Birthday Money: Upgrade these Basses

[Evan J]

My 30th is birthday is coming up this year. Great excuse to enable my GAS.

Instead of buying a new bass, I have decided to upgrade a couple of my current basses.

Here’s the challenge:

With a $750 total budget, upgrade these two player series basses.

Where should the money go?
- New pickups?
- Fret work? (they have some fret spouting and high frets)
- Tuners?
- Bridge?
- Professional setup and repair?
- Something else?

This is free, pointless spending. Have at it!

P.S. “Your basses are fine how they are” doesn’t count.

 

[bootstrap]

Swap your bridge saddles for threaded barrels and refinish that green Jazz

 

[Gorn]

What's wrong with them?

 

[Evan J]

What's wrong with them?

I mean… nothing that makes them unplayable.

But…
- The both have fret sprouting and high frets
- I would like to replace the pickups. Something noiseless for the jazz and something more vintage sounding for the P.
- Also, I just enjoy learning how to upgrade basses. So this is a fun project.

And it’s fun to see what people on TB would do with spending money.

 

[Gorn]

I mean… nothing that makes them unplayable.

But…
- The both have fret sprouting and high frets
- I would like to replace the pickups. Something noiseless for the jazz and something more vintage sounding for the P.
- Also, I just enjoy learning how to upgrade basses. So this is a fun project.

And it’s fun to see what people on TB would do with spending money.

I think you should sell them both. Add the $750 and buy an American Fender. Change parts if you want. If you put money in these, there's a good chance you'll never be happy with them and you'll be disappointed with their sale price when you inevitably try to sell extensively upgraded Mexican Fenders for no where near what you've put into them.

 

[Evan J]

I think you should sell them both. Add the $750 and buy an American Fender. Change parts if you want. If you put money in these, there's a good chance you'll never be happy with them and you'll be disappointed with their sale price when you inevitably try to sell extensively upgraded Mexican Fenders for no where near what you've put into them.

Yeah I thought about that… however the neck is the main thing. I would need to find an American fender with a modern C neck (I got some wrist issues so chunky necks aren’t an option)

I could maybe do a custom shop one day. But I like the feel of these basses enough that I want to invest in them.

 

[SuperTheBass]

Yeah I thought about that… however the neck is the main thing. I would need to find an American fender with a modern C neck (I got some wrist issues so chunky necks aren’t an option)

I could maybe do a custom shop one day. But I like the feel of these basses enough that I want to invest in them.

The American Pro II has a "slim C". It's very comfy. I Dont know the respective dimensions, but it definitely feels thinner/faster than my Mexican jazz

 

[Evan J]

The American Pro II has a "slim C". It's very comfy. I Dont know the respective dimensions, but it definitely feels thinner/faster than my Mexican jazz

Ah. I see.

Guess I should have done my research

 

[micguy]

I would put Hipshot ultralite tuners on them, which will lose half a pound and make them balance better. I would also ground the pole pieces on the pickups and do a shielding job, to make them quieter. I'd rewire the Jazz the way I like it done, which is... a bit out of the ordinary. The fret work I'd do myself (I'm a competent luthier). That leaves about $500, which I wouldn't spend until I'd done those first things, and decided if I needed to do anything more.

 

[klyph]

I would spend half your budget at stewmac on luthier’s tools to work on the frets yourself, and the other half on the noiseless set for the jazz. Only if you feel handy, of course.

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

Yea, sell em both and get a American Pro II P bass, gunstock the neck and call it a day.

 

[Evan J]

I would spend half your budget at stewmac on luthier’s tools to work on the frets yourself, and the other half on the noiseless set for the jazz. Only if you feel handy, of course.

This is what I was looking for… yes I would love to figure out how to do the frets myself. Is there a particular set on stewmac you recommend?

 

[Evan J]

I would put Hipshot ultralite tuners on them, which will lose half a pound and make them balance better. I would also ground the pole pieces on the pickups and do a shielding job, to make them quieter. I'd rewire the Jazz the way I like it done, which is... a bit out of the ordinary. The fret work I'd do myself (I'm a competent luthier). That leaves about $500, which I wouldn't spend until I'd done those first things, and decided if I needed to do anything more.

Didn’t think about shielding… that’s a great idea.

Out of curiosity… how do you rewire your jazz?

 

[J Wilson]

I would treat them both to a first-class setup by an experienced, professional guitar tech. Send them with new sets of the strings you use. A really good guy will do it, and if you're respectful, he'll finish it with you sitting there to get it JUST right. Fret sprout, tuning issues from neck relief, all the fine points being brought into spec can make a HUGE difference. Having a bass that is perfectly adjusted for you, plays effortlessly, just gets out of the way, is something not everyone is used to. And once you know what that feels like, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

Then see if they 'need' anything after that. I often think 'upgrades' are way more 'me too' than addressing any real need.

