I just got an old Ibanez ST980 8 string bass for 5 bucks on the side of the road. Why? Because its completely gutted and defretted (amateur job of making it fretless) and was told the neck was warped..I want to make this into a 4 string. Can I put a cheap replacement neck on it? I don't know about scale/ neck pocket.. what can I do about fitting pickups on it? Can I fill in the bridge and just slap a p bass style bridge like my Squire? I want to make it a bass on the cheap!! Any help would be great!! Thanks!!
i have a 79 studio bass body i bought cheap and put a mighty mite neck on it. the neck pockets are going to be different and the bridge position will be different. How many frets does it have? It will probably be a 34" scale. depending on the number of frets you may have to move the bridge. My bass had 24 frets and the replacement neck only has 21 so i had to more the bridge back. you can use any hardware you want. just got to watch the scale length. heres a picture of it. And I am not the biggest fan of mightymite necks. that are not as stable as my other basses. but for the cost its not so bad, i have to keep adjusting the truss rod to keep it right.
Wow! That's awesome..thanks for the reply! My neck has 24 frets..well filled in lines where the frets used to be..so did you fill in the spot where the saddle was? What type of pickup can I fit in the existing cavities? I don't need this to be pretty..thanks again!
no i didnt fill them in the bridge i bought covers them up enough. The only pups that are going to fit without routing will be pups from an ibanez srx or bartolini mk1s. I did research on what would fit and those are the only things that fit. i actually bought a srx300 for 100 bucks on ebay and used the pups and eq from it. and man it is bassy.
Oh cool. I was thinking about getting a cheap used bass for parts. But I just got some pickups free from a friend. They are LP brand..think that is "LANE POOR" brand.. a P- bass type split pickup (P4) and a jazz (JC) I believe they are active..I think I'd need a pre-amp.. Do you know anything about these pups? I'm pretty new to bass gear..anyways..no the body came without any hardware at all..not even the backplates .. I think I want to route out the whole area where the pickups were and make a " swimming pool" cavity. Then I thought I'd put a custom pickguard over it to hold the pups..or like a brass plate..but I don't know where I would find that. I've never done any routing..any suggestions on how to practice? Are routers universal in size?
never heard of those pups, but you can make it a passive bass, just need two volume pots and a tone pot. Do you know anyone with a router that is willing to show you how to use it? its one of those things that is easier to do than to explain(at least for me). practice: on a piece of wood with the same thickness as the bass body. mark your outline then go with it. are there are many sizes of routers.
the parts bass i bought to build my 79 bass played really nice so i bought some pups for it. I did a swimming pool route and made a pickguard for it also. the pups are slanted because the string spacing on the fender pups are larger than the sting spacing of the srx.
swimming pool route and pup mount
finished with pickguard
Wow nice job! Looks like I found the right Guy for advice- thanks..I'm new to the forum so its great. I'm going to practice on a piece of wood Like you said..I think I can rent a router.. routing the neck pocket worries me..I want to put a fender style neck in like you did..
You just got FREE lane poor pickups? Those are some serious pickups man, I wish I was as lucky as you, not to mention you found an old Ibby for 5 bucks
As for the necks you could try and find an Ibanez neck on this or eBay, dont know how common they are though. Post some pictures, without pictures the bass doesnt exist
Ibanez ST-980 8 string 
and was told the neck was warped..I want to make this into a 4 string. Can I put a cheap replacement neck on it? I don't know about scale/ neck pocket.. what can I do about fitting pickups on it? Can I fill in the bridge and just slap a p bass style bridge like my Squire? I want to make it a bass on the cheap!! Any help would be great!! Thanks!!
