DIY Modifying refurbishing repairing building of instruments

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I'm about 75% done converting my old P-Bass into a fretless p-bass. I've taken the frets out, sanded, sanded, sanded, sanded, sanded, filled the fret slots with wood filler, sanded a TON, and now I'm waiting for the second coat of epoxy to dry so I can maybe put on another one. So far all is going very well.

Has anybody else here modified/refurbished/repaired/built their own instruments? Or have interest in doing so?





Also, great resource for people interested in DIY guitar/bass stuff http://www.projectguitar.com/

I'm interested in this, and will probably wind up building a guitar at some point. I'd also like to try building a Metroamp clone of a 60's Marshall guitar amp, though I'm more dangerous than useful with a soldering iron. The necessity of avoiding shop charges basically introduced me to working on my guitars, though the only things that I avoid are avoiding the truss rod and working on the nut, as well as the electronics, though I do everything else myself.

Out of curiosity, did the P-Bass that you defretted have a Rosewood or Maple fretboard?

It has a rosewood fretboard. I used "natural" colored wood filler, so the fret lines are kind of an off-white color. I'll post some pictures in about 6 hours or so.

I am really comfortable with working with my truss rod, and my father is a retired electrician who used to wire houses, and did all sorts of other things, so he taught me how to solder and all sorts of other nifty things with electronics. I generally don't even go to guitar shops anymore.

Yes, I modify!

I got a small collection of guitars, mostly Fenders. I have modifed and refined the electronics on all of them. I haven't gotten around to rewinding pickups yet, so for the moment I settle for handwired Seymour Duncan pickups. Preferably "antiquity", if suitable.
Come to think of it, I've also modified all the different tremolo systems on my Fenders....

I got this "ideal" guitar sound in my head, that I'm pursuing. It's my main obsession.

I was interested in it at one point in my life. I built a flat-top mandolin and it's the one that I play now. I was looking into building a carved-top F-style mando from scratch, but I never felt confident enough to attempt it.
Here's the one I built. Except for the tuners, strings, and tailpiece, I made every part of it myself:

I always wanted to put frets on a violin (after trying to teach myself how to play..