1976 left-handed Precision needs tlc

[sal paradise]

Couldn’t turn this down. Converted to right hand at some point in its life & a terrible paint job. A few knocks but generally in good shape. It’s light, the neck is nice a slim at the nut & it sounds exactly how I want a precision to sound.

Bought off a lovely dude whose house is basically a jumble of old amps, guitars & cables. Probably staring into my future

Plan is to strip it, remove the filler & send it to a friend with woodwork skills to do a proper repair on that right handed control cavity, then off for a refin. Think I’ll leave the rest as-is.

Seems to have a grey undercoat- any idea what colour this might have been originally?

I was thinking vintage white nitro for respray with black guard. Open to suggestions though.

[HNB]

Oooo extra curvy on the back!

[JVG]

Olympic White would look good.

Why do some right handers feel the need to play a lefty upside down? Are they just trying to fuck up (or deprive us of) the relatively small number of instruments we have available? It messes with my head.

[armensguitars]

Such a cool bass, hope you are able to do it justice! Agreed on the why make a lefty into a righty sentiment. My exception was once I found a lefty 70s strat neck, which immediately was paired to a righty body, as it was too cool not to.

[Nudger]

This to me is perfect.

[armensguitars]

This to me is perfect.

Is that from M&Ms? Looks amazing.

[Nudger]

Yup, Finish by copacetic, on reverb 1969..

[sal paradise]

The refinisher wanted to do the repair work themselves, so I just sent off the body with finish still on. Due to the depth of alterations, we've been talking about best way to solve - current thinking is cut off the body at the line & replace. Will mean an offset join, but seems the way to save the most amount of wood.

[MattK]

That seems insane to me - lose the whole original corner curve and shaping? I would cut a veneer type patch and route the surface down. It won’t matter at all if some of the filler is left hidden inside. Or just leave it as is and make it smooth if you don’t need to see grain.

[sal paradise]

That seems insane to me - lose the whole original corner curve and shaping? I would cut a veneer type patch and route the surface down. It won’t matter at all if some of the filler is left hidden inside. Or just leave it as is and make it smooth if you don’t need to see grain.

Veneer was the original plan. This is the problem- it’s beyond my understanding/knowledge though:

“due to the forearm contour needing to be recarved, part of the filled area would be exposed on the contouring. I don't think the infill section would successfully curve down over a new contour which is usually possible across a larger width, but tricky as a smaller section.”

[MattK]

Respectfully, that’s rubbish. If the contour needs to be redone (it didn’t look like it?) then carve the contour with the filler in place, rout out a patch area on the carved surface, patch and level. Even I could do that.

[sal paradise]

Respectfully, that’s rubbish. If the contour needs to be redone (it didn’t look like it?) then carve the contour with the filler in place, rout out a patch area on the carved surface, patch and level. Even I could do that.

The contour would need shaping with a veneer, I think? That was the original plan.

[JVG]

Yeah, unless you’re planning a translucent or clear finish, please don't go hacking chunks out of it.

Smooth it, finish it.

And for the person who originally made it right handed (and will never read this) - i’m still angry about it. Fucker.

[hulakatt]

Although, as long as the wood is proper smoothed out underneath, under a metallic coat it won't much matter wether it's veneer or not.

This to me is perfect.

Sherwood Green is lovely but I'm partial to Lake Placid Blue myself...

[sal paradise]

A little update. Decided to go with a replacement piece of wood due to complications, and on the recommendation of the person doing the work. Already looks way nicer

“Have made the new 'infill' piece and grafted it in.
Need to carve the forearm contour next, then continue stripping the existing paint from the back and edges of the body ready for the pore filling stage.”