"Spa Day" for new-to-me Orion 5 in Maple

[tomhug]

It's truly a pleasure to work on such a well-engineered and beautiful instrument. This is a 1999.


Had some corrosion/tarnish on the brass. Cleaned up quite nicely.

Before:


After:


I also cleaned and oiled the fretboard and polished the frets with graded emery paper.

There was some residue from adhesive backing on the upper horn so some judicious "goo gone" took care of that.

One weird thing  I found was there was bouncy foam stuffed under the pickups, although the pickups were using the Alembic screw system correctly.


Going to fit this one with slightly higher tension strings, in this case GHS 5M-DYB Bass Boomers, which are 45-130

[David Houck]

   

[edwardofhuncote]

That is a really nice Orion.... seriously sweet flamed maple there.


Congratulations & Compliments. 

[hieronymous]

Great pics and great work! I wish you could clean the brass on my bass!

Maybe the foam was put in to stop rattling? Did you take it out?

[lbpesq]

Nice job, Tom.  And that flame is incredible!

Harry, Flitz and a Dremel.

Bill, tgo

[pauldo]

The before and after shots show your attention to detail.

Nice job!

[FC Bass]

Like² :-)

[tomhug]

Nice job, Tom.  And that flame is incredible!

Harry, Flitz and a Dremel.

Bill, tgo

I do have a Dremel, but this was all fingers, Flitz, and a small firm detailing brush. I think I used a bit of gorgomyte too. I was looking online and they suggested soaking in soapy water, so I tried that first just to see if that got me anywhere. I don't think it did. Elbow grease and Flitz.

I also did the V05 treatment to the bridge parts before reassembling.

[tomhug]

Great pics and great work! I wish you could clean the brass on my bass!

Maybe the foam was put in to stop rattling? Did you take it out?

I did take it out, but I might cut the pieces down a bit and put them back in. There does seems to be tiny bit of play in the pickups when the screws are adjusted, but I haven't been 100% scientific about it. Nearly all of my maintenance takes place in 1 hour bursts in the evening. Last night was strings. Tonight will be neck relief and intonation.

[bigredbass]

'the VO5 treatment' . . . . . I found it really stretches the intervals between putting the brass bits in drydock.

I sometime think Mica and the rest of us should compile a 'Epic Fail' vid (maybe the wrong wording there . . . . ) about all the weird ways people THINK Alembic pickups are mounted.  Foam rubber, really ? ? ?