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Bass Mods and Improvements
- Thread starter CheshireCatFun1
- Start date
It just really, really depends what you're after.
I find that by a huge degree, it starts with the pickups. You can worry yourself crazy with this or that wood for tone, how much of a mechanical marvel of a bridge you want, your preferred nut material, all the other individual features . . . . which I find are sonically 'seasoning' the overall tone, but rarely make a night and day difference as will the pickups/electronics selection.
Are you after something really radical? A classic design with smart-er features? Something no one's seen before? You have to have an idea of where you want to end up to inform what it's going to take to get there.
And none of us have any clue what you're after. We can spit out all kinds of suggestions from all over the map, but what . . . . do you want this new axe to be or do?
I find that by a huge degree, it starts with the pickups. You can worry yourself crazy with this or that wood for tone, how much of a mechanical marvel of a bridge you want, your preferred nut material, all the other individual features . . . . which I find are sonically 'seasoning' the overall tone, but rarely make a night and day difference as will the pickups/electronics selection.
Are you after something really radical? A classic design with smart-er features? Something no one's seen before? You have to have an idea of where you want to end up to inform what it's going to take to get there.
And none of us have any clue what you're after. We can spit out all kinds of suggestions from all over the map, but what . . . . do you want this new axe to be or do?
Mods are a blast. My favorite one recently was making this Guild Starfire 1 into an actual Guild.
It came stock with a precision type pickup, which I found idiotic. They don’t offer Bi-Sonic pickups in the lefty models so I got a Novak BS-DS all up in it instead. I actually posted about this in another thread today. Anyway:
It came stock with a precision type pickup, which I found idiotic. They don’t offer Bi-Sonic pickups in the lefty models so I got a Novak BS-DS all up in it instead. I actually posted about this in another thread today. Anyway:
That's strange to me, because a Precision in James Jamerson's hands sounds way different than a Precision in Steve Harris's hands.
Best mod I ever did was a Jazz neck on my p bass. Just suits me perfectly. This ergonomic mod was a bigger payoff than any electronics or hardware swap I’ve done.
Besides the obvious…bridge, pickups, tuning keys….This is a great mod that often gets overlooked. A locking output jack.
I had the bridge on my Ric 4001 replaced with a BadassII because Geddy told me.I'm working on a pretty extensive bass project and I was curious. What are some of the best bass mods you've seen in a bass?
Whether it's active or passive electronics, specifically what, and why; bridge options; a certain kind of modified nut; an all access neck joint; the uses of piezo; various EQ options, vs only a tone control, vs any tone control at all; and so on, what are the best mods that you've seen. To give you an idea, the platform I'm basing this off of is a P-Bass, with particular attention to what Billy Sheehan and Cliff Burton did, so mods starting off with, say "using a neck-thru" and whatnot, while definitely worth mentioning, might not be directly applicable. Still, all mods are welcome.
Also, this thread is for education and fun, along with being directly applicable to a specific project I'm working on, so please, no responses about "the sound is in your hands" or "Jaco only used four strings" or "Jaco only used a plain Jazz Bass, so why bother" and so on. This is meant to explore different options and see how creative we can get, along with some really practical stuff as well, so that sort of response would be like observing that "Well, Ringo, Charlie, and Bonzo only used a four piece" on a thread exploring Neil Peart's or Terry Bozzio's kits on a drum forum. Let's just have fun talking about our favorite mods.
Also, this is a new account because I can't log into my old account. For whatever reason, the password reset function won't work, and I've tried repeatedly.If anyone knows how to get that working, please let me know.
Chesh
Over this Christmas break I'm going to replace the nut on my 85' roadstar for BEAD tuning and work on leveling the frets.
In my hands, it sounds more like a Fender with a bent plate bridge and threaded saddles. I'm not saying a high-mass bridge is "wrong". It's just not as good to me.
I used to think modding was super cool and I've done a fair bit of it myself. Heck, both of my basses have aftermarket pickups.
But it's not the end all be all either. The one bass I bought used with the pickups installed already.
The other one I've used for about a decade and was wondering what would happen for so long that when I came across a set of pickups for a decent price I decided why not. You know what the result was? The new pickups make my bass sound like a bass... But slightly different sometimes. So I'll change them back at some point.
