paging MADMIKE S. ( new project? )

ok you looking for a project? how about this one. A friend from the JCF sold me his charvel explorer body.




naturally I have all the parts for it, just need to get it here to figure out which of the spare necks I have will fit in the pocket without mods.
one of the 3, a RW dot/ a maple-dot or my RW finned CMG neck.

the preamp will cover the 3 holes v/b/t, the gibson switch will cover the horn switch OR you would fill in that goofy toggle and extra knob hole and make the control knobs 3 in a row like the OEM factory would use as who knows what that 3rd hole was drilled for as well as the mini-toggle hole.. The thing came with 2 knobs in a row as it was v/t/ and the switch for the pickups....
I only have the chrome 2410 as a spare so color will be decided later I guess.

are you looking to sell it or you want me to refurb it for you? i am still looking for a good explorer ... kahlers fit on them so well.

i have a black 7410 in inventory.

is that a big ole blob of joint compound someone used for fill? fiberglass? epoxy? depending on what it is ... it may be ready for the weber. remember ... i can always use this piece of wood as a template and cut a new body ... or work from jpegs (like the tak). a new piece of wood is under $100.

you dont want another white bass, do you? go to the reranch and pick out one of those colors. i just shot cadilac green on a LP ... its badass. that is ... if you want me to do it for you.

perhaps in picking a neck for it ... refinishing a natural maple in TO is cheaper (and neater) than painting the back in lacquer.

more pics?

ah ... its already got a kahler route. thats what the new project is for ... to document and put on the new site.

i could refurb yours and use it as a template for a new body (for me).

i didnt get it yet when i do ill know how bad it is or not or how heavy..etc since it's old and poplar and i will take more pics.

ya a refurb and you can do whatever you want....or not.
it wont be a USA serialized unit, just a parts mutt using the correct parts which is still sellable when I don't want it anymore.
Ya I'm GLAD it is already routed so before I decide to send it anywhere, I'm gonna throw a p-pickup in it, the kahler and a neck, string it up and fantisize

the body you can certainly use as a template and if you think you could make a lefty from that, then maybe I would get my lefty version built finally?

heres a thread on TB of another one for sale but i cant just buy rightys to buy them USA or not.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f126/bass-sale-extravaganza-8-basses-1-body-2-guitars-915629/

amimbari wrote:

heres a thread on TB of another one for sale but i cant just buy rightys to buy them USA or not.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f126/bass-sale-extravaganza-8-basses-1-body-2-guitars-915629/

for just the body?!?!?! $300?!?!? hardly. ide give him $80 for it ... maybe $100. naw, i wouldnt pay that much for something i'm gonna refinish unless it was more collectable worth it ... like a guild or a bb.

is it just because its an explorer? they arent readily available by anybody anymore. epi put a bunch out last year but they were poop. i just havent looked recently.

if you want the tak ... i can just cut the body for the tak. i got all the artwork vectors set up to scale and eveything, ready to go. just need a neck. i also learned to paint / finish so theres no witness lines, so the red stripe would be buried. my finishing skills have gotten much better.

giving me free reign, yeah, ide definitely flip this for you. a few conditions ... like the joint compound patch job; that is questionable. if its just belt rash, i can remove whatever is on there, fill and have it look brand new. if its worser ... no guarantees. the other thing that concerns me is the placement of the kahler route. is it gonna be in the proper intonation spot? wheres the intonation spot gonna be with another neck? if i gotta adjust, do i fill the pocket or move the neck ...... ugg.

if theres major work, then the value of this hunk o lumber is questionable. if you really want a charvel explorer, then templating from this one is way easier than working from pictures, and, flippo - change - o, you got a lefty charvel explorer.

will i be given the McGyver award of excellence if i can get it sweet with only a book of matches, a paper clip, a cell phone battery and a condom? i'm gaining that status at my new job and i dont wanna end up in that spot again. my trademark answer has become, "i dunno ... not enuff data."



some time with it, a neck and some kinda budget, you could definitely flip it for some coin if its salvageable.

you said i could pick what i want ... all ide wanna do is black or chrome hardware (your kahler or mine). it needs to be a solid opaque color to hide all the repairs so no trans, dyes or bursts. you pick the color from reranch .........

fender colors ... http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/fencuscol.html burgundy mist, desert tan, ice blue and midnight wine are all cool

gibson colors ... http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/blacwhitandg.html gold top, tv yellow, pahlen blue or black.

reranch custom ... http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/rercuscol.html i wanna try the smoke green on something

i wanted to more or less show you the 3 in a row knobs on that p-p explorer.
he was gonna give up the whole thing assembled to me for 300, still If it was a solid color and not so chipped I would take it as it is all a 84 charvel USA.

anywayI'll update the thread in more details when I get this white body. the pics are really not that good on what damage/repairs/scuffs whatever is on that body. If it is that bad then ya I would have to rethink the situation.

the tak body in lefty would be a lifelong keeper as a very small percentage of people would want something like that, but in all fairness, a lefty explorer I could sell a lot easier because it is still a explorer and not a bizzare guitar.
on this unit once it was changed to hold the kahler, it would only still be worth something to a charvel collector if it had the serial plate and original neck.

beyond that, nada-nothing. so free reign is obtainable to assemble a parts mutt, just no aftermarket parts, all charvel except obviously the kahler.

hey ... your the charvel / jackson finder around here. i never seem to be able to find em. i will look for stuff tho.

