![\"bassguitar\"](\"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/bassguitar.jpg\")
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Chances are likely a good number of you still own your very first bass guitar. Chances are also likely you haven’t played it in years and it’s sitting in a closet or the basement. And chances are also likely something (or many things) on that bass guitar is messed up which doesn’t allow you to play it properly.<\/p>\n
If you’re like most players, you probably put away your first bass with the idea that one day you’d restore it, and now you’re considering doing just that.<\/p>\n
But should you?<\/p>\n
Well, you can if you have the right frame of mind.<\/p>\n
Your first bass probably had the ever-lovin’ crap beat out of it. You probably received it new when you were just a kid, didn’t know any better and used\/abused that poor bass until it was almost unplayable.<\/p>\n
Over the years there were probably “repairs” made to it, such mounting pickups using the wrong screws, the installation of a mismatched tuning machine that replaced the one you broke off and any other number of things you “repaired” over time.<\/p>\n
In reality you’re not repairing anything but rather restoring; that’s how you have to approach this job.<\/p>\n
Your first bass guitar was probably something picked off-the-rack in the guitar store, and you wanted it just because it looked cool. At the time you probably had no idea what you were buying, and that’s fine because you know better now.<\/p>\n
Anyone who has ever worked on mass-produced instruments from the 1970s to present knows that out-of-the-box there are things that need to be adjusted and fixed even before you pluck the first note. But as a kid, you didn’t know that so you most likely played it as-is.<\/p>\n
What I’m saying here is that there is the distinct possibility that even if you completely tear down the bass and do a total setup, it still may not play correctly because it was never properly set up to begin with. Combine that with the fact you’re dealing with a mass-produced instrument where attention to detail is usually missed, and you may be looking a major restoration job.<\/p>\n
Assuming for the moment you can locate an exact-match or close-to-exact-match bass that won’t put you in the poorhouse after buying it, this will make your restoration job a whole lot easier.<\/p>\n
Remember, you’re not restoring your first bass to sell it, but rather to achieve the goal of having a working instrument that you can enjoy. If you can locate another bass like your first, “borrow” all the parts you need to because you needn’t be concerned with being 100% original and\/or 100% authentic here. This is “Your #1”, so you restore it as you see fit.<\/p>\n
It’s safe to say that if the neck is screwed up, it will be the most expensive part of the restoration. You can do all the electronics, wiring and hardware yourself, but when it comes to the neck, that will probably require a luthier’s expertise to restore.<\/p>\n
You’re probably dealing with a mass-produced bass guitar that never had the neck properly adjusted. And that bass has sat in storage, most likely for years, with a neck that has its bow shaped like a banana and no amount of truss rod turning on your part will fix that (not completely, anyway).<\/p>\n
Yes, it will cost you to have the neck adjusted back to proper shape, possibly re-fretted (or at least have a fret leveling job done), have the nut replaced and so on. But what you’ll get back will be a joy to play. Costly, yes, but it may be necessary.<\/p>\n
This is not an easy question to answer, because it depends on how far gone your first bass is.<\/p>\n
The more appropriate question is, when is it not<\/em> worth it?<\/strong><\/p>\n There’s one word that summarizes when it’s not worth it, and that’s disintegration<\/em>.<\/p>\n Disintegration of your own instrument is probably one of the most heartbreaking things a player can deal with, because when it starts to happen, there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it other than to start replacing parts. And, of course, the more parts you replace with new, the more you end up doing a repair job rather than a restoration which ultimately “loses the magic” of what the instrument originally was.<\/p>\n An example of disintegration is when you go to install a new set of strings, tune up and during the tuning process one of the tuning machines cracks right in your hand. It didn’t crack because you were being rough, nor did it crack because the bass guitar couldn’t handle it. That tuning machine disintegrated and broke simply because it was old. And you know since that one broke, the other three are all eventually going to do the same thing.<\/p>\n Yes, this totally sucks when this happens; you feel totally helpless because you know there’s nothing you could have done to prevent it. Things get old and they break; that’s the way of things.<\/p>\n Sure, you can replacing the tuning machine. And you might even be able to get an exact-match to the one that was there before. But that’s only the beginning. Disintegration unfortunately has a domino effect where when one thing breaks, other things are soon to follow suit and also break.<\/p>\n And that’s the point when you throw in the towel. No, you don’t throw your bass out as it is your first. But it can’t be used as a regular instrument anymore.<\/p>\n Disintegration takes a long time to happen – BUT – on cheaper mass-produced bass guitars it can happen in less than 20 years. Remember how it was made originally.<\/p>\n Your best friend to combat making disintegration any worse is a luthier. While he may not be able to prevent disintegration of plastics and metals (once they start to go there’s not much that can be done), he can treat wood to strengthen it and give tips to keep the instrument playable.<\/p>\n This is not to say you shouldn’t try to restore your first bass.<\/strong> If you think your first bass can be restored, then by all means go for it. The best advice that can be given here is to be realistic about the job. Your first bass was most likely not a premium Fender J or P of the 1960s but rather some other brand, possibly non-USA made and mass-produced. As long as there’s not too much if any disintegration going on (i.e. wood rotting, crumbling plastics or metals, etc.), then yes, spend the money, restore it and be happy.<\/p>\n If you have a story to share about restoring your particular first bass, please feel free to leave a comment or two!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chances are likely a good number of you still own your very first bass guitar. Chances are also likely you haven’t played it in years and it’s sitting in a closet or the basement. And chances are also likely something (or many things) on that bass guitar is messed up which doesn’t allow you to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}