Evaluating a RC Stromm P-Style Bass

Here's a sunburst RC Stromm P-Style four-string bass that's been sent in for an evaluation and repair estimate minus a gig bag. Although I've immediately noticed quite a few issues that need to be addressed, the owner is only worried about the high action and general unplayability. Well, brother, there's a whole lot more to be worried about. 

As the bass still has strings on, I've plugged it into an amp just to see if it works. The good news is that it does make a sound. The bad news is that the output stays the same with the volume control dimed, fully off, or anywhere in between. There's definitely something wrong with the wiring, the volume pot itself; or both. Watch the short video below, and you'll see what I mean.

Now that introductions are over and done with, let's take a closer look at the hardware. Starting at the headstock end, you'll notice that the tuners and lone string retainer are cruddy and in dire need of servicing. To make matters worse, all sixteen mounting screws are terribly corroded.

Tuners and String Retainer

Rusty Tuner Mounting Screws

Moving on to the strap buttons, there's a remarkable similarity in condition when compared to the tuners and string retainer. All that corrosion and crud suggests that this bass has been sitting on a stand or hanging on a wall collecting dust. Which makes a lot of sense since it doesn't even have a gig bag.

Upper Horn Strap Button

Rear End Strap Button

Think I'll take the three-ply pickguard off now and see if there are any surprises lurking underneath. But wait, I can't even unfasten the screws. Guess why? Yes, sir, it's because the slots on all eleven are too corroded for a screwdriver to get a firm grip on. Half-an-hour later, and I've managed to unscrew the lot. There's rust spots and loads of grime on the underside of the pickguard, but nothing a good scrub with soap and water can't take care of.

Eleven Rusty Pickguard Screws

Underside of Pickguard - Image 1

Underside of Pickguard - Image 2

Underside of Pickguard - Image 3

The bridge on this bass is a typical vintage-style with four barrel saddles. There's a nice blanket of cobwebs and dust coating every square inch, so thick that it looks like fur. Let's unscrew the saddles and see if anything needs to be serviced or replaced. Well, I can't say I'm surprised. The intonation screws, springs and height adjustment hex screws are cruddy, discolored, and corroded. It's a wonder I managed to get them off at all.

E and A Saddles

A, D and G Saddles

Saddles, Screws and Springs

Cobwebbed Bridge Plate

Close-Up of Bridge Plate

Rear End of Bridge Plate

Back to the pickguard, then. As expected, electronics comprise nondescript volume and tone mini pots, as well as a generic open frame output jack. The wiring has been duly checked, and found to be sound. This being the case, the root cause of aforementioned output anomaly is definitely the volume pot itself.

Mini Pots and Output Jack

Close-Up of Volume and Tone Pots

Close-Up of Output Jack

The split P-style pickup is most certainly in working order, as can be heard in the video at the beginning of this post. Are there any issues of concern, then? Oh yes, there are. For one, there's the sheer amount of dust and grime coating the covers. Then again, those rusty height adjustment screws and pole pieces cannot be ignored.

Grimy Pickup Cover and Rusty Screw

Rusty Pole Pieces - Upper Pickup

Rusty Pole Pieces - Lower Pickup

Last but not least, something needs to be said about the fretboard and frets. Yes, that's a pretty cruddy slab of wood we're looking at. The tarnished frets, meanwhile, display the typical discoloration brought about by oxidation. If you guessed that whoever used to play this bass never bothered to wipe down the strings and fretboard after use, you're spot on! 

Cruddy Fretboard

Close-Up of Tarnished Frets

        

Partscaster Gets Some Help

Here's a good-looking sunburst Partscaster assembled and refinished by a Adel, a 15-year-old schoolboy from Pekan; Pahang. Pretty impressive work, I must say. Reverse headstock, 25.5" scale, 14" radius dark hardwood fretboard, maple neck, locking tuners, two humbuckers, master volume and tone, vintage six-screw tremolo; what's not to like? 

Quite a lot, it would seem. For one, the guitar was unplayable. The action was way too high, especially at the nut; and the strings could not be intonated based on the 12th fret harmonic. Also, the break angle at the headstock was non-existent due to the straight headstock and lack of string trees. The strings kept popping out of the nut slots as if they had a mind of their own.

