Frankenstein Bass Builders Club.

[fender_mod]

heres mine I actually posted this in anther thread like 2 years ago but id like the be in the frankenbass club; took off the ashtray on the bridge, added another SD QP single coil at the neck in series for extra output. noll 4 band preamp, pickup selector for neck or bridge pickup/ p-pup on always, series parallel switch, preamp on/off, DR flatwound strings. badass II bridge, jazz neck with faux inlays i did to exact specifications of fender blocks. new pickguard on now so i dont have that ugly piece of sheet metal on there. wouldnt ever trade this thing in.

 

[mongo2]

Hey mongo, how's that alumitone sound in there? Looks pretty cool!

I like it. IMO, it sounds fuller and more dynamic than the standard single coil pickups with low mids more like a dual coil P bass pickup but with better highs.

I think the Alumitone can sound kind of "hard" if I try to slap and pop on it but I don't usually do that (except as a test). The pickup is fairly punchy so I have an idea that it could be the slap transient is just too much for the pickup and/or amp and lowering the pickup may alleviate that.

The Alumitone is a humbucker and extremely quiet.

 

[KAOSBass]

And here she is all done...... FINALLY!

 

[Hoover]

I guess this qualifies as a frankenbass, & since I've been spraying this pic all over TB this morning I might as well keep going:
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Schaller bridge
EMG J pickups
EMG BTC electronics
Gotoh machines
Warmoth body
custom Michael Dolan neck (4-piece quartersawn eastern rock maple w/ graphite reinforcement bars, rosewood fingerboard)

 

[Phil Mailloux]

I'll play!

Here's my only Franken bass. It's my first bass, an early 90's Japan Squier. I made new handwound pickups for it, changed the buzzing cheapo tuners for a better set of no name Asian tuners, made a new bone nut for it and routed the P neck into a J neck. Yes, you read that right It's much more comfortable now, I hate P necks.

The truss rod is screwed though, so I'll probably pull the fretboard out and change it whenever I get some free time.

 

[dannster]

I ended up swapping the novaks for fralins. Lull has them custom wound. Dead Silent! Just the nicest pickups I've ever used.
The status Graphite neck needed some frets glued and I had it pleked. Jeebus! I want to Plek everything now!! battery box on back for the side led's. Wasn't enough room for the switch so the tone is a push/pull to turn them on and off.
Went with an aluminum hipshot A bridge. Highway 1 body. Warmoth vintage pearl pickgaurd. Rothstein controls with v-cap. Weighs in at a stealthy 8.8lbs.

 

[ibanezcollector]

all of my personal basses are frankensteins...

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[lowbass68]

Lead Bass (about 20 years old):
Can't remember what brand it was, but the hard ash body is the only remaining original part. Mods include:
DiMarzio or Chandler neck (can't remember)
Schaller pegs
Badass I Bridge
Select P and J pups (wanted lots of treble)
Schaller straplocks
homemade dice knobs
homemade thumbrest between pups
plexiglass under the G string so my finger doesn't slide too far under the strings when popping them.

 

[Darkstrike]

all of my personal basses are frankensteins...

What about your Valenti?

 

[steve21]

Will post pics soon.

Squier Body
Mighty Mite maple neck
repainted by Pat Wilkins in Honda Element Orange (looks better on basses than cars)
EMG
Hipshots
Badass
Warmoth white pearl pickguard

 

[EricF]

Fender P-Special body, Allparts neck, Fralin pups, Hipshot bridge & tuners, Fender pg.
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[afinalfantasy]

Are the tuners expensive? I'm thinking about doing a total re-haul on my Squier with the following specifications:

- Fender Noiseless Jazz pickups
- Black Hipshot tuners with the de-tuner things
- Black Badass II bridge
- Old Jazz bass style knobs

Anyone have an idea how much that would cost?

 

[EricF]

Are the tuners expensive? I'm thinking about doing a total re-haul on my Squier with the following specifications:

- Fender Noiseless Jazz pickups
- Black Hipshot tuners with the de-tuner things
- Black Badass II bridge
- Old Jazz bass style knobs

Anyone have an idea how much that would cost?

Add what you want to the cart, and it will give you a total...Link Removed

 

[props]

Fender P-Special body, Allparts neck, Fralin pups, Hipshot bridge & tuners, Fender pg.
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Really similar to what I'm thinking about doing, except mine will be black w/ a maple fretboard. I like it a lot!

 

[Benjamin Strange]

Always fun to show off the Strangeberger:

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Almost nothing is original on this - just the body and the bridge. I've installed Rio Grande Pitbulls, gutted the preamp, installed a Moses fretless neck (and rolled the edges myself), and installed a Yamaha midi pickup (I had to shave down the bridge pickup ring to make room for the midi pickup under the strings - it was a tight fight between the bridge pickup and the bridge). Although I have two other fine basses (Dingwall and an Ovation), this is still by far my favorite.

(My apologies for the fingerprints - I spend more time playing bass than polishing them.)

 

[Darkstrike]

That's the TransTrem, isn't it, how does that work differently than a normal whammy bar, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Benjamin Strange]

That's the TransTrem, isn't it, how does that work differently than a normal whammy bar, if you don't mind me asking?

Yes, it's a TransTrem - one of only about 140. I used to have two of them, but one was pretty much done for, so I gutted the best parts of it and combined them all into one superbass.

Typically, the TransTrem works by shifting each string at a seperate pace, therefore allowing for the entire thing to be shifted in tune with itself. Lock it into place with the transposing pin, and presto! You're now in D, or C, or wherever. Unfortunately, I tune my bass in 5ths, using super heavy strings, so I can't get the TT to set up perfectly. This isn't really much of an issue for me, as it's still the smoothest and most in tune trem ever made, and I don't have much use for reaching most of the notes afforded by the transposing feature (my tuning reaches every one of them except a low B).

 

[Darkstrike]

Cool, sounds like a great system,I use Kahler's, and have no problems, great trems IMO, but I'm always interested in other systems. It's a shame they are so rare, and with a zero percent chance of re-issue.

 

[Benjamin Strange]

Cool, sounds like a great system,I use Kahler's, and have no problems, great trems IMO, but I'm always interested in other systems. It's a shame they are so rare, and with a zero percent chance of re-issue.

Not quite zero. Once I become super famous, Steinberger will be forced to reissue them based on my popularity.

 

[Darkstrike]

Not quite zero. Once I become super famous, Steinberger will be forced to reissue them based on my popularity.

Well then, get to work, I want one, soon......... can you be super famous by 09?