Essex Bass Club - Part 14

[dabbler]

Originally Posted by fourstringbliss

...
If you get the J you could wire it up with a seriesy/parallel switch. J pups in series with each other are bassier, more mid forward, and lighter in treble than when they are in parallel with each other. Best of both worlds.

^ This.

[jondog]

Check this out.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gypsy-Rose-S...item27ce4e6b61

Old headstock, mactching paint . . . He says it's new, but Rondo is the only US distributor, right?

Too bad I only play 5 strings. Also too bad I like purple. Torn, like an old sweater!

[eli]

Originally Posted by jondog

Check this out.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gypsy-Rose-S...item27ce4e6b61

Old headstock, mactching paint . . . He says it's new, but Rondo is the only US distributor, right?

Too bad I only play 5 strings. Also too bad I like purple. Torn, like an old sweater!

Is that just camera distortion, or is that actually a white/pink/white pickguard? May be one of the coolest ideas ever...

[jasonbraatz]

Finished up my PJ




I still need to take down four or five high frets and give it a good setup, but it has exactly the vibe I was going for with the LaBella's on it. Dig it.

[dave64o]

That looks really nice!

I wish I could have found a bound/blocked neck when I Frankensteined my burst/tort SX. I might have to just spend the $7 for inlay stickers for mine to get mine closer to that look.

[jasonbraatz]

I totally ripped off the 2011 Closet Classic P-Bass Pro, but whatever. Eventually I'll find one of those for sale at a reasonable price, get a Valenti or build a Warmoth, but for now the SX will do the trick.

The binding on the SX is gross, the inlays are misshapen, the frets are terrible, there's hardly any paint underneath the pickguard, the routes look like they were done by an axe, the fingerboard took four applications of Formby's to not be dry as a bone...and even with all that I'm pretty darn pleased. It's a "5-foot" bass visually but it plays and sounds just like it should.

[Hobobob74]

I'm sure this has been covered, but do stock fender pickups drop right into these? Like not a funky size or nothing, right?

[jasonbraatz]

With enough Dremel, anything is possible.

(They should. The five string J basses use weird size pickups, but most everything else is Fender-spec and the routes are normally much bigger than they need to be.)

[Scott in Dallas]

Originally Posted by Hobobob74

I'm sure this has been covered, but do stock fender pickups drop right into these? Like not a funky size or nothing, right?

I have a Fender Original '62 in my SX, and there's a bit of a gap in the pickguard. I never really bothered to figure out the difference in dimensions. In short: yes, they fit. If memory serves, the chamber routed into the body is pretty large as well.

[dave64o]

Originally Posted by jasonbraatz

...
[The binding on the SX is gross, the inlays are misshapen, the frets are terrible, there's hardly any paint underneath the pickguard, the routes look like they were done by an axe, the fingerboard took four applications of Formby's to not be dry as a bone...and even with all that I'm pretty darn pleased. It's a "5-foot" bass visually but it plays and sounds just like it should.

Ha! Maybe I not missing out on anything by getting a basic (no binding, no blocks) neck after all.

But, then again, my bass is a kind of a five-footer, too. The pieces in the body don't match up at all so they're very evident, even from way beyond five feet away. That's the major visible "problem". Also, the bridge I used didn't match the original so a couple of the original holes are visible. But like yours, it plays and sounds fantastic so I don't mind. It's not like I was modifying a vintage or a boutique bass. For me, modding it so extensively was both a learning experience and also just simply a fun project. I had NO illusions of it bring a cost effective project. From that point if view, it was a huge waste of money.

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by dave64o

From that point if view, it was a huge waste of money.

Boy howdy, you're not kidding! I just defretted an SX J neck and coated it with epoxy only to discover that I'm probably never going to be a fretless player. A lot of time and money wasted, but I enjoyed the project.

[BillyB_from_LZ]

Originally Posted by fourstringbliss

Boy howdy, you're not kidding! I just defretted an SX J neck and coated it with epoxy only to discover that I'm probably never going to be a fretless player. A lot of time and money wasted, but I enjoyed the project.

Don't give up yet! It's all about attitude!

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by BillyB_from_LZ

Don't give up yet! It's all about attitude!

Bah. I have too much on my plate to try and scale the fretless mountain. I'm barely adequate on fretted as is! I'm going to sell the neck and put a fretted neck on there. I might try fretless sometime down the line.

[ibateur]

why not saw the slots back and refret as a next project?

[jasonbraatz]

The only thing I'm bummed about is that I had to modify the tort pickguard a bit to get it over the pickups (the P pickup is spread out about 1/8" wider than a fender route) so I wouldn't be able to transfer it over if I built a Warmoth.

