A fret dress and properly cut nut is by far the best upgrade. After that maybe pickups or lightweight tuners.
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Birthday Money: Upgrade these Basses
- Thread starter Evan J
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- birthday player series upgrade
Well, this is a big topic that you might want to research in the luthiery forum here. There are many tools that you can make yourself or modify something from the hardware store or maybe even a tool you already own. It really depends on what you need to achieve. I will say that the vast majority of bass guitars I see in stores really need nut slot work first and foremost. Now, you only own two basses, so is it worthwhile to get a set of nut slotting files for a hundred bucks? I couldn't possibly recommend that purchase without playing your basses. Also, you can save yourself the expense by wrapping sandpaper around the appropriate sized drill bit, or even a section of bass string. The great thing about nut work is that it's reversible, and you can even make a new one cheaply if you mess it up.
Working on the frets is a little more pressure, if you take too much off you can't put it back! It's the final step for remediation of playability problems, after truss rod adjustment, nut work, any shimming the neck may need, etc.
I've done the last few jobs with the understring levelers from stewmac, and their fret crowning files. The strings stay on, and I toss them afterwards and install new (I also mask the neck and body with blue painters tape). Again, I have no idea how handy you are- I used homemade tools for this too before splurging on stewmac stuff.
The posters telling you to take it to a luthier are probably better advice. Maybe if you buy some tools you should try and see if you can source a 50-100$ bass to practice on…
@Evan J
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They look good as they are, but...maybe a bit lonely.
Haha. You mean like they need more friends… i.e. more basses?
I have this little file. It works well for deburring the sharp ends. Two passes (in one direction) with the file is usually enough - otherwise the fret ends start to take on a rounded shape, which is something else...
Fret End Dressing File - StewMac
For deburring the fret ends, it might be all you need.
Here's a video:
Fret End Dressing File - StewMac
Fret End Dressing File - StewMac
For deburring the fret ends, it might be all you need.
Here's a video:
Fret End Dressing File - StewMac
Usually the D and G string slots are way too high, meaning the lower positions feel stiff even with lower bridge saddles and proper truss adjustments. Often this occurs on all four or five strings, even on nice, more expensive basses!
Of course, go too low and you'll get a ton of buzz. This is where you can mess it up. Going slow and tools like a set of feeler gauges from the auto parts store come in handy.
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A nut that is cut to accommodate your preferred string gauge and action height. Depending on your setup that might not entail a new nut, but rather a little reworking of the existing nut to make it ideal. The guy that works on all my stuff always does a new bone nut with a fret job and the results are nothing short of magic.
Pickups are where I would start. Maybe Nordstrand 70s pickups on the J and a Nordy in the P.
Fix the sprout and high frets. This will make them much better playing instruments. The rest is optional, and only if you feel something is lacking.
From my perspective as a non-Fender, exclusively 6 string player, I only see 1.33 basses in the photo. One is the loneliest number and .33 is not adequate companionship.
Turnaround
Commercial User
If you are keeping those basses deal with the frets as a starting point. If you know a good tech, the setup can undoubtedly be sweetened, and it will need to be set up after the frets are levelled. I'm not fond of that bridge, though there is nothing really wrong with it. Same with the tuners. But a change of pickups will have a significant difference - way more than replacing the bridge and tuners. Then I would have both basses fitted with an onboard preamp with passive rolloff so you can use either in true passive with tone control or active - maximum flexibility. All of that will push you budget upward, but don't try to save by avoiding the fretwork and setup. So to priorize:
1. Fretwork and setup - don't cheap out on this. Expect to pay about $300 to get both basses done. Be sure that the the setup includes sweetening the nut - it makes a big difference
2. Pickup replacement - will have a significant impact, but always a bit of a crap shoot. Buying a sound by verbal description is just like buying a meal based on the menu blurb.
3. For me, preamps would be next, but that will bust your budget for good ones.
4. Bridge
5. Tuners
1. Fretwork and setup - don't cheap out on this. Expect to pay about $300 to get both basses done. Be sure that the the setup includes sweetening the nut - it makes a big difference
2. Pickup replacement - will have a significant impact, but always a bit of a crap shoot. Buying a sound by verbal description is just like buying a meal based on the menu blurb.
3. For me, preamps would be next, but that will bust your budget for good ones.
4. Bridge
5. Tuners
A proper setup makes a lot of difference and any pro would fix your frets. Pickups are a rabbit hole and I'm all for it but think about what you would want to be different or you might honestly end up with the same thing.
Or 80 6-packs?
Or 80 6-packs?
And either of these files if you need to flatten the tangs or re-bevel the fret ends.
Fret/Fingerboard Leveling Files - StewMac
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CFD9WWNM
The Amazon one is fool proof. I own and use both.
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Hmmm… this is also a great option
