First mod (P-Bass)

Paul262 · #1 10-11-2009, 02:12 PM

First thread, and I'll get to the point.

Basically, I have a Squier Affinity (bleh) P-Bass which I was given little over a year ago. It was my first bass and the first bass where I truly got my hands on it and changed it so I could play the songs I love in C-Standard.

To move along, I thought of getting rid of it since I bought my shiny '09 4003 Ric, but I just couldn't, however it is still a starter bass so I want to jazz it up a little bit. I thought long and hard on what I'd change, hardware-wise and cosmetically.

So this is what I've come up with:

First off,
- changing the bridge, the original one is abysmal.
- Changing the pickups, I was looking at Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders.
- One tuning peg, the E string peg is a little loose when tuned to C, as in, it turns too easily. (optional)
- Changing the pick guard to classic Fender black.
- Removing the Squier neckplate and replacing it with a plain one, or even better, giving the plain one to an engraver and engraving something cool onto it.
- Spraying the headstock face black.

In essence, making my bass into a Nick Oliveri copy:

I'd love to have the saucy "Q" sticker, but I've looked everywhere for it... No Luck.

I'd LOVE some opinions and discussion on this matter, thanks.

Paul262 · #2 10-11-2009, 02:54 PM

Sorry... But no one out there?

gnasher1993 · #3 10-11-2009, 03:10 PM

Sounds good. The affinity tuners really are terrible, I know.

You should give it the vintage vibe (if that's your thing): tug bar, pickup cover, bridge cover. I think it would look awesome with some pearl inlay stickers and a tort pickguard. Just a few ideas...

Paul262 · #4 10-11-2009, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnasher1993

Sounds good. The affinity tuners really are terrible, I know.

You should give it the vintage vibe (if that's your thing): tug bar, pickup cover, bridge cover. I think it would look awesome with some pearl inlay stickers and a tort pickguard. Just a few ideas...

Thats cool, but I really want to make a Nick Oliveri copy, however, I do want to engrave something on the neckplate... That, I still haven't thought of.

lethargytartare · #5 10-11-2009, 05:44 PM

Honestly, I wouldn't put that much work into an affinity. The neck is terrible, the hardware, as you noticed, is all low-end...basically you're building on a ply body with a flimsy neck and some cheap pots and wire. And you'll never get your money out of it if you decide to sell and upgrade later.

Better options, IMHO: hang out in the classifieds, wait for an SX (which will be cheap and better than an affinity). For the looks, you may still want a badass bridge (or whatever he's using), but the tuners will probably be a bit better, and you may still want a quarter-pounder, but the SX pup will probably be better and may be good enough.

Or, look for parts/project basses others are reselling that have more of the hardware you're after.

Basically I'm not a fan of the affinity as a starting point -- better off selling it, and reinvesting in something with a better neck and going from there.

And I'm not sure how much of a perfectionist you are, but spray painting the headstock might not turn out as nice as you hope unless you go through the whole process of clear coating, sanding, buffing -- you CAN get a great result, but just spray painting will probably leave you disappointed. And will also hurt resale, which, again, matters if you later decide to upgrade.

Don't want to be a downer :-) You can, of course, go with your plan, keep the original parts, and just migrate the upgrades to a new project later, but still sounds like a lot of work that may not give you the most bang for your buck (and labor).

Good luck, man!

ltt

M0ses · #6 10-11-2009, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul262

- Removing the Squier neckplate and replacing it with a plain one, or even better, giving the plain one to an engraver and engraving something cool onto it.

.....

I'd love to have the saucy "Q" sticker, but I've looked everywhere for it... No Luck.

Are we talking the neck plate, as in the thing on the BACK of the bass that hold the neck on? The one the is identical to every other Fender style neck plate?

TOTAL waste of $10. Leave it on there. It doesn't matter if it says Squire on it. It's identical to one that says nothing or says Fender except for visuals.....and no one but you will EVER SEE IT.........

Also, it really shouldn't be too hard or too expensive to get some custom vinyl for this thing. Just show 'em a good picture, it won't be difficult for them. In the tiny little nowhere town that I live in, there are TWO companies that could do this for practically nothing.

gnasher1993 · #7 10-12-2009, 03:33 AM

I think the affinity series is really hit and miss. There's some with good necks, others that are terrible. I picked up a good one thankfully.

Paul262 · #8 10-12-2009, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lethargytartare

Don't want to be a downer :-) You can, of course, go with your plan, keep the original parts, and just migrate the upgrades to a new project later, but still sounds like a lot of work that may not give you the most bang for your buck (and labor).

Good luck, man!

ltt

The thing is that I got this bass for nothing, absolutely 100% free, and even for an affinity, I think the best feature of this bass IS the neck! Seriously, I've done some pretty heavy things to it a noob would do, and it's kept up well. I've configured to suit C-Standard tuning with the heaviest gauge string I could buy.

If I bought a new SX, thats another 100 bucks down the drain, I've got one right here.

As for painting, I'll take the utmost care, I'll do whatever necessary for it to come out nice, after all I have TalkBass to help me :P . It's a small area anyway, so it wont be too labour intensive.

Overall, I can't sell this thing, it's strings are way too thick and no beginner will ever want something like this and I'll get close to nothing anyway.

Thanks for the advice anyway, feel free to add in stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lethargytartare

Are we talking the neck plate, as in the thing on the BACK of the bass that hold the neck on? The one the is identical to every other Fender style neck plate?

TOTAL waste of $10. Leave it on there. It doesn't matter if it says Squire on it. It's identical to one that says nothing or says Fender except for visuals.....and no one but you will EVER SEE IT.........

Also, it really shouldn't be too hard or too expensive to get some custom vinyl for this thing. Just show 'em a good picture, it won't be difficult for them. In the tiny little nowhere town that I live in, there are TWO companies that could do this for practically nothing.
ltt

Yeah, the neckplate, I want to get rid of the Squier anyhow, I thought it would kind of cool to get it engraved with the QOTSA "Q" or something or other.

The vinyl sticker.... Perhaps I'll give that a miss.

AllenBass7 · #9 10-23-2009, 03:46 PM

just take off the neck plate and flip it to the other side....
then u can do what you want with the none engraved side and dont need to buy a new one.
that's what i did.

lethargytartare · #10 10-23-2009, 06:01 PM

I wouldn't flip the neck place since the "right" side should have beveled edges so the bolts are a bit counter sunk -- flipping it would result in the bolt-heads protruding out, which might be a literal pain, and you wouldn't have as much of the bolts in the wood of the neck.

As for buying an SX -- mostly true that it would only make sense if you were able to do fewer upgrades to it (the cost of the saved upgrades ofsetting the cost of the SX). But I was also basing it on my opinion that the SX is going to be a much better foundation (neck and body) -- BUT if you like the affinity neck, rock on!

And on the engraving the neck plate -- normally I'd be in the "waste of money" camp, BUT I did manage to sell a guitar to a guy who admitted that the engraved neck plate caught his eye (in my ads)...so it's got some charm...

Don't forget to post pics as you make this all happen!

ltt

AllenBass7 · #11 10-23-2009, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lethargytartare

I wouldn't flip the neck place since the "right" side should have beveled edges so the bolts are a bit counter sunk -- flipping it would result in the bolt-heads protruding out, which might be a literal pain, and you wouldn't have as much of the bolts in the wood of the neck.

ltt

no actually it works. which is why i said it would. i have a squire affinity p bass.