 

[ThunderV]

Swap the stock pickups for Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders (they make both for a p and j bass). You could also swap the bridge(s) for a schaller roller bridge(s). Maybe a bronze pickguard for the p bass and a tort for the jazz bass. Myself I always swap the chrome out for black hardware. If your frugal......you should still be within your budget.

 

[micguy]

Didn’t think about shielding… that’s a great idea.
Out of curiosity… how do you rewire your jazz?

I don't like how VVT setups work (or rather don't), but I do like the scooped sound of a J for certain things, so....
my "J" has two regular single coil pickups, but they are always both on - none of this trying to blend them with two backwards volume controls (that scheme does what it does, but what it doesn't do is what you think it does). There is one volume control - wired like a regular volume control of a P. You can do volume swells, without trying to turn two controls at the same time (imagine that!), and if I turn my volume down, it sounds pretty much the same as full up, just quieter.

There is a "mode" switch, which, on that bass, selects from two different tone circuits - you get different sounds on this bass not from blending things, but by having two different circuits, with different values for all the parts. "Full tone" includes different capacitive loading - one mode has the upper mid peak tuned to be more in the range of a P, the other is all clinky like a regular J. The "off' settings of each tone circuit also go different places.

On top of all that, as there are only 2 controls loading the pickups at any given time, the tone control on the "J" mode will go a bit more "clinky" than a regular J - it has a bit more range available on the top end, should you want that. in other words, it goes to 11. Literally in this case.

And....oh yeah, it doesn't hum in any mode or position of the controls.

 

[micguy]

I would treat them both to a first-class setup by an experienced, professional guitar tech. Send them with new sets of the strings you use. A really good guy will do it, and if you're respectful, he'll finish it with you sitting there to get it JUST right. Fret sprout, tuning issues from neck relief, all the fine points being brought into spec can make a HUGE difference. Having a bass that is perfectly adjusted for you, plays effortlessly, just gets out of the way, is something not everyone is used to. And once you know what that feels like, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

I do (amongst other things) setups for folks, and I usually get really good feedback - to me, I'm just getting the thing where it needs to be, but a lot of folks have never experienced a bass that is setup so it's as playable as it can be. A couple of times I have done it with the owner in the room, and seeing the facial reaction is pretty cool as well.

 

[Evan J]

Swap the stock pickups for Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders (they make both for a p and j bass). You could also swap the bridge(s) for a schaller roller bridge(s). Maybe a bronze pickguard for the p bass and a tort for the jazz bass. Myself I always swap the chrome out for black hardware. If your frugal......you should still be within your budget.

This is the kind of dreaming and silly spending I am looking for. Thank you

 

[Evan J]

I don't like how VVT setups work (or rather don't), but I do like the scooped sound of a J for certain things, so....
my "J" has two regular single coil pickups, but they are always both on - none of this trying to blend them with two backwards volume controls (that scheme does what it does, but what it doesn't do is what you think it does). There is one volume control - wired like a regular volume control of a P. You can do volume swells, without trying to turn two controls at the same time (imagine that!), and if I turn my volume down, it sounds pretty much the same as full up, just quieter.

There is a "mode" switch, which, on that bass, selects from two different tone circuits - you get different sounds on this bass not from blending things, but by having two different circuits, with different values for all the parts. "Full tone" includes different capacitive loading - one mode has the upper mid peak tuned to be more in the range of a P, the other is all clinky like a regular J. The "off' settings of each tone circuit also go different places.

On top of all that, as there are only 2 controls loading the pickups at any given time, the tone control on the "J" mode will go a bit more "clinky" than a regular J - it has a bit more range available on the top end, should you want that. in other words, it goes to 11. Literally in this case.

And....oh yeah, it doesn't hum in any mode or position of the controls.

Wow… this is unusual. But also as you describe it, it makes total sense

 

[micguy]

Wow… this is unusual. But also as you describe it, it makes total sense

It works for me. What it doesn't have is a way to use one pickup at a time. When Leo was designing the Jazz bass, I'm sure he was thinking that people would want that - guitars with 2 pickups had some means to listen to one or the other, so what he did was logical - even if I don't think it made the best musical instrument.

There are a lot of folks who always play with both pickups dimed on a J - for them, my approach is more flexible, and offers a few things that the normal circuit doesn't. If you're someone who gets into the nitty gritty of blending pickups with two volume controls, though, it's not gonna be your thing.