Am I foolish for thinking about...

[JW56789]

I think you should do whatever you want. If this is what floats your boat, who are we to say yay or nay ?

As a general rule, I try my best to buy basses with resale in mind, look for deals, etc. I've been at this a long time, and trust me, there's no such thing as a 'lifetime bass': Sooner or later, you WILL get the itch for something else.

So I'd pose a few things you might want to consider:

'I'll have more in the mods than the purchase price of the stock instrument'.
That's fine if the improvements are that useful and that important to you, but . . . . . when you go to sell it, the improvements you made will matter to hardly anyone, and they will expect a sub-$250 (the new purchase price) deal on a used Ibanez TMB35. Good luck finding the 1 or 2 guys in the Continental US that will give you a few more bucks for your mods.

IF you're willing to sell it as a used stock bass, and eat the money you spent on the mods, then this doesn't matter. Do not hold your breath waiting on someone to give you double the original purchase price for the work you did.

For the total spend on this bass + mods (I'm guessing around 600 USD by the time we're all in), WHAT could have you bought for the same money that would have served the same purpose, and probably got a better instrument. 600 bucks buys a lot of bass these days, and there are LOTS of choices at that price point.

Best of Luck,

JW

 

[N4860]

I wouldn't suggest having anyone do mods before you have the bass to play. You should decide to mod it after you play it and decide if you like how it feels and plays, otherwise there may be no point in modding it.

For me personally, the most important part of an instrument is that I enjoy how it feels in my hands. If that is accomplished, most of everything else about it can be modded to get the sound I want. It'll be a lot harder to modify an instrument to suit my preferences for how it feels.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Funny, I was just checking these out last night. I owned a TMB605, and outside of single coil, I loved it. These 32” basses look plenty gig worthy to me out of the box.

 

[jd56hawk]

Have you played one of those basses yet? It might not need all the work.

Definitely swap the strings with something you like though.

Exactly!
Maybe even invest in one of these since it's the same price as a set of strings.
And just in case any of the "Behringer is garbage" people chime in, this thing has over 400 reviews on Amazon and 95% of them are positive.

 

[brianrost]

the 5th string on it is a high C, not what I want

Switch to a BEADG set of strings, tweak the intonation and nut if needed...done.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Why not buy the bass and play it for a while, and THEN decide what upgrades (if any) need to be done? It always seems silly when people are determined to make changes to an instrument they haven't had.

 

[BB Brian]

I have to admit, resale is a consideration I have to keep in mind. I know in my price range I am going to lose money on selling, but some low to mid range instruments at least don't lose as much value as some others. And depending on the instrument, even some value models can actually do okay on the used market. The Matt Freeman Squire comes to mind right away.

So, buy what you want, make it what you want. You seem informed enough to know any mods made won't mean much to the next guy if what you make isn't what you expected. This also leads em to think buying it all and doing it yourself a step at a time makes more sense. If you get the bass stock and decide it needs new pickups, then you can do it. If after that you feel it needs a new bridge to feel and sound better still, do that.

 

[lfmn16]

You're only foolish if you think you're going to get any return on your "upgrades."

 

[mikewalker]

Am I foolish for thinking about buying a cheap bass and doing major upgrades? I'm thinking about getting an Ibanez TMB35 5 string short scale which is only $250 new, then replacing the pickups, strings, and maybe the pots and wiring. Possibly ordering it from Sweetwater and having them put in the parts and do setup. I would have more in custamization than I would in the bass, but I think it would be a 5 string short scale that I would enjoy. There are not a lot of choices for budget 5 string short scales.

Buy it "as nature intended", play it, tweak the setup as needed, (plenty of good info on TalkBass about that!) - then decide if you want to change anything...

 

[N4860]

You're only foolish if you think you're going to get any return on your "upgrades."

That's not always true. If you just put the stock parts back in you should be able to get the same reasonable return for the used equivalent and then just sell the parts off separately for whatever they are worth. Of course you aren't usually going to earn a profit, but at least it's a way to save some money from the modding you may have done (assuming it is just hardware/pickups that are modded and not modifying the wood like re-routing or refinishing).

 

[Crater]

....maybe the pots and wiring.

Don't bother, there's no tone magic or improvement to be gained from replacing passive electronics, so skip that and save your money for something else.

