Crazy bass idea

[TimBosby]

I have this weird idea to combine a Peavey G-bass, a Fender Stu Hamm Urge style JPJ pickup configuration, and a Pat Wilkins finish.

I already found a steal on a Peavey G-bass with a terrible finish.

Thinking of having Pat finish it, including the headstock, in this color (martini olive green sparkle):

Link Removed

Before finishing, I'd need him to put a block of wood in the existing pickup rout and then rout out a J - P - J configuration. I have a set of Seymour Duncan Antiquity II P/J pickups, I'd just need a neck pickup to complete the set.

The question is - do I add a preamp, and if so, how do the electronics work? The bass currently has four knobs but I'd likely need a pickup selector switch routed in.

From there I'd need a custom white pearloid pickugard cut to fit the weird shape - I'm thinking something similar in shape to the Urge pickguard - covers the top J pickup but curves around to the knobs.

Then add a bridge, probably string-through-body since it's being stripped anyway. And Hipshot Ultra-Light tuners.

All this will be fairly expensive, BUT will combine features I'd otherwise need 3-4 basses to acquire (1. graphite neck 2. pau ferro board 3. JPJ pickups 4. martini olive green sparkle only available on Ibanez SRX400 series)

Thoughts?

 

[madbassplaya]

tim, you are ordering up a crazy bass!

i don't see getting much money back out of a project like this. you sure this is what you want?

 

[TimBosby]

Just a hair-brained idea at this point

 

[StuartV]

4 knobs = V/V/V/T passive. For a bass with J and P pickups, this seems like it would work well.

Or you could do:

V for P
V/V stacked for J/J

And then use an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp with the remaining two knobs being:

Mid boost/cut, push-pull for freq center select
Treble/bass boost/cut stacked

The OBP-3 can be purchased as a kit with that knob/pot setup.

 

[StuartV]

Or, instead of V and V/V stacked, you could do 2 stacked pots. 1 V for each pickup and and the final V being a Master.

 

[TimBosby]

That's a good idea.
With an OBP-3 it'd be 4 stacked pots total

4 volumes (2 stacks)
and stacked treb/bass and stacked mids...errr, I dont think the mids are stacked but push pull
So maybe 3 stacked pots and one regular

I like those Sadowsky knobs but they are kinda expensive so it might be cheaper to do a pickup selector switch then buying a hole bunch of stacked knobs..
we'll see..
I need to get some stuff sold before I even think about this

Or, instead of V and V/V stacked, you could do 2 stacked pots. 1 V for each pickup and and the final V being a Master.

 

[TimBosby]

I think the pickguard might be the hardest part as it has such long skinny horns.

 

[TimBosby]

Yeah I think I'm abandoning this idea in lieu of a more traditional P/J approach