Have you ever regretted modding your bass?

[Snarf]

Not sure if this is the right forum. It was a toss up between here and the repair forum.

My daily driver has been with me since the beginning. ~2001 MIM P bass, bought it when I was probably 13. Since acquiring that bass, I bought and sold several basses. I've had high end boutique custom jobs, MIA jazzes, Stingrays, etc. I thought I needed a 5 string, I thought I needed an expensive active EQ, blah blah blah. None of that ended up being true, and it took me 20 years to find that out.

I went back to playing this P bass almost exclusively about two years ago. I play for a living, and the comfort and familiarity of this bass, along with the fact that it is a P bass and so mixes well in almost every setting, makes it ideal. My GAS stopped so hard I'm surprised it didn't register on the richter scale.

One thought regarding bass gear keeps coming to mind, however. I think it would be pretty great to put a jazz pickup at the bridge, and a 3-way switch. That will get me closer to that MM and tighter slap sound that I sometimes need on stage. Keep it passive, and keep the original P pickup. That pickup was blessed by a higher power and is a total tone cannon.

So now you have an idea of how important this bass is to me. My question to the forum: Have you ever regretted modding a bass of similar value to you? Has the instrument ever lost "something" after the modding process?

 

[Bass V]

loss has always been my fear and why I never modded, I just bought basses until finding my ultimate sound naturally, by GAS. love my Motown Ps but wanted more tonal depth and brutality, got a vintage mudbucker, still got it on the shelf but tossed the recipient P after getting my P killer, then getting my P killer killer. procrastination is a wonderful thing.

 

[HelpImaRock]

If it were a different instrument you didn't have an attachment to, that would be one thing. For this one, I'd leave it be and get something else with a Jazz bridge pickup.

 

[4SG]

In over 40 years I've never made an unreversible mod to a bass I liked. Switch out the tuners, bridge, pickups, sure---but nothing where I couldn't replace the original parts. If I want to experiment I'll put a bass together using the components I'm after. You're very attached to your bass, OP. You might regret routing a hole in the number 1 you've had since you were a kid.

 

[Minimalist]

Have you ever regretted modding a bass of similar value to you? Has the instrument ever lost "something" after the modding process?

I have never NOT regretted it.

That being said, my main bass is a similar year MIM Pbass that I modded like an amateur, reversed the mod like an even bigger amateur, spray painted it pink, put a Warmoth neck on it, changed the pickup several times, put a different bridge on it and I still love it and I still think it has a killer sound.

Every PJ bass I had (and I had quite a few over the years) always sounded like a compromise. It's like dating the sister of the woman you really want. If you need a MM slap sound, then get a sterling. That's what I did, and I couldn't be happier.

 

[Snarf]

I have never NOT regretted it.

That being said, my main bass is a similar year MIM Pbass that I modded like an amateur, reversed the mod like an even bigger amateur, spray painted it pink, put a Warmoth neck on it, changed the pickup several times, put a different bridge on it and I still love it and I still think it has a killer sound.

Every PJ bass I had (and I had quite a few over the years) always sounded like a compromise. It's like dating the sister of the woman you really want. If you need a MM slap sound, then get a sterling. That's what I did, and I couldn't be happier.

Well, I don't need THE MM sound. I actually like the sound of a PJ and it gets you close to a lot of things. I prefer the slap sound of the PJ to the JJ, and the fingerstyle tone on a PJ, to me anyway, is so much nicer than JJ.

I would most likely have Pensa do the work on it if I were to go forward with this idea.

 

[Sharko]

Only when it comes time to sell

 

[Wasnex]

Reversible mods are okay on a nice bass. Any mod is okay on a common, cheap bass. This is IMHO and YMMV.

I modded my Ric 4001. IMHO the final product is arguably better than the original, but it no longer sounds like a Ric. The final mod includes: Alembic pickups, new modified pick guard to eliminate the mount for the bridge pickup, rear mounted 9V battery box, 2-Tek bridge.

The parts for the mods cost at least as much as I paid for the bass, and the bass was not cheap. Overall I probably spent 2.5X to 3x the cost of the bass on the mods. My guess is the bass probably carries about 1/3 of the value it would have if I left it stock.

If I could go back intime, I would slap myself in the face. It would have been better to buy a different bass IMHO. At the very least I would have kept all of the original parts instead of giving them away.

 

[Actuary X]

No regrets and I don't hesitate to mod if I want to.

