mosriteforum.com

heck All.

I'm a newbie here, although I've had a '66 Ventures guitar (S/N 3883) for some time. I recently purchased a Ventures bass (S/N 6302) that's not lived a good life, and will need a full restoration, particularly since the body's been completely stripped, but the carves are there in proper form. It's mostly there parts wise, but there are a few missing, specifically a treble-side duckfoot tuning machine and bushing, bridge pickup chrome cover, and a switch tip (I have one, but the threads are too short). As well, the pots are toast and the wiring has been messed with, so any info on what the correct pots are and a shot of the wiring as it is supposed to be would be helpful. Lastly, although most of the black small-logo headstock decal is there, with the complete refin of the body it doesn't make sense to keep the neck finish. I hope to be able to retain the frets, since they are in reasonable "barely-there" shape, although the zero fret is badly worn.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Now I know where that stripped finish bass went on eBay a couple of weeks ago. I had several contacts with the seller with an agreement to buy it when the auction closed as we were both confident that it wouldn't sell at $995, as bad a shape as it was in without an original case. But at the last minute, poof, there you were.

Congratulations on the your new project. Those duck feet tuners are hard to come by, but keep an eye out as they show up on eBay every year or two. I got one lined up a while back because that is usually the hardest part to find for a Mosrite bass. They are reversible by removing the tuning post and reinstalling it. So, when you find one it won't matter which side it's for.

The switch tip will probably fit as long as it is the right threads. Use a Dremel tool and cut the tip off about 1/16" of the selector switch. This was common as the length of the selector switch screw was different lengths from different different manufacturers. I have a '64 Ventures model that never had the tip trimmed back and the knob sets up to high with threads showing.

I have a thread discussing the wiring with photo's and diagram in the projects forum. Six string guitars and basses were wired the same. I also have a thread going there about the bass I'm now building.

BTW, Welcome to the forum. Stop by the introduction forum when you get a chance.

Yeah, I'm the one. I, too, thought that it was a bit stiff on the price, but bit anyway. The only thing that concerned me about it was the crack at the neck pocket. In the flesh, it looks as if it was an "oops, it fell out of the stand". I repaired a similar problem on a 350 Rickenbacker recently (I'm a luthier), so the fix shouldn't be too tough.

Thanks for the comments. I've noticed a few tuning machines in the past - Mosrite's are a regular thing I check just to see what's out there. I'll take the switch tip off my list of things I need, and I'll check out your threads and go to the introduction forum. I'll also see if there's something regarding reattaching the p'ups to the bar on the back, as one of them has come loose.

I think the bar on the back of the pickup is just simply glued on with a glob of epoxy. I've never opened one up but we have a member here, Ed Elliot, (former Mosrite employee) that makes Mosrite pickup's. He reads here but has never posted. Maybe we can convince him to join in and answer this question. eh! Ed?

Yeah, that neck crack should be a piece of cake to fix since there's no finish to worry about. Post some pix in the Project forum when start working on it. We alway's like photo's.