Is it worth it to restore this Mosrite / Ventures Bass?

[tbelcher]

I recently bought a Mosrite Ventures bass at a garage sale knowing nothing about it. After doing a little research on the Internet it seems like I might be in for quite a bit of work. It looks like the previous owner stripped it for parts (see attached images).

Does anyone have any advice as to whether its worth the time / money to undertake a restoration (which I've never done before)? If not, is it worth anything if I sell it?


Thanks,

Tim
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[dorkrockrecords]

Well, you seem to have a 1965 there with the original finish and logo intact and the frets in decent shape, so I'd say a relatively simple restoration is in order. You'll need a set of Kluson tuners, a string guide, one pickup, wiring harness, a set of knobs and a pickguard. I'm sure there are several forum members who could help you in sourcing/making the parts.

[oipunkguy]

reduce the size of the pictures please

[JimPage]

Hey, Tim--

That is a very lucky find! Well worth restoring.

The folks on this forum can certainly steer you in the right direction as to parts and such.

Please keep us posted on your progress!!!

--Jim

[Sarah93003]

That should be a fun project. Don't you just love cigarette burns in the headstock? Must have been a Blues player.

[tbelcher]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. Sorry about the size of the pictures; the Hubble telescope wasn't available, so this is as large as I could get them

My big fear with starting this is the paint job. I've heard that I should keep the original color, but what it I want to repair the gouges/dings? I think I can do a decent job with the hardware (at least the wiring and anything that screws on). Next up is budgeting and finding the parts. Any approximations on the cost and where to start looking for parts?

Thanks,
Tim

[dubtrub]

Restoring doesn't mean refinishing. Once you start filling dings, scrapes and scratches you will destroy any value worthy of restoration. You'd be better off with a made in Asia lookalike clone found on eBay for around $200-$400. Leave everything as is and source out the parts to get it operational. Use modern reproduction parts from various vendors such as Ed Elliott, Bob Shade and Artie. All are members of this forum. You can follow Mosrite listings for a couple of years and eventually in the process you will locate original 60s era parts to replace the reproduction parts. When you are done you will have a nice desirable vintage guitar.

[Sarah93003]

And that's how it's done.

[101Volts]

Looks like an easy restoration if you don't monkey with the paint job. I see you'll need tuners, a bass string guide, a pickguard, electronics and wiring, knobs, a pickup and maybe a thumb rest.

Austin

[dorkrockrecords]

Is there an echo in here?