Favorite fender mods.

[drden]

What are some of your favorite fender bass mods? Some things you like to do to make your Precision bass or Jazz bass that much better. Exclude obvious string changing, pickup brand replacing, etc...

I'll start with mine

P-bass:
Install bridge pickup, humbucker or jazz
bridge cover
If multiple pickups are present, install blend control and switch

J-bass:
swap p bass pickup into middle position
or swap pickups for humbuckers
wire for volume-blend-tone
instal pickup switch

I haven't tried varitone electronics, but I could possibly become a fan of those as well.

Anybody else care to share? pics are welcome

 

[johnk_10]

i feel no need to mod any of my fender jazz basses, p basses or a tele basses. now a jaguar bass, that's another story.

 

[manwiththedogs]

Swap out the stock bridge for a Badass and install a D-tuner.
P or J...that's about it

 

[electracoyote]

i feel no need to mod any of my fender jazz basses, p basses or a tele basses. now a jaguar bass, that's another story.

+1

On occassion, I have found the SD Quarter Pounder a nice upgrade on a P Bass, but only if the stock pickup was really sub-par.

 

[jumbodbassman]

What are some of your favorite fender bass mods? Some things you like to do to make your Precision bass or Jazz bass that much better. Exclude obvious string changing, pickup brand replacing, etc...

I'll start with mine

P-bass:
Install bridge pickup, humbucker or jazz
bridge cover
If multiple pickups are present, install blend control and switch

J-bass:
swap p bass pickup into middle position
or swap pickups for humbuckers
wire for volume-blend-tone
instal pickup switch

I haven't tried varitone electronics, but I could possibly become a fan of those as well.

Anybody else care to share? pics are welcome

add a series/parallel switch into j bass is a good mod also.

 

[Sundown1206]

i feel no need to mod any of my fender jazz basses, p basses or a tele basses. now a jaguar bass, that's another story.

What mods have you added to your jaguar?

 

[drden]

Swap out the stock bridge for a Badass and install a D-tuner.
P or J...that's about it

I forgot about the D tuner, thats a good one! and its always debated how much the bridge affects the performance of the istrument, so i havent fiddled with that to much yet.


I too am also interested in jaguar mods.

 

[BarkerBass]

all my fenders have come "stock" with badass bridges so can't they were chosen mods but they are great bridges so they'd go on any new fenders I might get.

I've done a series/parallel switch on one of my jazzes and it's a nice new tool.

That along with a Dtuner would be my chosen mods.

 

[A-Step-Towards]

Its nice to make it "personal" with a new pickguard.

 

[johnk_10]

What mods have you added to your jaguar?

1.replaced the cheesy plasitc knobs and cheap pots with USA jazz bass knobs (bakelite) and CTS pots.

2.shielded the control cavities for no hum.

3. replaced the weak and too bright pickups with Dimarzio ultra jazz bass pickups (no hum, & better tone).

4. (optional) replaced the neck with one piece maple block bound one. (IMO, the stock necks are really good, i just think a one piece maple one sounds better on mine, and i shaped the neck profile to my personal preference).

5. replaced heads with gotoh res-o-lite vintage reverse tuners to save weight and yield better balance.

mods that i may still do:
1. fill bridge pickup route and route to 60's jazz bass spacing.
2. reshape/smooth arm relief on body.
3. reshoot it with nitro
3. remove cheesy preamp and convert upper pots and switch wiring to a bypassable volume control for each pickup so i can blend them like on a jazz bass, and still use the master vol/tone controls.

i'm actually getting used to and starting to like the '70's bridge pickup spacing, and if i don't end up relocating it, i won't reshape the arm relief and reshoot it with nitro.

 

[drden]

The new neck looks good on the jaguar. That seems like it would be a good bass after proper mods, because I've played it and felt like the preamp and pickups were severely lacking. The neck is really nice though, and I like the matching headstock on the red model.

 

[GhettoBrassGuy]

That is awesome John!!! I love my Jag...especially for the money. I put a Badass II on mine, plan to install new pickups (thinking about trying the new Aggie ones) and bypass the preamp for a set of stack knobs.

 

[Orpheus55]

1.replaced the cheesy plasitc knobs and cheap pots with USA jazz bass knobs (bakelite) and CTS pots.

2.shielded the control cavities for no hum.

3. replaced the weak and too bright pickups with Dimarzio ultra jazz bass pickups (no hum, & better tone).

4. (optional) replaced the neck with one piece maple block bound one. (IMO, the stock necks are really good, i just think a one piece maple one sounds better on mine, and i shaped the neck profile to my personal preference).

5. replaced heads with gotoh res-o-lite vintage reverse tuners to save weight and yield better balance.

mods that i may still do:
1. fill bridge pickup route and route to 60's jazz bass spacing.
2. reshape/smooth arm relief on body.
3. reshoot it with nitro
3. remove cheesy preamp and convert upper pots and switch wiring to a bypassable volume control for each pickup so i can blend them like on a jazz bass, and still use the master vol/tone controls.

i'm actually getting used to and starting to like the '70's bridge pickup spacing, and if i don't end up relocating it, i won't reshape the arm relief and reshoot it with nitro.

May I recommend a cream pearloid guard; looks great against the inlays. Also, the Fender stamped bridge cover is fun.

 

[johnk_10]

no offense, but i'm just not a fan of pearloid pickguards. i don't care for badass of high mass bridges either. i put a fender USA vintage reissue bridge on mine, but the stock one is almost exactly the same (it just has metric screws).

i may install an off white pickup cover on the neck pickup just to make it look a little more like a jaguar guitar (which had white pickups), and the black treble one blends into the black body anyway.

if i reshoot it with nitro, i'm going to match the headstock and paint it lake placid blue.

 

[drden]

i may install an off white pickup cover on the neck pickup just to make it look a little more like a jaguar guitar (which had white pickups), and the black treble one blends into the black body anyway.

Personally, one of my favorite looks (for a jazz bass and otherwise) is getting off-white covers for both pickups.

 

[Stranger Danger]

May I recommend a cream pearloid guard; looks great against the inlays. Also, the Fender stamped bridge cover is fun.

I like the PG.

 

[FSanchezBass]

Would it be possible to modify a seymore duncan quarter pound Jazz pickup set? I was thinking of cutting the tabs off the bottom of the neck PU and the top of the bridge PU. Sticking them together with epoxy and using it as a humbucker, reverse wound and polarity. Have two of them like a Music Man with a three way switch And one volume. What do you think?

 

[Stranger Danger]

Anybody got a P-bass with a humbucker at the neck?

 

[marklaforest]

Series/parallel switch is the best and cheap-est move on a Jazz IMO, and it makes a world of difference. I really can't understand why more Jazz basses aren't sold with that standard. Also, I find the stock Fender bridge to be a bit of a joke. They're just terrible and it's not that hard to imagine something much better. They've flirted with better ones in the past but always seem to go back to the original. There's usually an easy cosmetic change that happens on a fender to make it more unique - pickguard, knobs, etc. as well.

 

[king_biscuit]

None. I like em stock.