I'm only the C/J finder because yes, I look daily in a lot of places beyond EBAY.

well it looks like I'm getting the body tomorrow Mike, so this weekend I'll put it together and see what we got to work with and take pics....
I'm only gonna put a p-pickup in it wired direct just to see how it sounds and toss a video on the camcorder.

Kewl. Good luck.

i dunno, but the clear coat looks like it peeled off badly from a shitty paint job and a crappy underneith, and it looks like white tape was ALL over the back I just took my fingernail and it comes right off in my hands. white tape to cover the damage and to cover the old strap holes? hahaha...whatever.
someone beat up on it enough that it will need some wood filler to smooth out all the scratches and dings.


I don't know if this pic is good enough to see the strips of glue leftover or not.



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EDIT:
and the neck fit - same holes and the screws went right in. i'll put it together this weekend.

The neck fit and the screw holes lined up. Thats a good start.

Measure from fret 12 to the nut and fret 12 to the saddles. It shud be the same. If not, that kahler mount is gonna need to move.

Finish doesnt sound too bad. Epoxy fill oughta fill the gouges. Everything else will probably need to come down to the nekid wood.

Nekid wood ... huhuh huh huh huhuh.

What kinda wood is it ... can you tell? Its prob either ash or alder.

Mmmm, furry headstock. Can we leave that?

it's the same as 3 other units. if i measure from the nut to the rollers it is 34 exactly. on my other ones it is the same.
however on all 3 i have on stands it is not even 17-17 from nut to 12th from 12th to breakpoint for the strings.
close but none of them are the same.
The wood then you tap it sounds like the body i'm using as a donor, very high pitched knock sound. poplar? alder?
everything esle from the period was poplar so i dunno. in the cavity there is long grain so who knows.

that neck has the best frets out of all 3 - off that fur covered bass and since I'm using all the parts from that unit, there will be a spare body up for grabs soon.

I threw the parts bass stuff in it this morning, no preamp or anything, just the passive guts so I could see if it plays.

it does and the intonation is close without having to adjust the saddles yet with no dead frets. I'll make a video and post it later today if
I can after I adjust the string spacing+height to where I like it.


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You could make a John Gallagher Special with that bass!

The true intonation line is actually like .2" longer. Its easier marking from previous properly intonated bridge than measuring.

So the bridge is in the right spot. Good.

i can't say it sounds any different than the others except the output to the preamp is lower in passive mode.

i'll send it to you sometime towards the end of the week.

BTW, tat 2400 kahler went for 83bucks.. i should have just bid 100

like I said it sounds the same as pretty much everything else in the house.

I threw the passive parts in it from my CSM2B since I was lazy and didnt want to wire anything up.

allright ... just by my trained tear (?) the intonation sounds fine. i waited for you to hit the higher registers and it sounded tight (except for that one note you hit and winced).

thissl just be a simple refin. no problem. now, just specifics that we can deal with like filling pot and switch holes to fit the electronics (preamp? got another mr. mings?) and we can do that by phone or message. sure, ide be happy to do it, at the BTF member price too. ittl take me as long as it takes to strip and repair the existing surface, sand seal, prime, paint and clear coat.

FYI ive changed my clear coat process and its more like a polished factory finish now. the series 10 i did was just deft semi (no fingerprints) ... its getting to that time where its integrity is questionable; hows it holding up? my clear coats now are more durable and last longer.

i was looking for the next project for a kahler install documentation article / picture series for the new website. this one has the install done already ... so i'm still looking for a bass to do an install on.

I did not adjust the kahler just put the neck on hit the 12th fret to see and it was close enough without having to go outward just to play it from uber sharp notes.
maybe like you said you can trace this thing and make your own.
I'll give you the body of the donor fur bass if you want a body to make an install video out of. I'll probably never get around to putting a neck on it and selling it on eBay anyway.

the series10 looks and smells no different than day-1 even though it sits on a stand all the time it still smells like new paint just not as much. The multi crack in the head has not tried to split showing a line on the paint or the back, and the Dstring dead fret on #14 is still there.
It dosent get as used too much and I usually only use it at the band practices in the basement so unless I pull the pickups out swap em and sell it, that will last for years.

the guy who sold it to me has the OEM neck but I didnt want to pay his price because he does not have the neckplate with it. ( AND I didn't want a strathead, birdseye or not )

yeah, that sounds like a plan. i'll refinish yours and make one for myself for the kahler install demo model.

now i gotta find a 2x2 V neck for it.

whats a v neck?

oh ya.... i thought you meant dean v shaped head on an explorer.

Ide just go buy a metalman bass then ... you can score one for $100 ... but i wouldnt recommend it.

God they are ugly headstocks.

well a friend from the JCF saw my new parts mutt and said did I want a never used still in the box 2410 in black for 100...yep, mailed him a check today

so, that silver one will once again be a spare unless someone wants it for their "installation video" << hmm, who could that be?

Put it in the parts bin for now mike ... we'll get to it some day. I have a spare 7410 in black too. Havent decided if i want to build an entire bass or install on another for the demo. Because i havent found a good candidate, i may just have to build one.

ok I will do that.
Will you be ready for me to send the explorer to you at the beginning of the month?
And do you want a parts bass for the body for the video?
The thing is stripped sitting in a box.


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