The Diagnosis Psychosis

 Before diving into the details, I just want to stress how wonderfully dirty this bass was. It even carried a mildew-type odor reminiscent of my mother's annually flooded basement. I dove in with some Simple Green and a rag, wondering how many of my old buds have picked this thing up and fiddled with it over the years as they jammed or recorded in Josh's studio. How many beers have been spilled upon thee? How much cigarette smoke has encircled thee? Some of you may think that it is wrong to clean off years of "mojo." Well, that's because you've never smelled my friends' mojo! I'm not singling anyone out, Doug.


Let's start at the body and work our way to the tuners.

Strap button is loose. Haven't tested the threads yet. 

The bridge. The bridge! It's rusty, but actually has some height and string length adjustment to it. The Harmony six-stringer was a bridge/ashtray in one. This used to have a proprietary bolt on ashtray, which is missing.



The electronics. Where to start? I plugged it into my practice amp, and tapped on the poles with my screwdriver. Occasionally, while wiggling the jack, I got the familiar pop of a working pickup. However, it was accompanied by some horrifically loud humming. 



The pots, wires (one came unsoldered during inspection) and resistors will be replaced, and I am hoping then the pickup will pickup. Did you think we were done with the bridge? Wrong! The ground wire going throught the body was completely uncovered, bare wire soldered onto the bottom of the bridge. That is most likely the source of all the noise.


Remember the joy I had doing the last Harmony's pickguard? Maybe some heat and weight will take out these waves, but I have a feeling another pickguard blank is in my future. 


Truss rod? I haven't tested it yet, mainly for this reason:


The fretboard seems to be separating from the neck! Now, it is quite possible it has been this way a long time, or the string tension was holding it against the neck, and minus that the neck straightened in shipping and the separation increased. Time will tell. Before I mess with it, I am letting the neck acclimate to my 38-50% humidity of my basement.

Here's a bright spot, it has a nut! And it looks just dandy.

And the tuners, well, they turn. I may remove them to give them a nice deep clean.


And that's it! A funky fretboard, a picky pickup, wounded wiring, warped pickguard, and a bungled bridge. Easy! Right? Right!?!

Happy New Year friends.

Up Next:

Wildcard Week

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