Photo a day 2012 (46/366) - 1981 Gibson Victory Artist

Photo taken in my bedroom.  I know I've featured this bass before on these pages, but just look at it!  It's probably the prettiest bass I own.  I'm so glad I was able to rescue it.

1981 Gibson Victory Artist - restored!

Some of you may remember the bass I bought back in June - a Gibson Victory Artist.  Anyone paying attention will remember the awful cosmetic state it was in, but in case you need reminding, here are a couple of pics:



Well, on Wednesday I got it back from my good friend Rich who had performed his magic on the body and neck.  Please excuse the large burp of pics but all I can say is wow:

 

Hats off to Rich, he really has done an amazing job.  At the moment the bass is sitting on its own stand while the lacquer hardens some more and some neck adjustments settle down.  It sounds amazing, and now it looks amazing too.  The only down side to this bass is the weight - that all maple construction makes for a very heavy instrument.  To combat this I am waiting for a special strap to arrive which I hope will stop it from destroying my shoulder/back.

Home improvements

I had a week off work last week and as well as a bit of socialising I got stuck into a few jobs which needed doing.

Garden stuff - We've made a start on clearing the crap out of our garden and bomb BBQ shelter.  My dad very kindly offered his assistance and his trailer.  Long story short, we moved 3 trailer loads to the dump civic amenity site recycling centre - a load of wood, a load of rocks/bricks/rubble and a load of general junk.  Treasure found so far - an amount of lead cuttings (from flashings presumably), a rear reflector for my bike, some garden tools (hoe, edging shears).  Disappointment of the proceedings - a table saw which had been left to rot in the shelter.

House stuff - Jayne varnished the fireplace surround to make it darker, I replaced the toilet seat (one of the hinges had broken), we tried some colours for the hall/stairs.

Guitar stuff - The body of the Victory Artist is nearly completely sanded (save for some annoying areas in the horns) and it is officially an Artist once more:

Short story: it's a white backed laser water slide transfer, printed black except the writing, covering the whole piece then protected with several coats of Plasti-kote Fast Dry Enamel, cut back in between with 1000 grit sandpaper.

I have found somewhere to make a 5 ply b/w/b/w/b copy of my pickguard and it went yesterday.

Last week I might have drunk some Guinness.

Thank you Schaller!

I mentioned in my last post that I had asked Schaller in Germany for the spare parts I needed to fix the tuner on the Victory bass I'm restoring.  The parts arrived today - in quadruplicate!  Yes, 4 capstans, 4 pinions and 4 screws.  I only needed one of each.  Also in the envelope was a freebie sticker and a set of picks!

What a bunch of champs!

Need tuners?  Get Schaller.  End of discussion.

Gear in: 1981 Gibson Victory Artist

I have been looking for one of these for months.  I haven't seen one (reasonably priced) in the UK since December.  I've had to cast my net further afield, which brings its own problems (mostly US eBayers being sniffy about selling internationally or quoting ridiculous amounts for postage).  A mint example appeared on the market (came into this decade in a time machine type pristine) which made the values spike for a while.  Rubbish like that.

However, this rather sorry looking example appeared and I decided to make it my mission to resurrect it to something approaching its former glory.

The picture doesn't show the half of the problems:

• The bass has been refinished (badly) in dark blue
• Someone thought it'd be a great idea to paint the pickguard in silver Hammerite
• Someone thought it's be a great idea to install a push button switch at the back to connect/disconnect the battery - in a place where you keep nudging it when you play the thing.
• The final insult - someone thought it'd be a great idea to take a blow torch to the back of the neck

Thankfully that's where the problems pretty much end.  Electronically and structurally it seems intact.  All the chrome is in good nick, the only tarnishing is on the screws (I'll soak them in cola to clean them up).  One of the tuners was bust, but that has been temporarily fixed - awaiting parts from Schaller in Germany to do a proper job (at least I think that's what's happening - "We send to you the parts you need" sounds like they're going to do it).  One of the very distinctive "Posi-Lok" strap buttons has been replaced with a standard style one.  I had made contact with a guy in Italy who claimed to have some, but that's gone quiet.  One of the wires had come off the circuit board inside, but that was a quick fix.  The stupid switch is already gone :)

So, the plan is a full refinish.  From my digging around inside, I conclude that the bass was originally Candy Apple Red (which is a layered finish of gold, trans red then clearcoat).  I don't fancy that.  I'm erring towards black, it's the least likely to mess up, but all my other Gibson/Epiphone basses are black, so perhaps a change is necessary.

The cleanup has begun - I was able to polish up the headstock so it's looking a lot nicer now:

A lot of elbow grease later >






The truss rod cover was also coated in that Hammerite and when I removed it the "Artist" logo was gone :(  Will have to try and reinstate that somehow.

 I wonder how I'm going to do this.  Paint it on?  Get a white transfer/decal made somehow?

These things are sent to try us.

By the way, did I mention it sounds great? :)