Modding Doesn't Make it

[Ric5]

Originally Posted by LikeRaphael

Time and time I've tried and still I don't learn my lesson. It seems like every time I try to make a cheap bass better with better "parts", it just doesn't work.

My latest venture -- I got a Squier CV jazz, which is actually a very nice bass -- nothing wrong with it all. But I thought putting some nordstands in it would make it KILL, since I love the way they sound.

The result....? It sounded better with the stock pu's.

There seems to be something inherent to a guitar. You like what it is, or you don't. Mixing and matching doesn't always add up to an improvement.

I'm not saying changes can't make for a superior instrument. But they always seem to be a gamble -- and one that doesn't work more often than it does.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Actually I am sitting in a basement full of modded, frankensteined, reliced, modified, and otherwise non-stock basses. Pretty much all of my modded basses are better for the mods. When they aren't I mod them again and again until they are ... or I dismantle them for parts for other basses.

Let me give you my history.

As a kid I modded my slot cars and made them faster ... none of my friends wanted to race me because mine were faster. Later in life I created 3rd party add ons for Cad programs to make them do what they didn't do out of the box. I also play in bands as a hobby. I like Rickenbackers and I like 5 string basses so I learned how to mod Rickenbackers to be a 5 string bass, and it got to the point that my modified 5 string Ricks were better than the factory ones. Also I now modify pretty much every bass that I get. That is part of the fun of having basses.

[hdracer]

Originally Posted by OUT51D3R

I must mod a bass to make it mine. Until I do, it just feels like somebody else's bass and I don't really connect with it. Often that means an improvement of some sort, other times it's just a sidegrade.

My usual mod is a set of Dunlop strap locks.
They make all the difference in the world.

Higher highs, booming lows, mids that jump and sustain forever

[Rockin Mike]

I like the necks on Ibanez SR but I don't like the sound of the Ibanez pickups they put on the cheap ones or the Bartolini MK1s they put on the midrange ones (never played one with Nordstrands).

My solution was to buy a cheap Ibanez for $300 and drop in SGD pickups and Aguilar OBP-3 preamp so I have a really nice playing and sounding bass for about $750. Could have been cheaper if I was really bargain hunting.

Does it sound as good as my Spector? No.
Was it $750 well spent? Yup.

[AltGrendel]

I have found that modding a bass will have a very subtle change to the over all sound if the bass. Like putting a high mass bridge on mine. It improved the sustain, but not dramatically. I would describe modding as a "death by inches" type of thing. Fun, but it may not be necessary.

[Rockin Mike]

Modding can have a very significant impact on the tone of a bass.

For example, I tied all my strings in a knot and now I can't get it to intonate properly.

[Electricblue]

I modded my bass around my taste, it's been changed plenty of times. It's had a paint job, Schaller straplocks (not the stupid useless ball-bearing ones), new strings and rewiring. I think that's it.

My Strat is original apart from a block of wood behind the tremolo block. Sounds great

[Dredmahawkus]

Isnt chasing tone why we play this game?

[SquierJazz72]

I don't mod that much, and usually over some time. Both my Squiers are lightly modded, but only with things I felt would make a difference, and only after playing for a while and identifying what I felt the weak points actually were. In the case of my Affinities, usually better pots and caps.
The strat also got better bridge saddles, the Jazz bass will likely get a nicer bridge with brass saddles at some point, and that's it for my "must do" mods.

[VBassRookie]

Modding cheap guitars is fun. I like to do it for better sound and a little bonding time with my instrument. I'm new to basses but have modded "skinny strings" guitars for many many years. Why not by a guitar for a couple hundred and spend another hundred to make it play and sound top notch. I'm not talking about a plywood bodied guitar. You have to start with something halfway decent.

[electracoyote]

Originally Posted by Dredmahawkus

Isnt chasing tone why we play this game?

After my drummer, guitar player, keyboardist, and vocalists take my amazing tone and squash it into the same space and form it would have had regardless?

Not any more.

"Halfway decent" and "amazing" seem to sound about the same in the mix.

[Figjam]

I think modding for appearance or playability is more important than modding for tone on a particular bass. Woods definitely have inherent resonation properties that are the first thing I pay attention to when I play an instrument. If the wood is good, I will spend time tweaking everything else. I really like modding Fenders and Squiers, because the parts are so interchangable. Its almost a micro-genre of art to me; I view every Fender that has been been modified as an expression of individuality within given parameters.

[IronSpatula]

Originally Posted by electracoyote

"Halfway decent" and "amazing" seem to sound about the same in the mix.

Huge +1 to this. In live situations, at least.

In my experience, it seems really easy to pass the point of diminishing returns relative to price when adding premium components to basses. For example I feel putting Ultralite tuners on my Carvin wasn't really worth it. Yeah they're nice, but the stock tuners did the job. In retrospect I wish I would have just saved the cash.

I also have a Yamaha six that I totally frankensteined. I replaced the stock electronics with MM style pickups wired to an Audere 3ZB. Had to do some routing and refinishing to make that happen, which was a lot of work. However in this case I feel the cost and effort was worth it, because it turned out to be exactly what I wanted and at the time, there was no other bass close enough short of a custom. Now if the Bongo 6 had been around at the time, I would have been better off selling my Yamaha and getting one of those. Still a fun experience though.

[awilkie84]

I have a 1996 Fender Precision MIM that I was given for Christmas when I was 14. That bass & I have been around the block. It always played well & sounded ok. As I became more involved with the music scene, I started to develop a taste for specific tone & playing characteristics that my P just didn't have.
I thought about selling it, but the sentimental value is too much.

