Great to see that you are playing her out. “Plain Jane” is a great name for a bass—I like it!
I felt in a similar way when Ms. Honey first arrived. She was quite a bit neglected, had obviously not been played much for a long time. But after cleaning up all the brass parts, polishing quite literary everything, replacing many screws, new nut (experimental Tusq at this time to try out a slightly tighter string spacing—works great!), new lighter strings, re-locate the PU selector switch and a thorough and patient setup she is something that would be quite hard to give up again. She goes in to my luthier as soon as he has time for leveling the frets—which are godawful—and a proper adjustable brass nut. Then it will be just a matter of playing her as much as I can….
I am following your progress on the new tuners on your other thread. Keen to hear if she balances better with the lighter tuners.