Assembling your own basses vs buying production basses vs modding

[SactoBass]

I've gotten into playing 30" scale exclusively due to physical needs. I have a stagg bass that I modded a good bit that is my favorite player. I also built two basses with necks from Eden Guitars ( no connection, just like the necks I have bought ), cut/modified and finished the bodies myself. I am interested in an Ibanez TMB30 that I would most likely change the tuners ( hipshot ultralite ) and pickups on ( bartolini or dimarzio or ?? ). Nothing here is high dollar, but I seem to end up with about $380 to $450 into each bass when it's all over. Think I am done building/modding basses for now ( unless I get that Ibby ).

+1

It's all about what works best for *YOU*!

 

[BD Jones]

Nearly all of my basses have been stock. I've only modded a few (from changing PUs to refinishing and de-fretting). But my next bass is going to be assembled with a Warmoth body and neck simply because no one else makes what I want (short scale P-bass with a chambered body). If someone made that for less than what Warmoth would cost I would get it in a heartbeat. Sometimes what you want just doesn't exist off the rack.

 

[cholyoke]

I too like the P with Jazz neck, made the white/black bass below, then used its original neck to make a five string and am about done with a fretless P w/Jazz neck (maple fingerboard). The jazz I own, a Squier Classic Vibe 60's now has super 55 pickups. The original ones were fine, but I can't leave well enough alone. I'd love to be able to get what I want from Fender, but it is fun to put these together.

 

[SactoBass]

Nearly all of my basses have been stock. I've only modded a few (from changing PUs to refinishing and de-fretting). But my next bass is going to be assembled with a Warmoth body and neck simply because no one else makes what I want (short scale P-bass with a chambered body). If someone made that for less than what Warmoth would cost I would get it in a heartbeat. Sometimes what you want just doesn't exist off the rack.

Precisely! I'm all in favor of getting exactly what ya want!

 

[SactoBass]

I too like the P with Jazz neck, made the white/black bass below, then used its original neck to make a five string and am about done with a fretless P w/Jazz neck (maple fingerboard). The jazz I own, a Squier Classic Vibe 60's now has super 55 pickups. The original ones were fine, but I can't leave well enough alone. I'd love to be able to get what I want from Fender, but it is fun to put these together.

View attachment 3647735

Those basses are saWEET! And yes, it is indeed fun to put them together!

 

[Herrick]

Yes, it's one the things I like best about Talkbass!

To be honest, I started this thread because I was curious to find out how many TB'ers have discovered the pleasure and satisfaction of either assembling their own basses, or modding production basses, to suit their individual preferences. Based on the responses so far, and the poll results, it appears to me that a significant percentage of TB'ers prefer to expand beyond stock production basses.

I'm really surprised to see the number of people here who leave their stuff stock. If anything, I thought we would be a very small percentage.

 

[Charlzm]

I have a little bit of everything in my stable right now.

• Fender Geddy Lee Jazz Bass CIJ - bone stock
• Rickenbacker 4003 - stock except for cavity shielding and RWRP pickup wiring mod
• Warwick Katana NT (made in germany) - stock (with some factory options)
• Kiesel Icon 5 - ordered with options, then modified to fretless
• Dingwall Afterburner 1 - stock except for Nordstrand pickups I had installed
• Dingwall Combustion - upgraded tuners, upgraded monorail bridges, Nordstrand pickups installed, custom pickguard
• Warmoth Z Bass - Warmoth Z Bass body, Warmoth Superbass neck, Nordstrand P/J pickups, BadAss II bridge, Hipshot D-tuner, Hipshot Ultralite tuners (final parts cost was about $1850, so it wasn't exactly cost-effective)

My favorite 4 string is the Warmoth, without a doubt, so I'd consider it money well-spent; it's the best-playing and best-sounding 4 string bass I have ever had.

My favorite 5 string is the Afterburner because it just sounds so godly, thanks to the Nordstrand Big Splits.

So... yeah, I think I'm at a point now where I know what I want well enough to not be buying any more stock basses. Unless one comes along that has exactly the options I want.

 

[Charlzm]

I'm really surprised to see the number of people here who leave their stuff stock. If anything, I thought we would be a very small percentage.

I was under the impression that most people on TB played stock Fender Precision Basses with tort pickguards strung with flats through Fender Rumbles?

