Ibanez Roadstar II bass rebuild

5redlights

I recently bought a very damaged roadstar II bass as a project to work on over the rest of the year. Most likely going to sand, refill and re-spray the body as the damage is a bit more 'relicing' than I'm happy with. Will need a new pickguard and so on, but nothing I haven't had to sort out before. 

The slightly more daunting issue is the neck. I'd really like to salvage and repair it. Someone at some point took out the frets and tried to convert it to fretless by filling in the slots, but they've also taken small bits of wood out of the fretboard at each fret. 

Also, the truss rod has been taken out and there's a crack along the grain at the back. 

Truss rod turns fine. 

What I'd like some help with understanding is - 

I know truss rods are meant to be a bit bent in the neck, but based on the photos, does this truss rod look ok? Taking it out and replacing seems a bit of a faff (and beyond my expertise). Paying to get it done defeats the purpose of the job, and would end up costing more than a decent quality working Roadstar/Blazer bass. Based on appearance and that it's still turning, is it ok to leave in? 

I assume with the crack, once I've sanded back the neck that I just try to get some glue in to it, and clamp at the same time as doing the skunk stripe? 

What's the best thing to fill in the little chips of the fretboard next to the fret slots (that's not brown woodpaste?). They're not big, so just go with something like 6150 frets and what would be remaining would be pretty minor? 

Does the skunk stripe need to press against the truss rod, or should it leave a gap? The reason I ask is that from what was left of the last one, it's around 4mm deep all along the skunk stripe. I assume it's ok if there's a gap between the truss rod and skunk stripe (as there would be at the heel) 

Ideally I'd like to sand back and oil the neck (was thinking Osmo Polyx oil), rather than spray with a lacquer. Would a spray be a better idea because it would give some extra stability to glueing the crack and skunk stripe? 

WezV

what is the anchor point like on the rod?   the nut should turn fine, but of the rod is turning too you may need to fix it

 if its a single action rod, curved is best, but making them a consistent depth from the back of a tapered neck does work too, which may explain why you have a 4mm fillet all the way along.

the new fillet should press the rod into place, you don't want to leave a gap behind it.  

Maple dust and superglue or epoxy will work as a filler for the fret chips, then hope they are mostly covered by the frets as its hard to get a good colour match on maple

5redlights

WezV said:

what is the anchor point like on the rod?   the nut should turn fine, but of the rod is turning too you may need to fix it

 if its a single action rod, curved is best, but making them a consistent depth from the back of a tapered neck does work too, which may explain why you have a 4mm fillet all the way along.

the new fillet should press the rod into place, you don't want to leave a gap behind it.  

Maple dust and superglue or epoxy will work as a filler for the fret chips, then hope they are mostly covered by the frets as its hard to get a good colour match on maple

Ah good, was hoping for your input! 

Truss rod doesn't move when it's turned (it's single action, adjust at heel). anchor point seems fine then. if the truss rod is curved, would I need to cut the fillet to be curved too? truss rod does push back in middle, but still quite a difference in depth in middle of neck compared to towards heel. 

does it matter if I get glue on the truss rod when putting the skunk stripe fillet in? 

WezV

Match the fillet to the rod, when the rod has no tension on it   Fenders normally have quite a curve, but i'm not sure about these Ibanez necks

avoid getting glue on the threads, or too much on the rod, but a little  won't hurt. 

5redlights

Slow progress. Fret slots cleaned out and managed to find a spare pickguard on ebay (albeit with 3 control holes, so have filled one) 



Based on the damage and condition of the neck, damage to the body and aging of the pickguard, I'm probably going to go down the slightly reliced look for the body. Even with filler the body edges couldn't hide the damage, so should result in a better end result too. Some more spraying to do as finish on the edges is a bit patchy and some of my first attempts with relicing looked too fake. Think i'll just stick to removing finish where there are already dings. 

5redlights

Body finished. 

Truss rod fillet cut to shape (pretty happy with this as just just hand tools). Now I need to shape to fit the curve of the truss rod.