 

[RabidMusic]

Resale is not a consideration. If I am happy with it I would sell off a couple full scale basses. The main reason I consider ordering it with the replacement parts installed is I live in a very rural area. The nearest decent guitar tech is 80 miles away. Still, I did not post this question with the intent of ignoring advice. I may order it with a set of strings and hold off on other modifications. ... Any suggestions for replacement strings for a TMB35? Something that improves the sound, play, and lasts.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Not foolish at all. Great fun and potentially a great bass that will punch far above it's price range.

I did the same with a TMB30. New pickups/electronics, levelled the frets and installed an J-bass pickup cover just for fun (which looks really cool on this bass but I still kinda regret it as I often like to pick/palm mute on short scale basses and that's obviously not possible now...).

I went with a SD SPB-1 (just because I had a spare one) plus that stacked coil SD J-pickup (can't remember the name STK-something...). A split coil like the SD Apollo would probably have been a better choice to be honest but I had never tested a stacked coil J-bass pickup so I wanted to see what everyone dislikes about them, lol. Plus I don't use the J-pickup much anyway.

I also installed a set of LaBella flats.

It's a great little bass now and lots of fun. It's a thump machine!


Three things to be aware of:

If you've never played a Talman the necks (at least on the 4-string TMB30) are a lot chunkier than I would have expected on a short scale. It still feels nice, just something to be aware of if you don't like chunky necks.

The stock pots are some weird value, D400k if I remember correctly (what's a "D" pot anyway???). If you're installing passive J/P pickups you might want to change those pots too. At least if you're going for a vintage Fender vibe. I just re-wired the whole thing.

The fretwork on mine was pretty poor with lots of buzzing. After I levelled the frets I can keep the action so low the strings are practially touching the frets without any buzz but don't expect it to be that great out of the box. It was actually a little bit disappointing for an Ibanez which usually have good to great fretwork IME.

 

[seedokebass]

Exactly!
Maybe even invest in one of these since it's the same price as a set of strings.
And just in case any of the "Behringer is garbage" people chime in, this thing has over 400 reviews on Amazon and 95% of them are positive.
View attachment 3894371

This is also a good tone improvement suggestion. I had one, and if you like the Sansamp BDDI tone this will get you there real quick for a fraction of the cost. It's not for everyone because it has a scooped kind of tone to it (as the original does), but it's a pretty useful sound for recording or live settings in a lot of cases.

 

[Leonid Nidis]

Its hard to say what you gonna get in the end.
I did that to a mex P deluxe and it didnt get much better.
I was thinking of doing what you said but with the TMB30...I saw a video and from the little I heard of the same bass with EMG Geezers it didnt sound upgraded much.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

I'm with the "try it first, it might be fine as is" crowd.

A personal example: I picked up an ibanez gsrm25 (the Mikro-scale 5 string). Same thing, I wanted a SS five, this was the only one I could find, but it was inexpensive (~$200), so I was thinking pickups and tuners would for sure have to be replaced.

But after playing it, recording it, even a/b'ing it with other basses, it seemed there was absolutely no reason to. Or that it might even make it worse. So it became a "don't fix what ain't broke" situation. Only thing it really needed was a fret polish.

I'm constantly amazed by how good the inexpensive stuff is getting. Tis a good time to be a musician!

 

[Gougedeye]

Short answer is yes! My experience is, you can dump a huge batch of coin into a cheap bass and it will still be a cheap bass. Nobody cares about the upgrades and nobody will ever pay for you to recoup your investment. Save your money and have what you want built by a pro!

 

[zubrycky]

I collect basses and I never upgraded them, except in the cases of instruments bought for restoration.

 

[Eilif]

Buy the TBM605 for the same amount of money you are planning to spend (or maybe less). It will be a better instrument overall and no disappointment in a failed experiment.

Ibanez TMB605 5-String Short-Scale Electric Bass Guitar in Natural | Ken Stanton Music | Reverb

I didn't know this bass existed. This is definitely the way I'd go. 600 series Ibanez are quite nice instruments and usually are a step up in quality from the stuff below. At the very least I'd try it out before buying a lesser bass and (likely spending more) to upgrade it. I love the bound and blocked neck also.

Lastly, since you don't have a luthier around, not having to concern yourself with upgrades would be doubly convenient.

 

[WestyBassBob]

I am dubious of my upgrade skills. 10 years ago I bought a set of pickups for a guitar, not realizing that they had to be soldered. The pickups are still in a drawer. I really do need to learn how to solder, but at 60 I'm afraid it may be "old dog, new tricks."

Just go on youtube and watch some videos. It's really not hard.