more gubbed neck. Very bent at the body end of the neck. In the end i removed the neck, took off frets 21 to 24 then sanded down that bit of the neck to get it out of the way. (Don't think the trust rod effected the high end part of the neck at all) Put a flatish bit of plastic in the body's neck pocket, at the body end of the pocket, to counter the curve on that bit of the neck by wedging it back to straightish. Surprising nice to play now

8:57 Stormbringer!

I'm pretty sure the PRS Vela has a very similar bridge design to this!

Glad to hear that Craig Ferguson found a new job!

I love how mad Colin seemed in this video. It made me laugh super hard.

I would love to see the process of streaming and removing the fretboard to replace the truss rod

LOLLLLLLL "restoration blueballs" omffffffffg hahaaaaaa. such a great term tho. i've felt that before.

But you forgot to answer the most important question: did you put the peanut wrapper back under the pickups?

@casanovafunkenstein5090

9 ай бұрын

Of course he did. That foil was literally the only shielding in the instrument

I've done the last idea on the neck to great success. Try a bit of WD-40 down the truss rod screw.

StewMac's truss rod rescue set would probably help with the back bow issue you have here, but it costs far more than this instrument is worth, so not worth it unless you have uses for it elsewhere. Sadly, it's probably not something you can create yourself for less unless you have machine tools. The hollow end mill and the long, thin thread cutter really are unique tools.

I have a burnt Squier Stratocaster I would like to send in

If you wanted to do a much less laborious reinforcement of the neck you could always just foregoe taking the fretboard off and just take the frets out (you may as well replace them either way) and route channels directly into the fretboard. After putting in the reinforcement you can fill them with epoxy, level them off to a radius and put new frets in. It's not the most elegant solution but you could potentially dig out the truss rod in the process (using hand tools for the last couple of millimeters so you don't bugger your bits) and you could also play it off as a type of inlay by putting lines perpendicular to the channels you cut at the appropriate points and using coloured epoxy. In theory you should also be able to retain the positions for the frets without needing to measure and mark them out again.

It's alot of work, but I've done it. 1 remove frets 2 loosen truss rod 3 sand a BACK bow into the fret board 4 refret 5 "level" a back bow again into the frets 6 crown, polish 7 restring 8 and maybe just maybe tightening the now loose truss rod can manage the relief 9 maybe even put a spacer under the truss rod adjuster. Side note" I am a very stubborn and patient person with some idle time in my life." So your results may very. Never give up, you can always start from the very fucking beginning again.

Force it into a back bow and replace the frets with frets that have bigger fret tangs.

Change the truss rod with a double action bar. Its pretty common on this old ibstruments bowing because it has a single bar action

Steam it while its in the vice with a back bow

I was secretly hoping that you would just remove the Slipknot sticker and call it good 😂