Almost done modding!

[fourstringbliss]

I bought a very nice MIM fretless Jazz Bass and am just about done modding it. The neck is very nice and the body is light - the whole thing weighs in at just over 9 lbs, but I wanted better hardware, etc.

New stuff:

Audere JZ5D preamp
Hipshot Ultralite tuners
Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pups
Babicz full contact bridge
TI Jazz Flats

Here are some pics from before I started:

I'll post some pics when I'm all finished.

 

[TMBTC]

SWEET...... Can't wait to here some clips

 

[Spleenface92]

Let me know how the babicz works for you. I just got one.

 

[PWRL]

Nice, that sounds like a great project. Good looking bass!

 

[fourstringbliss]

Nice, that sounds like a great project. Good looking bass!

Thanks! I got a real gem in this one. It's a 2002 and was used for about a minute before it was put in a case until I bought it. Not a scratch anywhere except for a couple of dings on the end of the headstock - you know how those happen.

I got it for $420 shipped - pretty good price, I think!

 

[fourstringbliss]

I'll let you know about how the Babiczs works and will post sound clips if I can.

 

[Growly Lytes]

That looks like a very nice modded bass but i thought you would have showed us the internal Pre too ??

 

[ElectraPhoenix]

That looks like a very nice modded bass but i thought you would have showed us the internal Pre too ??

eh, I'm guessing it's just Fender's standard issue 250k CTS pots, nothing special. I'd like to see the pre when it's done though...

 

[biffoweasel]

I like it.

 

[Growly Lytes]

Well i thought he has already put in soething new ??
Audere JZ5D preamp

 

[fourstringbliss]

That looks like a very nice modded bass but i thought you would have showed us the internal Pre too ??

The above pics are the before pics.

Here's the pre I'm installing:
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The bridge:

The tuners:

The pickups:

The pickguard:

 

[Growly Lytes]

WOW Jeez Lou eez !! Thats a very nice set-up your gonna have brother.Hope all turns out fine.
G.L

 

[fourstringbliss]

WOW Jeez Lou eez !! Thats a very nice set-up your gonna have brother.Hope all turns out fine.
G.L

Yeah, I think so. It won't make up for my lousy playing, but the individual notes should sound better.

It might seem silly to put this much money into an MIM Fender. Some would say, "Just take the $850 you've put into it and get a better bass". My take is that it will be exactly the bass I want it to be, rather than me trying to find what I'm looking for.

I might eventually put one of these on there:

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But we'll see.

 

[Reynoldbot]

I'm more than a little afraid of those Babicz bridges.

 

[fourstringbliss]

I'm more than a little afraid of those Babicz bridges.

They do look a little like some killer robot, huh?

 

[Growly Lytes]

Heavy duty bridge i say.Looks solid as.

 

[fourstringbliss]

Heavy duty bridge i say.Looks solid as.

The big deal about this particular bridge is that the saddles have full contact with the baseplate rather than just the two height adjustment screws. Height is adjusted using a set screw at the rear of each saddle. The saddles also lock down with the screw at the front of each. Apparently it translates to more vibration and tonal transfer from strings to the body and to the sound of the bass. We'll see if it really works. I think it looks super cool!

 

[jrojas159]

that is one cool bridge!

 

[fourstringbliss]

that is one cool bridge!

It was $90 shipped. That's about the same price as a Badass 2.

Here's a video about the bridge

here's a video showing how the saddle works.

 

[fourstringbliss]

I also took advantage of Dimarzio's exchange policy. I bought a new set of Area J's and found that they weren't the sound I was looking for on this bridge. I sent them in to Dimarzio and they're going to send me a set of Ultra Jazz pups. Pretty cool, huh?