I just don't get it. I understand how routing a big hole underneath the pickguard instead of following the pickup exactly would save production time, but what on earth is the point of making the pickup route in the stock pickguard non-standard?

Originally Posted by dave64o

Ha! Maybe I not missing out on anything by getting a basic (no binding, no blocks) neck after all.

The blocks & binding still look cool as heck (especially on a P-bass) until you get close up.

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by ibateur

why not saw the slots back and refret as a next project?

I could do that, but there's a layer of epoxy on the board and my wife wouldn't stand another project right now. I spent too much time doing the fretless conversion as is.

I just bought this neck on Ebay as a replacement and then I'll sell the fretless one.




Dimensions wise it looks like it'll work just fine and it has a nice thick rosewood board on it. I'll sand off the headstock decal and refinish with some lacquer.

Eventually I'll replace the pups with some Dimarzio Model J's or some SGD Neo's for a different sound than my other SX J.

[dave64o]

Originally Posted by fourstringbliss

Bah. I have too much on my plate to try and scale the fretless mountain. I'm barely adequate on fretted as is! I'm going to sell the neck and put a fretted neck on there. I might try fretless sometime down the line.

That's exactly the reason mine became a project bass. It was originally fretless and I concluded exactly the same thing - I'd be way better off trying to first become competent on fretted.

I figured I'd net very little if I sold it, after factoring in the cost if packing and shipping, so I slowly starting buying used parts until I had enough to do the job. The only original parts are the neck plate and the body wood itself. Literally everything else was replaced, almost entirely with used parts I bought on TB.

I've posted it before, but why not post another pic of the finished product?

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by dave64o

That's exactly the reason mine became a project bass. It was originally fretless and I concluded exactly the same thing - I'd be way better off trying to first become competent on fretted.

I figured I'd net very little if I sold it, after factoring in the cost if packing and shipping, so I slowly starting buying used parts until I had enough to do the job. The only original parts are the neck plate and the body wood itself. Literally everything else was replaced, almost entirely with used parts I bought on TB.

I've posted it before, but why not post another pic of the finished product?

Attachment 309085

I'm lucky in that the parts I do have are good so I just need to replace the neck. I figure I should be able to get $60 for it (shipped) 'cause it's a really nice one-piece Canadian Maple neck and I think I did a good job on the epoxy job. I used a radiused sanding block and sanded it from 80 grit through 2400 grit (finishing 400 grit - 2400 grit wetsanding with micro mesh pads).

I'll post it in the classifieds here before moving it over to Ebay.

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by fourstringbliss

Boy howdy, you're not kidding! I just defretted an SX J neck and coated it with epoxy only to discover that I'm probably never going to be a fretless player. A lot of time and money wasted, but I enjoyed the project.

Hardly wasted. One whole purpose of an SX is "bass lessons" on the cheap. If you want to know what is it about fretless? The best way is to get one and live with it for a while and find out. SX is the perfect low cost way to do that. So if you found out fretless isn't for you, that certainly wasn't wasted time and money. Believe me, you can waste a LOT more time and money finding out fretless isn't for you! That's why I got my SX 6ers. I always wondered if there was anything to a classic Fender-style passive version jazz in a 6 string. Three SX 6ers later I have the answer: yes. I can move up to Steve Bailey or Low End later...

But that said, I'll also say to give it a rest for a while. When I first got my fretless Alembic Epic 6 it was WAY too much bass for me. I always felt that it was playing me and not the other way round. I'd say it took at LEAST three years until I started to feel like I was playing it. Sometimes it just takes some time for the whole fretless thing to soak into your skull.

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by bassbenj

Hardly wasted. One whole purpose of an SX is "bass lessons" on the cheap. If you want to know what is it about fretless? The best way is to get one and live with it for a while and find out. SX is the perfect low cost way to do that. So if you found out fretless isn't for you, that certainly wasn't wasted time and money. Believe me, you can waste a LOT more time and money finding out fretless isn't for you! That's why I got my SX 6ers. I always wondered if there was anything to a classic Fender-style passive version jazz in a 6 string. Three SX 6ers later I have the answer: yes. I can move up to Steve Bailey or Low End later...

But that said, I'll also say to give it a rest for a while. When I first got my fretless Alembic Epic 6 it was WAY too much bass for me. I always felt that it was playing me and not the other way round. I'd say it took at LEAST three years until I started to feel like I was playing it. Sometimes it just takes some time for the whole fretless thing to soak into your skull.

I'm definitely going to sell the neck and make this one a fretted, but I'll be back to fretless someday. I need to focus on fretted first and get that down.