Fender Frankensteins

[jbd5015]

Hodge podge of fender stuff, all USA. Jazz neck, P-Body, Lollar overwounds, it now has a schaller 3d in black, and TI jazz rounds. Pickguard and nut are both brass and hand made!

Aaaand, a fender copy frankenstein. no fender parts! warmoth jazz neck, tele headstock, fernandes body, SD quarter pounders, TI jazz rounds, and have since changed the knobs to a silver jobber i ripped of an old sony radio...

dont think ill ever own a stock fender, the frankensteins are, in my experience, half the price and play twice as nice.

cheers,

 

[Gorn]

93 MIJ jazz body with a 2006 MIM roadworn P neck, flat top chrome P knobs, threaded saddle bridge:

The plan is to some day send the body to TBer Streetscenes to refin the body in matte rubbery black like the EBMM SUBs:

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

Fender 51 Road worn see-thru white Mike Dirnt body, Fender MIM Cabronita neck, reverse tuners, Fender BA3 type bridge, WD tort guard. Clubby necked, slab bodied fun.

 

[gsquare]

dont think ill ever own a stock fender, the frankensteins are, in my experience, half the price and play twice as nice.

cheers,

Totally agree!

Amazing that Fender rarely makes a precision body with a 1.5 inch nut, of course you can buy one from any number of high end boutique bass "manufacturers" for 2k-4k, or you can just put one together yourself, or for that matter a few of them, for a fraction of the price.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Fender 51 Road worn see-thru white Mike Dirnt body, Fender MIM Cabronita neck, reverse tuners, Fender BA3 type bridge, WD tort guard. Clubby necked, slab bodied fun.View attachment 883207

Ooooooo.....

Purdy.

 

[Stone73]

2013 American Special P Body
2012 American Standard P Neck
Musicman Stingray pickup
John East MMSR preamp
Aluminum Kilo knobs

Whoa! That thing must sing! Wicked setup. Will it make me wanna slap my mamma?

 

[JRA]

don't know if this qualifies for the thread: the only "fender" piece is the licensed 20 year old neck. but it's the only 'jazz' i've ever owned or played and i sure do like the feel:

 

[Maxwebster]

Pretty much all spare Fender parts except the body and one bridge. I often swap the necks around depending on need though, honestly, it doesn't see much playing time.

 

[Fuzmaster]

Pretty much all spare Fender parts except the body and one bridge.

Oh.... So that's what a "double bass" is.

 

[Fuzmaster]

1-year followup: Since my last post (in here) about my AVHR P Frankie, I swapped out the DiMarzio Model J for an Ultra Jazz. Now after over a year, and many miles running as my main axe, I can say unequivocally that this is the best bass guitar I've ever played.

Fender AVHR P body, Fender Am Special P neck, Gotoh tuners, BadAss bridge, DiMarzio pups, mostly stock VVT wiring with added pup switch and Sprague tone cap. Currently running DR Sunbeams.

This is my newest Frankie stick, finished late last year:

Fender AVHR J body, Fender MIJ Classic '70s P neck, Hipshot tuners, Babicz bridge, EMG GZR pups and wiring. (Excuse the temporary foam mute, attempting to rein-in the DR Pure Blues.)

 

[grrg63]

Medium scale fretless FrankenTele with a Lowe conversion neck, Squier P body and Fender humbucker.

 

[mellowgerman]

MIM P Bass... with the addition of a 1978 Ibanez Musician single coil, a Hanson Chi Sonic single coil, and a 3-way selector switch. Also a few cosmetic modifications

 

[topcat2069]

This has been around for awhile....
MP Jazz Satin, rewired with a series/parallel/single coil switch for each pickup (the 4 way rotary switch, which I kept, was a little limiting), aged Pearl pick-guard
and Squire "77 Jazz neck.... I love the feel and the variations in tone..... and it's passive so I get that old school essence.

 

[Malak the Mad]

For any interested parties, I've updated my "Projekt Blue" build-thread. New details and pics abound!

 

[Doner Designs]

Here's a P a J and a Mustang with quite a few mods. The only thing original on the J is the body. The fancy wood ones may not count. They are Fender spec Warmoths.

 

[scowboy]

Here is my current Frankenstein. It's had two iterations, the original sported a Hwy 1 P-neck, Curtis Novak pickups, OPB-2 and original BadAss bridge.

What it is today:
1981 Fender Precision Body - bought here on TB years ago
Jeanie Pickgaurd - custom made for me years ago
Status Precision Bass neck - new earlier this year
Status Jazz Bass Pickups - new earlier this year
Aguilar OBP-2 Preamp - new earlier this year
Hipshot Ultralite Tuners - new earlier this year
Hipshot Vintage Bridge - new earlier this year



It's for sale if anybody interested.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

I got the body from ebay ... it may be an SX body ... I am not sure. The neck is a 4 string mighty mite p-bass neck. The block inlays are stickers from a Japanese Ebay seller. The p pickup is a Seymour Duncan Antiquity, and the Stingray pickup is Chinese ebay purchase, The bridge is an olp clone style of a Stingray bridge. It has a 3 band preamp also from ebay, brand name unknown. I think the pickguard is maybe allparts or mighty mite. Tuners and string tree from the internet somewhere. I put them all together. I changed the neck pocket so the neck is 1/2" closer to the bridge and the bridge is also moved back. I also put in a 3 way toggle to switch the bridge pickup for a series / single / parallel operation.

Ok but how does it sound?

 

[Ric5]

Ok but how does it sound?

It sounds great

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Not as many as before I got divorced.

Chef how are these DarkStar pickups?
How much time for them to be fabricated on order and shipped? And, last question, the frame they come with fits the routing of a standard split-coil P bass pickup?

 

[rickdog]

My, it's quiet here! I'd like to share my #1 bass....

Mine started as a very ordinary 1972 Jazz, fretted maple neck with black block inlays. Here's how it is today:

First change (after removing the pickup covers) I made was to add the Gibson mudbucker. My first bass (which I traded in for the Jazz) was an EB-3, and I missed that heavy low end.

The Badass II bridge (I still have the original) was because the guys I was playing with said it was cool. I'm not sure it really made a difference.

About 1975 I bough a Rickenbacker 4001. The guys I was playing with got on my case about having two fretted basses, so I traded in the original neck for a fretless Precision neck. Never had any regrets. It's B-width (1-5/8" or so), I find that more comfortable than the skinny Jazz neck.

I played like that for many years. About 2000 or so, the Jazz pickups were getting kind of weak. I had them rewound by Lindy Fralin. WOW! Supposedly he rewound them to vintage specs, but I don't ever remember them sounding this good.

One other detail you have to look really closely at the picture to spot:

It seems like there's always a couple songs that want to be played in dropped D. Love that thing! I replaced the whole set just so they'd match (still have the originals), Hipshot makes nice stuff.

Someday I'll probably put in a TRS output jack and a small switch so I have the option to separate the Gibson pickup. Other than that, I think this one's just about finished! (No jokes about the finish, please!)