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Birthday Money: Upgrade these Basses
- Thread starter Evan J
- Start date
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- birthday player series upgrade
Id buy some luthier tools and learn to do the setups and fretwork yourself I did and after watching just few tutorials and going slow I learned to do it myself. Its not as hard as youd think and it has saved me so much money
D
I enjoyed changing out all the chrome for Black Hipshot hardware, (the tuners are much better than stock) and Black Pickguard, which would look cool on the Jazz. I have a Kickass Bridge, not installed yet, I'm waiting till I need new strings. I changed the wiring harness to v/b/t, its easier for me. Also, now the tone control seems more powerful and the volume increases Bass output when i turn up. Love it. I upgraded the knobs too, made sure there was White lines to see where settings are. I think the stock pickups are fine so I left them in. With your P Bass, anything but a White PG.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
I do live 20 minutes from Bellevue WA… tempting.
Keep both. Take the $750 and add an American Pro II. Used ones go for as low as $1100 with the average around $1300. Or take the money and buy one of the Aerodyne basses on reverb for $649. Either way you're getting a great bass and you're expanding your horizons by adding American or Japanese along with the Mexican Fenders.
I would learn how to set them up and get tools for that as well as tools for a fret leveling and a fret end file. Some of my favorite and best exp with my basses have been from learning all that stuff myself and doing the jobs myself. Really rewarding. And I don't think it'll cost you $750.
If you don't spend that much on tools, I'd go for pickups next. Hardware last. Hardware swaps are usually the easier mods IME.
- Professional setup and repair? Fret work? (they have some fret spouting and high frets)
Yes, a general go over from a tech sounds like a good starting point.
- New pickups?
Unhappy with them? You always could but stock Fender isn't bad. Although the "Fender '63 Vintage" P-bass pickup is nice. It's about $150 for one of those. I put one in one of my dual pickup pbasses that also has a nordstrand MM bridge. I have no intention of changing the split p since the nord was put in. That's a "pleasing" P pickup.
No idea what to say about Jazz pickups. I'm kinda having that debate myself on my jazz.
- Bridge?
Depends... do you leave strings on a log time or change them often? If often a quick load bridge is a little more convenient.
- Tuners?
if money is left over.
Why not?
Just my dumb thoughts.
Yes, a general go over from a tech sounds like a good starting point.
- New pickups?
Unhappy with them? You always could but stock Fender isn't bad. Although the "Fender '63 Vintage" P-bass pickup is nice. It's about $150 for one of those. I put one in one of my dual pickup pbasses that also has a nordstrand MM bridge. I have no intention of changing the split p since the nord was put in. That's a "pleasing" P pickup.
No idea what to say about Jazz pickups. I'm kinda having that debate myself on my jazz.
- Bridge?
Depends... do you leave strings on a log time or change them often? If often a quick load bridge is a little more convenient.
- Tuners?
if money is left over.
Why not?Just my dumb thoughts.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
For the precision, I would bring it to a good luthier for a fret leveling and set up. I would also replace the pickups with some Fender pure vintage 63 or Nordstrand P4 vintage. It will sound beefy and sweet with either pickups !
For the jazz, just a good luthier job would be enough for me. Those Fender jazz basses already sound very good in their stock form and changing parts are often more side ways moves than real upgrades IMO. You just need to try a few different strings until you find the ones that wakes up your bass. For me, it's been the Dunlop Marcus Miller stainless steel super bright rounds.
For the jazz, just a good luthier job would be enough for me. Those Fender jazz basses already sound very good in their stock form and changing parts are often more side ways moves than real upgrades IMO. You just need to try a few different strings until you find the ones that wakes up your bass. For me, it's been the Dunlop Marcus Miller stainless steel super bright rounds.
I'd personally hold onto the money until there's a legitimate reason to put the money into these basses. Maybe take a little money into some tools to learn to fix the frets but you shouldn't need to spend much. A file from the hardware store for fret sprout is cheap. You can easily level the frets with a straight beam from the hardware store, some sandpaper, and double sided tape. Yes, you can spend hundreds with a luthier but if you spend some time learning this yourself you will save a lot of money down the line.
I don't mean this in a smart ass way but if you have wrist issues at 30 you may want to prioritize that and get the wrist(s) stronger. Most things are fixable at a young age.
Otherwise, think about what you don't like about each bass and figure out what might be a worthwhile upgrade. Not gonna get your money back on it if you sell down the road but sounds like it's more about the fun of doing the work and getting a result. Enjoy and happy birthday.
If they were my basses, I'd spend the money on:
1. Hipshot Xtenders
2. Gotoh hi-mass bridges
3. professional setup
Whatever money is left over, I'd spend on Elixir nanoweb strings.
1. Hipshot Xtenders
2. Gotoh hi-mass bridges
3. professional setup
Whatever money is left over, I'd spend on Elixir nanoweb strings.
IME, nothing is more noticeable (I do all my own setups) then a well done level, crown and fret dress. Start there. I don't know haw the player series tuners are. The tuners on my MIM P are fine. But the tuners on my MIM PJ Mustang were horrible. I couldn't swap them for Hipshots fast enough. Pickups are a personal thing and if you don't particularly care for the stock PUPs, consider a change.
Fretwork for sure. If they need it, there's nothing that will have a bigger return on invest in terms of playability.