(YMMV)

 

[NKBassman]

Now that I think about it, other than pickup/component swaps most of my basses are largely unmolested. For a while I used a cheap parts bass as a guinea pig for trying different pickup and electronic configurations, but that project has long been retired and I'm back to playing mostly stock instruments. In the end, for my money, it's pretty hard to beat a standard passive P bass, though PP was fun as long as you can keep the bridge pickup from getting too close to the bridge saddles.

Adding a J pickup to a P bass is a pretty common affair though. Especially if you're going to give it to a qualified tech to do, you're probably pretty safe doing so.

 

[BtaylorTheRogue]

The only mod I regret is an almost undetectable mod on an instrument that I just never got comfortable enough with.

The rest of my mods have all made my instruments more playable.

 

[ejaggers]

If it were a different instrument you didn't have an attachment to, that would be one thing. For this one, I'd leave it be and get something else with a Jazz bridge pickup.

What he said!!!

I haven't regretted any mods I've done but I also haven't modded a special bass.
My Fender Coronado II bridge PUP went out years ago,
I had it fixed, and hated the fix with a passion.

Later in life, I had Lindy Fralin rewind it and I'm in heaven again.
But since I sent the whole harness I wish I had done the neck PUP as well.
Since my CII is my baby I was gun shy, besides,
there's nothing wrong with the stock, except it's not a Fralin.

Long story short (if it's not too late for that),
I've seen people swop altogether different type PUP's in basses,
which ends up looking awful. I would regret doing that to my baby.

Go out and buy yourself a Jazz or PJ and leave yours alone....057912

 

[CletusMarley]

Only regret I have is not making an effort to save original parts. Pickups etc. That was decades ago. I save everything now. Lol

 

[bolophonic]

I swap out parts all the time until the bass feels right and then I stop. So I have put together combinations that didn’t work w, but I’ve never regretted any of it.

 

[Katoosie]

I mod it if I like it and all the mods can be turned back to stock. No loss.

 

[kev451]

Not sure if this is the right forum. It was a toss up between here and the repair forum.

My daily driver has been with me since the beginning. ~2001 MIM P bass, bought it when I was probably 13. Since acquiring that bass, I bought and sold several basses. I've had high end boutique custom jobs, MIA jazzes, Stingrays, etc. I thought I needed a 5 string, I thought I needed an expensive active EQ, blah blah blah. None of that ended up being true, and it took me 20 years to find that out.

I went back to playing this P bass almost exclusively about two years ago. I play for a living, and the comfort and familiarity of this bass, along with the fact that it is a P bass and so mixes well in almost every setting, makes it ideal. My GAS stopped so hard I'm surprised it didn't register on the richter scale.

One thought regarding bass gear keeps coming to mind, however. I think it would be pretty great to put a jazz pickup at the bridge, and a 3-way switch. That will get me closer to that MM and tighter slap sound that I sometimes need on stage. Keep it passive, and keep the original P pickup. That pickup was blessed by a higher power and is a total tone cannon.

So now you have an idea of how important this bass is to me. My question to the forum: Have you ever regretted modding a bass of similar value to you? Has the instrument ever lost "something" after the modding process?

Ive done it, I bought a 50s relic’d P bass from Fender. I loved the Bass. It became my main bass. I wanted that J pup punch on the back end. So I bought an authentic J pup on Reverb (it wasn’t cheap but it was legit.) I had the bass routed and had it installed and man…I LOVED IT. Go for it, it’s your bass!

 

[Stewie]

Buy a PJ body from Stratosphere. Slap all of your parts onto it. Add pickups et.c.

When/if you decide t was a bad idea, put it back the way it is now and sell the PJ body.

Oh yeah, buy a replacement pick guard too if you don’t get one in the deal.
I modded my 73 Jazz a lot and had to practically give it away

 

[Chrisk-K]

Just add a J pickup and a 3-way switch. If you don’t end up with liking the J solo and the P+J tones, you can use the P pickup only, and even Eric Johnson won’t be able to tell the difference.

 

[smperry]

I modded a Fretless MIJ Fender Jazz and my mods ruined the soul of the bass.

I replaced the stock electronics with Bartolinis (the “deep” jazz ones) and the East J-retro. Not the right call for me, but I was young.

 

[micguy]

I build my own basses, so if/when I put one together and decide it isn't quite right, I change something. Is that modding or just optimizing?