This one is another pawn shop rescue but I overpaid this time. The days of $75 Fenders are long gone. The overall condition was good to great, right out of the gate.
History
The date of manufacture for Fender instruments of this era is normally written on the butt of the neck in pencil. This one is no exception. May 25th 1983. Why does that date sound familiar? That's because it was the release date of Return of the Jedi. Nerd-gasm! Darth Vader Bass!
The body, finish, pickguard, neck and tuners were all original but the bridge was replaced with a Badass II and the pickups were swapped out for EMGs.
Restorations to date
Body
The body is basswood or poplar; not a great sounding wood, but we'll fix that later. The original black lacquer finish is road-worn but in-tact so no point making any changes there other than buffing out a bit of wear with compound. The original white pickguard was there too but I prefer the look of a black one. Since I couldn't find a black P bass pickguard anywhere, I had to buy a blank and spend a day cutting, routing and fitting it. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.
Bridge
The original Fender bridge was gone but not to worry, I've got the exact match with the 82 Jazz bridge from the other bass. But the Bad Ass II is a better bridge so no sense putting the Fender one on. The Nickel and gold Badd Ass II was almost totally oxidized black. Completely disassembling it and a few hours with a Dremel Tool and various polishes brought it back to original condition.
It'll do for now, but an isolated string through body bridge will go a long way to compensate for the less than stellar body wood. Even though 2TEK is just recently back in business, the Hipshot Triple Lock Down Individual String Bass Bridge is a more reasonable choice. At a third of the price of the 2TEK, with only minimal routing required and available in black, this will be the next step in the restoration.
Pickups
Original P Bass pickups from the eighties are nothing special, so they won't be missed. EMG P Bass pickups are better in someways; brighter, louder but worse in others; no midrange, compressed sound, no headroom... I converted them from 9 volts to 18 volts in series but they still weren't cutting it. So at a little over $100, a new set of Bartolini 8SU passive pickups (that match the ones in the Jazz Bass) are the solution. I've installed them since these photos were taken and they're magical. They've transformed this bass from a probable Flipper to a Keeper.
Happy Accident
In replacing the pickups, I broke off the tone control capacitor. I put it together and tried it anyway sans a Tone Control. It sounded great. I found a replacement capacitor and did surgery again. The sound this time was not as good. Basically anything you put in the signal path degrades the sound. I've put all control bypass switches in instruments before and I think I'll do that again here. With a single pickup, you really don't need volume or tone controls anyway, just wire the pickups straight to the jack with a kill switch. So go cut the capacitor off your tone control and enjoy the improved sound.
Tuning Keys
The original tuning keys were functional but they're vintage style meaning they turn backwards.
It's a pain in the ass unless all your instruments turn that way. So I swapped them out for some average clover leaf tuners. They still won't stay in tune, so I'll have to find some Gotohs eventually.
Finishing Touches
Once the new bridge is on, I'll swap out the control knobs to black ones and put on a set of DR Black Coated strings.
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