 

[BAG]

Quite soon after switching from guitar to bass around 6 or so years ago I discovered that I prefer Jazz sized necks. I was lucky enough to pick up a fretless and fretted Jazz sized Warmoth necks. I don't think i'll ever part with them. The fretted Pbass is my No.1 and it will take something special to change that. The fretless neck is just so nice but i'm yet to find a body/pickup combination that I really like. Maybe i'm just a Pbass person. Both of these necks as so slim and narrow it is simply amazing how stable they are.

Will I throw together any more parts basses? Maybe if I score a great deal on another good neck some time. I'd love to put together a Cabronita style bass.

View attachment 3647481

Those basses are saWEET! Love the reverse headstock!

Forgot to mention that those two basses in total cost me approx $1400 Aussie Dollars (under $1000 US)

The necks I like cost $400 or so from Warmoth. The only bass I’ve ever seen with a semi comparable (not quite equal) neck cost $3000.

I picked up both my Warmoth's second hand and then had work done to them. For the fretless it was a complete makeover costing $500. For the fretted it was $250 to get the edges rolled to make it feel more like the fretless. Considering each neck cost around $100 the total of $950 might sound expensive but to replace these necks would cost me around $650 or more EACH delivered to NZ. And then i'd still probably want the edges rolled as I found them quite sharp.

Like you, the only time I've played a neck that even get's close to being as good is in the above $3000 region. Even a lot of them aren't as good.

 

[Ryan L.]

The biggest mods I’ve done are pickup/preamp swaps. Currently, one of my American Elite Jazz V’s is stock, while the other one has been modded with Aguilar 5j-70’s single coils and an Audere 4 band pre.

There’s a very big chance I’m going to do a Warmoth build very soon, though. I want a 5 string Jazz with an unlined fretless board. Fender doesn’t make anything of the sort. So building exactly what I want seems to be my best option.

 

[cordsonbass]

I have a Peavy Cirrus 5 string and Squier Deluxe 4 string jaz bass. Both play excellent

Ive always wanted to build my very own bass, but I didnt want to get a kit because that would limit my options. This past year i was talking with my friend about it (i told him I was gonna buy parts off of Warmoth, but he said he'll build it for me from stratch.

Hes a carpenter and always wanted to do something challenging. Plus I'm always helping out other people so he wanted to do this as a favor for me

I ordered the hardware after researching what I wanted in my bass (pickups, preamp, neck, etc) and my friend gave me the money to get what I needed

It took us exactly 6 months (March 16 through Sept 16)

It feels great to play, and sounds excellent

I took it to a gig where there was another band playing and the bass playe said they loved the look of it and couldn't believe it was built from scratch

Altogether the project cost me $800, but the bass came out perfect in the end

I LOVE it!!!

 

[micguy]

I picked up both my Warmoth's second hand and then had work done to them. For the fretless it was a complete makeover costing $500. For the fretted it was $250 to get the edges rolled to make it feel more like the fretless. Considering each neck cost around $100 the total of $950 might sound expensive but to replace these necks would cost me around $650 or more EACH delivered to NZ. And then i'd still probably want the edges rolled as I found them quite sharp.

If someone sold you a neck with sharp edges, it wasn’t a Warmoth

 

[cholyoke]

Those basses are saWEET! And yes, it is indeed fun to put them together!

Thank you. The nice part about this hobby is that most of the mixing and matching of parts can be done with a screwdriver and soldering iron.

 

[bobdabilder]

Nice rack.

Hey there TB'ers!

I've been playing bass since 1972, and for most of those years, I always bought production basses and left them stock for the most part. I've mostly owned Fenders and Rickenbackers over the years, including a few Fender Custom Shops.

For most of those years, it never dawned on me to assemble my own basses. For some reason, my brain was programmed to think that buying production basses was the only viable option (for me, anyway).

A few years ago, I reached a point where I wasn't quite satisfied with production basses, primarily because none of them had the exact components that I wanted. Since resale value is of zero interest or concern to me at this point in my life (a 63 year old retired civil engineer), and because I love to tinker at home putting things together, I made the decision a couple of years ago to start assembling my own basses using the exact components that I wanted. (Btw, I'm not talented enough to cut my own wood for bass bodies and necks, so I bought bass bodies and necks.) What I ended up with is a set of basses that I absolutely love! I am so pleased with the decision that I made to assemble my own basses because I now have exactly what I want.

