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Bass to Upgrades Ratio?

So how much money have you dropped into your cheap bass?

I just spent about $550 to put into my new Ibanez Mikro that cost me $175 with a nice hard case. (I'll do an NBD post once all the parts come in and I've finished modding it).
 
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Only bass I've done any mods on is my 2009 MIM Fender P-Bass.

Bass: ~$600 new.
Pickup: ~$60 (Fender CS '62s)
Ashtrays: ~$25 (?)
Pickguard: No idea.
Strings (I count them as permanent upgrades, lol!): ~$70 (Thomastik Infeld JF 345)
Minor electronic mods: $1 (just a passive bass cut circuit)

= ~$755, of which $155 are upgrades.

To me, that's totally worth it if the bass is a player. My only major gripe with the 2009 MIMs was the pickups, the rest was just cosmetics.
 
My "upgrades": Install Labella Deep Talkin' flats.

Done.

Unless I have a problem with a bass, I normally don't change things. Even when playing low-budget 1970's Kay basses, I left the pickups and sheet metal bridges alone.

Why? Because that way, they sounded as they were meant to.

However, I confess that I added pickups covers and a gee-whiz PG to my Jazz bass.

PB070027.jpg
 
Only bass I done many changes to was my Peavey Zephyr 5. Had a faulty volume pot and previous owner made a real mess in the control cavity. Decided to turn it active and swap the soapbars.

Bass £100
Preamp from a Noll clearance £27
2 Warman Jazzbar humbuckers £32
2 rosewood pickup covers £6

All was good until a friend suggested it would look better with gold hardware and I listened :jawdrop:

5 Wilkinson versions of ultralites £32
Brass nut £6
Wilkinson high mass bridge £17
Control cavity and TR covers were replaced by black ash I had spare.
IMG_20171125_020405.jpg Finished Zephyr 5.jpg

£220 all told. £120 of that went on parts.