The first mod I did was to install a Gotoh 201 bridge. I figured it would beef up the sound & sustain. I then pulled out the stock pickup & installed an SD 1/4-pounder & some new 250K CTS pots. I got the sound I was looking for, but it was too boomy with not enough treble.

I then decided that it needed a bridge pickup, so I installed an SD 1/4-pounder jazz bridge pickup (with a terrible route job by the shop technician), a 500K/500K concentric pot with master volume/tone and a blend pot to mix the pickups. I had the shop cut a 1-off pickguard (free of charge) to cover the poor routing job, and put on some chrome knobs. I now HATED this bass. It played well, but it sounded like monkey wank and looked like a custom shop reject. It was probably the switch from 250K to 500K pots that killed the sound, but the pickguard just made it look fat.
I couldn't go back to the stock pickguard, as there would be extra holes in the body and the bridge pickup route would look like ass. My solution? Tear the bass apart, sell off the hardware and electronics, reroute the body for a pickup that will cover the ugly route, and go back to a standard Fender pickguard.

I'm in the middle of stripping the body down to bare wood. I'm then going to route the new pickup cavities (EMG-HZ 35 or 40, depending on which one will cover the bad route), fill ALL the screw holes on the body, sand it smooth and then decide on a finish. If the body looks relatively good nude, I'll do a dark transparent matte finish to cover the filled holes & keep the natural look, while reducing body weight by about 8oz (it currently has about 2mm of paint on it). I'm then going to slap a BWB Fender MIM pickguard on it, 2x 250K concentric pots for the pickups & call it a day! If I have the funds, I might even do a stacked EMG BQC pre-amp and a battery cavity on the back.

Why am I doing this when I could have a great bass for the money invested? I love this bass. It's the reason and means for my learning to play. It's going to be with me for YEARS to come and probably be passed down to my son.

[malthumb]

Originally Posted by nortonrider

If it was "there", why did you sell it?

That doesn't make much sense to me.
Kinda like breaking in a new pair of boots...... as soon as they get comfortable, getting a new pair.

For one thing, it was a project to see if I could build a Fender that performed as well as my Marcus Miller for less than I paid for the MM ($495). I succeeded on the cost end. It sounded good, but still very different than the MM. Sold it to a TBer. He hated it and moved it on, so I don't know if the eventual owner likes it or not.

Lineup at the time.....

• Alembic Series II 5-string
• Alembic Series I 4-string
• Marchlewski 5-string
• Roscoe LG-3005 fretless
• Marcus Miller Sig
• Devon Diamond J 5-string
• Another MIM / Audere that I built and sold
• Franken-P that I built and hated that my youngest son loves and rocks to this day

Something on that list had to go, so since it was redundant with the MM and the Devon, it went. Ironically, both the MM and the Devon are now gone, too.

Here's a pic, with what is now my son's Franken-P.

[bolophonic]

All of my basses are parts basses, so they are all pretty "modded." I just have to roll my eyes when I read threads about people planning out what their basses are going to sound like when they talk about the mods they are about to do.

[NYCbassist]

I only ever Mod the tuners. A good set of Hipshots if needed then it's time to Jam.

[funkingroovin]

Originally Posted by richntiff

To me the only sensible mode are low cost - what's the point of putting $100 pups in a $120 bass? But shielding , changing the nut, etc makes sense.

I did exactly this..picked up a VM jazz for about $100 and installed a set of humbucking Fralins that ran $180. Threw in some full size CTS pots and a threaded barrel bridge for another $40. Did the 'work' and dressed the frets myself...The result was an excellent looking/sounding/playing bass for about $1000 LESS than the 75' reissue it emulates..That's how it makes sense to me.

[Figjam]

Agreed. I dont think weighing the initial value of the bass against the cost of mods makes any sense. A bass, done well, is PRICELESS. Everyone has their justifications and reasoning for decision making, but at the end of the day it is more than okay in my book to spend much more modifying an instrument than it costs, as long as the weakest links of that instrument do not make it a poor instrument in the long run. I think having a bad piece of wood for the neck renders an instrument a poor investment.

Neck good? Body feels solid? Modify away.

[1SHOT1HIT]

Originally Posted by tabdog

The builder of this bass was so disappointed
that he sold it to me, with a case, for $90.
It has solid curly maple body, 5 piece neck
through body and redhart fingerboard.

I pulled it out of the fire and it didn't cost me
a penny. It plays and sounds first rate now.







The case was $120,

Tabdog

I saw you show this in another thread, what was he disappointed about? It looks great.

[tabdog]

Originally Posted by 1SHOT1HIT

I saw you show this in another thread, what was he disappointed about? It looks great.

I'm not 100% sure.

The guy is an instrument builder. He builds
banjos, ukuleles, mandolins and so on.

3 years ago, he decided he wanted to play
electric bass so he built this bass. For some
reason, the neck bent up at the body. I took
all the frets off and ground the fingterboard
until it was strait. Unfortunately, I ground so
much off that I was unable to cut the fret
grooves. That is why I made it fretless.

The fingerboard was flat. No radius at all. I
put about a 12 or 14 inch radius on it.

The tuning machines were installed backwards
and I turned them around.





It only had one volume and one tone control,



I added another volume control.

All I can do is imagine how he gradually
discovered the short comings of the
bass and finally decided to give it up and
play double bass.

So he built his own double bass and sold
me this one.

I didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. so
I can only guess.

Regardless, I feel lucky to be able to own
such a fine bass,

Tabdog