Mosrite 'Nuthin' Special' model Bass - restoration

[sycamoregrove]

Once upon a time, way back in the summer of 1976, I joined a crappy little garage band in Livermore California. We all went to Granada High School, we played Frampton and KISS songs, and a bunch of other stuff we liked, 'Evil Ways' by Santana, 'Rocky Mountain Way' by Joe Walsh . . etc etc. Anyway, we sucked, but we loved playing. LOL.

I had found a Mosrite post-Ventures bass in Fremont at Ivar H. Johnson Music and had taken months to pay it off. I had no amp, so I plugged into the spare channel of the guitarist's Randall RG-120. I was the worst player in the group, rarely in tune, barely able to play simple lines. We lasted only several months, but I moved on to other bands and stuck with it, eventually getting pretty good.

My Mosrite took a back seat once I got a Rickenbacker 4001, but I still played it. It always had a crack in the finish behind the nut on the back side of the neck. . . or so I thought. My dipshit keyboard player left it leaning at an accute angle against the headstock for a couple of days, and the 'finish' crack opened up. I freaked out, and traded it for his new Suzuki 12 string. . . . for which I have soundly kicked myself (and cursed his name) through the years.

That Mosrite was the bass I played at my very first gig, and I still have a recording (quite cringe worthy) of that show. Several months ago, all the guys from Nuthin' Special hooked up via FaceBook, and we're now planning a re-union party and show.

I couldn't afford to buy a decent looking original Mosrite for what they're selling for these days, so I've been looking for an alternative. I thought about getting an Aria and goosing it up to look more 'correct' but wound up finding an early 70's neck and body. I have the bridge cover, knobs, toggle switch and tip and some pickup covers. I even have a line on getting a white decal that says Nuthin' Special model in the same lettering as the Ventures logo. I thought with all that, I could get something together that would work for me.

The neck has a really great looking sunburst finish (mine had been natural), but the fingerboard has serious problems, and the truss rod is toast. If I can figure out how to add pics here I'll show you. The body has it's original sunburst finish, but it's pretty cracked and pitted.

Since the fingerboard may need to be replaced, I'm wondering how the finish will fair. The fingerboard looks odd, with much larger position markers than I've seen on most others, and three diagonal ones up at the first fret. Strange. I have doubts they were original. . . but Semie did get kinda 'creative' with things sometimes, especially towards the end of Mosrite's first incarnation from what I gather.

I'm not exactly flush with cash, but I was hoping for some advice about restoration, especially refinishing or sprucing up the weathered body finish. I've got one duckfoot peg, and a couple of busted ones (on the threads as usual), so I'll be looking for those too.

I guess there's a dubtrub Danny Ellison on here that does amaaaazing sunburst finishes . . . not that I could afford one, but we'll see, if he's still doing them.

[oipunkguy]

there are others that do finishing on here, namely myself. there are others as well. pm me if you like.