Gibson EB0 1967 restoration

Initial condition

This bass arrived with its finish stripped off, an added rear pickup rout which had been filled, a broken pickup, no other electrics, and no fretboard! Luckily there had been no breaks or other previous repairs.

Upon investigation we found that the truss rod adjuster would not turn freely and discovered that the rod was badly rusted and well and truly stuck. We removed the cover fillet and carefully chiseled out the rod.

A new rod assembly was made and installed.

Restoration of fretboard

We made and installed a new filet then started work on a new fretboard. The board was marked and the fret slots cut. The board was profiled to 12" radius and glued onto the neck before adding the face and side marker dots and frets.

At this stage the bass was prepped and sanded ready for painting.

Refinishing

With the fretboard and headstock masked off, we primed the body and neck with nitrocellulose primer. After drying this was flatted back and the metallic Pelham blue was applied followed by a light tobacco tint coat.

The headstock was finished in black and the whole guitar was clear coated in nitro-cellulose gloss, which once dry was buffed and polished to a semi gloss.

The pickup was rebuilt by Mojo pickups and we made a new pickguard and ebony thumb rest.

Rebuild

The guitar was wired up with CTS pots, braided wire, switchcraft jack and orange drop cap.

Set up on light strings and a new bone nut, and packed in a nice tweed hard case ready to be shipped back to its owner.