IB-6S Forum special

I picked up the IB-6S Forum special. My second after getting a ST-1 during the sale, which is still being sanded. I figure I should be able to do a passable job at a repair with some patience, gentle clamping and filler.
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What I'm not so sure about is the best way to fix some damage left by Mr Nobody while the body was safely packaged away in my study. Looks like they decided to take a peek and may have dropped it.
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I'm thinking I could try to sand the dent out, sand the damaged veneer flat and paint a faux binding to hide the damaged veneer. The back and sides will be a solid color due to the damage around the jack and on the back which may assist me in fixing the dent slightly. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

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I was planning to try a similar process as kenfu on his LP-1S. Now I'm thinking I'll just clear coat it as the figure looks pretty good and I starting to feel a bit out of my depth with needing to fix the new dent.

To fix the dent...soak/wet the wood around the dent quite extensively with a wet cloth, then apply a (steam) iron to the dented area. Keep checking the dent, keep the wet cloth on the dent and you will find that the fibres will decompress and much of the dent could 'come out'.

On this bass it may be a djent, not a dent :D

Thanks I'll give it a shot

Very much a djent

Much better now. Thanks again Gavin.

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I think I'll try to fill the gaps in the veneer with a bit of timbermate. With it being such a small area hopefully it won't be too noticeable.

This is exactly what you want to do. The timbermate will do the job well. I'd be using the Maple Timbermate.

Decided to see if I could clean up the bridge a bit of a gentle rub with some steel wool.

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Looks a better though the plating/coating looks very thing in places. If the taxman is nice to me this might get replaced.

Maple timbermate is a lot pinker than I expected.
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There seems to be two different colour sets with Timbermate, depending on where you get it from. This chart is a pretty good match for the colour set of the Timbermate that I've purchased over the years.
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The Pine Timbermate from the above set is probably the best match for the natural colour of Maple. I tweak them by mixing Pine and Natural to match basswood etc.

The Timbermate can also be coloured to match whatever stain is being used!

Just wondering is there a preferred layout to the volume and tone controls for basses when 5 knobs are involved. Is it normally like a LP's volume and tone layout with the additional master closest to the nut or do bass players normally go for something different?

You should totally try the chemical wash! If you don't like it, a light rub with some lime and or lemon juice will almost erase it, and I found that it doesn't sink in like a stain. It is scary easy to sand off. I had to touch up many parts when I was sanding... A few too many strokes with even 400 grit tears it right off. I also just used some black and/or brown fountain pen ink to wipe over some spots to even it out. Just do a good final sand and then brush some on and wipe it right off. Repeat until it looks right.

It will *not* do anything to glue. But I found that scratching up the glue with some 150 grit (along the grain) and then adding the ink(s) causes it to look just like the wood. And rubbing problem spots with some 0000 steel wool and putting on some of the wash *without* removing the dust/iron filings will cause some discoloration, but it concentrates in the scratches from the 150 grit. I used that to "age" the binding on the neck and body.
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Worst comes to worst, black burst the edge over the repair!

Hey Seage, the control layout is whatever you want it to be, no hard and fast rules on it! I do prefer LP wiring with the master volume closest to the nut, but whatever you like isnt wrong!

If I could trust myself to get an effect similar to Hutchinson Guitars Viking Explorer or Viking Les Paul edging I would not hesitate to give the chemical wash a go. Given the issues with the back and sides of the body that was always going to get a solid colour, probably bursting slightly over the edge to cover the djent.

I'll give the neck heel a little treatment and see how the neck reacts. If it looks okay I'll do the neck and veneers with the wash and go with black on the back and sides of the body, otherwise it'll probably be a Candy Apple Red on the back and sides and leave the neck and veneer as is.

Once either of those is decided and done I'll give everything a carbothane clear coat.

Though first I really should get the damage to the jack area patched up.

So a quick test after a short soak gave an interesting result
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I'll leave the steel wool soaking and give it another hit tomorrow night.

That neck looks cool. Love the different woods! No matter what this is going to be a sweet build. I was thinking about a bass for my next project, so I'm going to be watching!

Just an FYI, if you leave the wool in the vinegar for more than 48 hours-ish it will start to turn red. A couple days after that something happens and it loses potency and doesn't work as well. Be sure to filter it through a couple coffee filters before putting it on.

So the strained solution was a little darker, though to my eye still a touch blue.

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Think I'll revisit this concept on another project where I'll have more room or some off cuts to experiment with.

I've finally got around to attempting to repair the damage. I can't say 100% happy with it, but if I keep fiddling with it I think I'll mess it up.

Smeared the various shards with PVA and clamped them in place. left it overnight and then filled the holes with bog and started to sand back once set. Then realised that some parts were still low so leveled off with some timber mate. I think I'd go about it differently if had to do it again, in hopes of achieving a cleaner finish especially around the cavity cover route.

Its all smooth to the touch on the faces that will be visible.

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And its finally done apart from tuning, intonation, fret leveling and a broken truss rod cover screw to remove a some point. A multitude of sins committed on this project.

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That looks great! Get some pics in the guitar of the month thread!

Gosh! What a great rescue job; you should be proud

So one of the height adjustment screws on a bridge saddle is stuck fast and my efforts to rectify the issue have pretty much destroyed the screw. EBay seems to be the most likely place to find a suitable replacement bridge saddle, though I'm concerned if they would match the existing 5 saddles. Does anyone have any other ideas of where a black bass bridge saddle that would match the Pitbull bridge could be sourced from?