j45nick Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 A lot of routine oil changes, plugs, & valve adjustments - but we never broke down on the road! Change the oil, file the points and rotor, clean and gap the plugs, tweak the distributor to adjust timing if necessary, and you're good to go. Oh yeah, valves, too. Remember "How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive", by "John Muir"? That was all you needed to do a complete engine overhaul. A friend of mine and I did his VW camper engine on the living room floor, just using that book. With a little practice, you could get an engine in or out in about a half hour, with just two people. Somewhere I still have pictures of that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 Remember "How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive", by "John Muir"? Yes indeed, the VW Bible. Never left home without it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Back to the original question here, I've been doing some thinking, and the answer should be pretty simple. If the neck is mahogany, it is a Hummingbird neck with an L-5 fretboard. If the neck is maple, it's an L-5 neck. Every L-5 I have ever seen has a maple neck. I was also looking at a picture of Roy Clark (RIP, just today) with a mid-60's L-5 CES, which is similar to the vintage of the 'bird in question. Clark's L-5 has the typical L-5 board with the bird's beak and block inlays, plus the flowerpot on the headstock. But it is also a bound headstock, unlike Frankenbird. The bound headstock is typical of every L-5 I have ever seen. If the Frankenbird neck is mahogany, it is almost certainly a 'bird neck with an L-5 fretboard. If it is a five-ply maple neck, it is an L-5 neck. The unbound headstock leads me to believe it is a 'bird neck, without knowing anything about the neck construction. It's still a special 'bird, so the provenance of the neck doesn't matter that much, except for historical accuracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holiday Hoser Posted November 16, 2018 Author Share Posted November 16, 2018 Back to the original question here, I've been doing some thinking, and the answer should be pretty simple. If the neck is mahogany, it is a Hummingbird neck with an L-5 fretboard. If the neck is maple, it's an L-5 neck. Every L-5 I have ever seen has a maple neck. I was also looking at a picture of Roy Clark (RIP, just today) with a mid-60's L-5 CES, which is similar to the vintage of the 'bird in question. Clark's L-5 has the typical L-5 board with the bird's beak and block inlays, plus the flowerpot on the headstock. But it is also a bound headstock, unlike Frankenbird. The bound headstock is typical of every L-5 I have ever seen. If the Frankenbird neck is mahogany, it is almost certainly a 'bird neck with an L-5 fretboard. If it is a five-ply maple neck, it is an L-5 neck. The unbound headstock leads me to believe it is a 'bird neck, without knowing anything about the neck construction. It's still a special 'bird, so the provenance of the neck doesn't matter that much, except for historical accuracy. Board is rosewood I believe. and the neck ???? Holidy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Board is rosewood I believe. and the neck ???? Holidy It's not the fretboard that we're talking about, it's construction of the neck itself. Look at the back of the neck and see if it's five piece (laminated) maple, or one-piece mahogany. If it's painted over, you may not be able to see the wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Just another thought: On a mid '60s L-5 or L-5ces, along with having a 5-piece maple neck (as shown in Dave's second photo), the stock fingerboard would be ebony. If Frankenbird's fingerboard is rosewood, this additionally moves it more towards a custom-spec neck, rather than a transplanted L-5 neck. But we already can see that in the photo from Norman's, it's described as having an "L-5 fingerboard," and it does indeed look like only the fingerboard (whether rosewood or ebony) has L-5 appointments, as opposed to the headstock. Edit: Btw HH, if your neck is completely black & the wood grain/color is not visible, sometimes the truss rod cavity under the TRC will show some of the natural wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 FWIW The 1st photo is from a newer L5 The 2nd photo is from an older Super 400 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 1968 VW Beetle in my case (or lack of case). My favorite year for Bugs was 1966. Just needed to convert them to 12 volt. My last VW was a Bus. I finally had had enough of crawling in from the back on those I had owned so went for a '71 with the hatch. I threw in a '73 engine which I converted from fuel ejection to a dual carburetor with a remote mounted fuel pump. I ran that thing well into the 2000s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holiday Hoser Posted November 16, 2018 Author Share Posted November 16, 2018 It's not the fretboard that we're talking about, it's construction of the neck itself. Look at the back of the neck and see if it's five piece (laminated) maple, or one-piece mahogany. If it's painted over, you may not be able to see the wood. Mahogany it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Mahogany it is. So it's a Hummingbird with an L-5 fretboard. Still a one-of-a-kind, any way you look at it. And pretty damn cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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