But yeah, new tuners are great if the current ones don't work well, replace pots when they're scratchy and stuff, replace the bridge if you want - but I'd put good money into a great setup before putting money into most anything else at this point.
But it's not the end all be all either. The one bass I bought used with the pickups installed already.
The other one I've used for about a decade and was wondering what would happen for so long that when I came across a set of pickups for a decent price I decided why not. You know what the result was? The new pickups make my bass sound like a bass... But slightly different sometimes. So I'll change them back at some point.
But yeah, new tuners are great if the current ones don't work well, replace pots when they're scratchy and stuff, replace the bridge if you want - but I'd put good money into a great setup before putting money into most anything else at this point.
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Also, this is a new account because I can't log into my old account. For whatever reason, the password reset function won't work, and I've tried repeatedly.
Send a private message to one of the administrators. They’ll get it straightened out.
I've seen Babicz bridges mentioned a couple times, and I too have found those to be great mods for achieving a more solid and present tone and feel (feel is important too, imo 
). A "night and day" difference? Pretty nearly ... quite noticeable at the very least. Pickups and tuners (lightweight) are standard sorts of mods, for good reason - they make a difference. Those three would be my first call options.
). A "night and day" difference? Pretty nearly ... quite noticeable at the very least. Pickups and tuners (lightweight) are standard sorts of mods, for good reason - they make a difference. Those three would be my first call options.
Right now, I'm doing strictly cosmetic improvements.
I added an ashtray and pickup cover to my Player P and there are two white Pearloid pickguards on the way for the Brothers Fender. I was going to do Tort for the Precision, but what came was so hideously ugly that I am reluctant to try Tort again.
Here is the offensive PG in question:
The top layer wasn't pixillated, but was definitely low-res and looked like BBQ sauce with mustard drizzled on it.
I added an ashtray and pickup cover to my Player P and there are two white Pearloid pickguards on the way for the Brothers Fender. I was going to do Tort for the Precision, but what came was so hideously ugly that I am reluctant to try Tort again.
Here is the offensive PG in question:
The top layer wasn't pixillated, but was definitely low-res and looked like BBQ sauce with mustard drizzled on it.
When guys say "the sound is in your hands", they really mean that "your" sound will only happen if you get a proper setup. I think the choice of strings / pickups and bridge / nut / tuners are the most important things - apart from choosing the instrument itself - to get a great setup and therefore "your tone". And more, cables, pedals, amps, cabs, even the environment (acoustic), everything is part of your "tone". Life isn't easy at all.
In the vein of mr. Sheehan axe, I did a similar thing to my Squier SS Jag.
So, P/J configuration two volumes, two output jacks, one switch.
One output is the normal operation of both pickups through the selectable switch and their respective volume controls. The other output is only the Split P direct out (no volume pot).
Each out goes to different effect chains and amplification.
So, P/J configuration two volumes, two output jacks, one switch.
One output is the normal operation of both pickups through the selectable switch and their respective volume controls. The other output is only the Split P direct out (no volume pot).
Each out goes to different effect chains and amplification.
The only upgrade I've ever done was to replace the bridge on my p-bass V. It came with a high mass Fender bridge and I replaced it with a hipshot type A aluminum. The light aluminum bridge makes it a bit brighter than the heavy high mass Fender bridge and looks very cool (imo).
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I like reversible mods. It's an easy way to take a bass thats most of the way there and nudge it closer to perfection. I would rather do that than trying to hunt down another bass and hope it's just as good.
I recently put an East Unipre5 in my Lakland 5594 and swapped the stock pickups for Fralin single coils in my Roadworn J. I'm contemplating a pickup swap in the Lakland too. Both were improvements IMO and both are reversible if I change my mind.
I recently put an East Unipre5 in my Lakland 5594 and swapped the stock pickups for Fralin single coils in my Roadworn J. I'm contemplating a pickup swap in the Lakland too. Both were improvements IMO and both are reversible if I change my mind.
I forgot some... Ashtray, tort and Pckup Covers for my last bass, and my next mod will be Hipshot Extender.
Damn, I forgot about this one.
I've done it to my P twice. First fretted J neck, and recently, fretless J neck.