Then there was the problem of fitting the pickguard. Trying to position the pickguard as I wanted it could not be done. The pickups could only be adjusted so far sideways or be lowered so much before running into wood. Right away I realized that the pickup cavity not only needed to be widened; but deepened too. Besides this, the three-way switch had been wired "backwards." Selecting the neck humbucker gave you the bridge instead; and vice-versa. The volume and tone controls were working as they should; thankfully. 

To compound the problems already mentioned, I noticed that the high E string was almost falling off the fretboard edge and string/pickup polepiece alignment for both pickups was way off. To remedy the situation, I knew that (i) the bridge would have to be repositioned laterally; and (ii) the neck shifted slightly in its pocket.

And so began the task of getting this Partscaster into playable condition. After taking some measurements, the scale length was determined to be 25.5 inches. Only problem was that the saddles, with about 1/16" of play left; were 25.75" from the nut. So I knew that the bridge would have to be shifted forward until the saddles were at the 25.5" mark.

As for solving the string/fretboard edge and string/polepiece alignment issues, it involved deepening and widening the pickup cavity, lots of measuring and testing with a length of string; as well as a slight neck adjustment. All this meant that the old holes would have to be plugged and leveled; and new ones marked and drilled. Tedious, no doubt; but absolutely necessary.

To provide sufficient downward pressure at the headstock end of the nut, a Floyd Rose-licensed string retainer was added. Besides this, the nut slots were deepened sufficiently; and the whole nut reprofiled afterwards. Before re-assembling the guitar, the "backwards" switch wiring was taken care of.

Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of this job was the request by Adel that the tremolo bridge be immobilized and effectively turned into a "hardtail" or fixed bridge. A man wise beyond his years, Adel be! To this end, two more springs were added for a total of five, the trem claw screwed in nice and tight; and a painstakingly-shaped block of hardwood installed in between the trem block and cavity wall.

Once this Partscaster was reassembled and set up with Ernie Ball Super Slinkys; the time finally came to plug it into my Fender Champion 40 and give it a good workout. I must say the tones that emanated from this guitar were way better than I had anticipated. If you'd like to know what this guitar sounds like, do check out the YouTube video I've uploaded. That's it for this post, and thanks for dropping by :)

Iceman Gets a Bigsby | Part Three

Related Posts  

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

This post is the last of three on a made-in-Korea Ibanez Iceman; more specifically an IC300DM. The guitar was sent in to have a Bigsby B5-style vibrato tailpiece and brass nut installed; and some electronics modifications carried out. 

In Part One, we looked at the features of the guitar as received. Then, in Part Two; all the mods that needed to be done were discussed in some detail. Now, in this post; let's lay back and look at some pics of the finished product. If you're wondering what this Iceman sounds like after all these mods, here's a SoundCloud audio file for your listening pleasure :)

Acknowledgement

BIGSBY is a registered trademark of Fender Musical Instruments Corp (FMIC)

Iceman Gets a Bigsby | Part One

Related Posts  

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

This post is the first of three on a made-in-Korea Ibanez Iceman; more specifically an IC300DM. The guitar was sent in to have a Bigsby B5-style vibrato tailpiece and brass nut installed; and some electronics modifications carried out. 

For starters, the IC300DM features a bound solid wood body and set-in neck. The neck sports a white plastic nut, 24.75" scale bound rosewood fretboard (14" radius), 22 jumbo frets; and whitish dot inlays. The rosewood on this fretboard is so dark and close-grained that it looks like ebony from a distance.

I cannot say much about the original appointments or hardware configuration on this IC300DM as it had been worked on before coming into my shop. There was a freshly-routed round cavity on the butt-end of the body just below the strap button; which I assumed was for a plate-mounted output jack. 

On the back, another round cavity had been routed for a toggle switch, as on a Les Paul; and a cover had been already been installed. I noted that the cavity had not been routed deep enough for a toggle switch to poke through to the front, and besides that; a hole for the toggle switch itself had not been drilled.

The two pickup routs suggested that the body had been designed for two full-sized humbuckers, and these would have been paired with the existing electronics: a three-way toggle switch, plus master volume and tone pots. 

Meanwhile, the presence of string-through holes and bridge post bushings indicated that stringing was through-body; and the bridge most probably of the tune-o-matic variety. That's about it for this post. In the second post of this three-parter, I'll show you what was done to this Ibanez IC300DM Iceman in fulfilment of the owner's wishes.

Acknowledgement

BIGSBY is a registered trademark of Fender Musical Instruments Corp (FMIC)