Now, I realize that assembling basses is not what everyone wants to do. We all like different things, which is the way it should be. But for me (and I'm only talking about *ME* here), the preference that I held for decades of buying production basses changed to a preference for assembling my own basses using the exact components that I wanted. Since I experienced this "shift" in preference (which honestly caught me by surprise), and the end result was a very high level of happiness and satisfaction (for me), I was wondering, do any of my fellow and/or fellowette TB'ers have a preference of buying production basses vs assembling them? (That is the original reason I started this thread....to ask TB'ers that question.)

Of course, in between those two options would be to take a production bass, and perform whatever mods you wish. That is indeed what I did with my Ric 4003S shown in the middle of the pic below. That is the only production bass that I own. All I did there is swap out the stock neck pickup for a Nordenbacker. The other four Fender basses shown in the pic (two J's on the left and two P's on the right) were assembled by me using high end components of my choice (eg, USA Fender necks with 1.5" nut width, Lollar pickups, Hipshot Kickass bridges, Fender Deluxe Schaller Lite tuners, either USACG or Warmoth bodies, top shelf wiring harnesses/pots including a series/parallel switch on one of the J's, and in the case of the bass on the right, custom paint by Guitarpaintguys). Each of the Fender basses ended up costing me around $1400 to $1500 in components. IMO, they are better (for me) than the $3000 Custom Shop Fenders that I owned in the past because these basses have the exact components that I want (plus they were assembled by a really nice guy! )

Now that I think about it as I'm typing this, I think I will create a poll to gauge what TB'ers prefer!

Please vote, and also please post explaining why you voted the way you did. Bass pics are also encouraged!

EDIT1: see my post #29 for parts sourcing info!

EDIT2: see my post #46 for info on the 5-space rack.

View attachment 3647177

 

[MegaSwing]

I tweak them until I love them. Even with the finest components, they don’t always come together with nothing left to be desired. It’s a very organic process. By now, the basses I have all have been tweaked and distilled to a place where I couldn’t easily part with any of them.

However, I do keep an all-stock MIA Precision and a near all-stock MIA Jazz (body and neck from different years) just to maintain reference points. They’re both very nice, but not what I’d call perfect.

I think it’s easier to get exactly what you want by modding and swapping out components than by finding the ideal one off the rack. The results can be surprising.

I appreciate the Fender standard for this reason. The new and used aftermarkets are vast. There’s almost no way to try everything that’s out there.

 

[detracti]

There's just something about custom pre-'57 P'basses.. They be like hotrods. The body for my next build ... and an action shot:

 

[JRA]

do any of my fellow and/or fellowette TB'ers have a preference of buying production basses vs assembling them? (That is the original reason I started this thread....to ask TB'ers that question.)

i haven't played a production bass for decades (3+?) --- i discovered then that i could never have what i wanted even if i spent tons on a custom build. if i don't assemble and/or mod myself = it will be someone else's interpretation of what i want. my axes are for me. resale value is a goofy consideration if you need alterations to an instrument to make it perfect for yourself.

There are SO many different components available nowdays, it's not hard to buy everything to your own tastes/needs and assemble something exactly like you want.

You could spend a ton of money putting together a Warmoth bass and then find its practically worthless when you try to sell it.

big whup on the resale thing, see above.

some of you cats should check out the modding and re-assembling on the glarry cheapies as platforms:
Official Exquisite/Glarry/Burning Fire Bass Club?
the players in the glarry club are doing some serious, but fun, modding!

here's my last project --- it's a perfect 'P' from new parts i scouted...it weighs less than 6 pounds:

and here is the same ax with a ramp i just installed:


i've been doing this for years and i'm very 'vocal' about it (advocating the notion that no one should play an instrument that isn't perfect for them). i make an instrument play perfectly for me, or it's useless. what it's worth to others after my 'work' is not a consideration, ever. if they look good, that's cool. but they have to play as 'priceless'!

i agree with KBD: it's all about the neck, first. and then for me: balance and weight.

(some nice axes on this thread!)

 

[mongo2]

My answer to the poll is...

Yes.

Except for that carrot thing.

 

[RBrownBass]

I like solid production basses and custom-made parts basses. My G&L L-2000 is my Swiss army knife, while my J build fills that "need" for a Fender bass. I'm quite satisfied with what I have.

View attachment 3647294

Career Girl! Props! '74 RI body?

 

[SactoBass]

I'm really surprised to see the number of people here who leave their stuff stock. If anything, I thought we would be a very small percentage.

Indeed! You are in good company!