Been trying to arrange with Overwater a replacement pickup for my fretless explorer. Back in the day, when I only had one bass, I was trying to get the Overwater to do everything. Swapped a pickup for a Bartolini and, to be fair, it sounds pretty good but now I have other basses I wish I'd never done it.
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Have you ever regretted modding your bass?
- Thread starter Snarf
- Start date
i'm in the mod everything to your satisfaction camp as a general rule,
but in this case: being a bass that does it for you as-is... leave it as is.
You want MM spank and P sound in one bass?
Consider: music man: Special Quad Coil MM (mamapickups.com)
Or a G&L L1k or SB2 for the PJ
I like PJ's but , then again I mostly have 2 pickup basses...
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Dude you're going to get us both banned, but you repeat yourself
I put EMGs in a 1980s MiJ Fender, and didn't keep the original electronics. Kinda wish I'd have held on to them. It would probably be worth more stock if I ever wanted to sell, but whatevs. We're not talking about a highly sought-after instrument.
Yes. I did a 4-2-5 string conversion to a Monte Brown Rickenbacker 4004, only to learn too late I would've been just as happy stringing it BEAD. Different tuning never did cross my mind until it was too late.
It really depends. Is the bass no longer in production, or otherwise valuable with original parts? Are the mods reversible? There's a huge difference between dropping in a new bridge or pickups on your 2017 Mexican P bass and routing a new hole for a bridge pickup into a '62 Fender.
I've only done a few mods of the mostly cosmetic variety - new pickguard, better bridge after dropping my bass and bending the old one. I am leery of doing anything irreversible to my instruments, mostly because I don't trust myself not to mess it up. I am considering getting some new pickups and preamp for my old Ibanez SR as the AFR pickups are not really to my liking, but that should be something I can undo if I want to restore it to its original state.
I've only done a few mods of the mostly cosmetic variety - new pickguard, better bridge after dropping my bass and bending the old one. I am leery of doing anything irreversible to my instruments, mostly because I don't trust myself not to mess it up. I am considering getting some new pickups and preamp for my old Ibanez SR as the AFR pickups are not really to my liking, but that should be something I can undo if I want to restore it to its original state.
After some thought, I changed my vote to keeping it stock. If it just works for you, then I say keep it as is. If you're chasing a MM type tone for just one or two songs in a set, maybe there's a pedal preamp option that could get you there instead. Might even be a cheaper solution at the end of the day, too.
I've got a couple of uncompleted mod projects that date back to the Bush I presidency. The butchery is so bad I don't dare post pics here. But back then these were just "old basses," and "original condition" and "resale" were not even in the vocabulary.
When I had my original 67 Blonde P-Bass the Unknown Blonde I many times considered the added PJ mod but always stopped short and was always glad that I had resisted. During the same time several modded PJ basses as well as several OEM PJ basses passed through my hands and I was never really as pleased as I expected to be. There was only one that came close to satisfying me it was a prototype that I discussed and only had for a short while until the endorsement deal was cancelled.
I rarely modify my instruments and then only mods that can be reversed, nothing permanent like a rout or major hardware change, usually a change in the electronics active to passive. In those cases I have both times been very pleased, but kept the OEM parts for restoration.
I rarely modify my instruments and then only mods that can be reversed, nothing permanent like a rout or major hardware change, usually a change in the electronics active to passive. In those cases I have both times been very pleased, but kept the OEM parts for restoration.
2001 MIM P bass, to my knowledge it's not rare or collectible. To other people, that is. To me, it's "the one." But with an extra pickup, the possibility exists that it could be even more "the one." No need for another bass to achieve every tone I imagine needing (except in recording sessions where you need to have the jazz on hand and ask the studio if they've got a MM hanging around).
Pickguard is aftermarket, same with the knobs. All else is stock. Can a 21 year old bass be considered "vintage" at this point? I think I bought it for like $300 back in the day, the MIM stuff is all around $900 now I think.
I would not do the mod myself, I would have a professional do it if I were to go forward with it.
I feel the OP's pain. I want to turn my sunburst P bass into a Jamerson Funk Machine with the chrome pickup and bridge covers along with a thumb rest. It just pains me to think of drilling into the wood, but apart from sticky velcro-ing the parts to the body, ya just gotta drill into it to make it happen. I've still not gotten to the point of getting the cordless drill out, but I'm getting close.
I get it, I have a 2002 Mexican Fender that's nothing particularly special, but I love the way it plays for me.
I'd say if you trust the person doing the work to not ruin your instrument, go for it. I don't think you'll be ruining anything by adding a bridge pickup, after all you can always roll the volume off and it'll still be a P bass.
For what it's worth, I think a bridge jazz pickup in the 60s position as opposed to 70s works better with a split P pickup. There have been some recent threads on the subject of PJ configurations if you want more input on that. Some folks also swear by a second split coil P pickup in that spot, or a MM humbucker. I personally like the jazz pickup in the 60s spot though. Your mileage may vary.
The only thing that really truly makes me hesitate modding something is the effect it would have on future resale value, but chances are by the time I start thinking about modifying, I've owned whatever it is long enough that it'll likely never leave my possession anyway.
I had a '80 MAYA CAR matching headstock PJ with a birdseye-maple neck as my first bass,
Young and inexperienced me , totally killed it with all the so called improvements. After all these years I still think about it with tons of remorse.
It is now in the attic, and I am so deeply ashamed that I will never sell it. rather, I will sacrifice it to the gods of fire.
Young and inexperienced me , totally killed it with all the so called improvements. After all these years I still think about it with tons of remorse.
It is now in the attic, and I am so deeply ashamed that I will never sell it. rather, I will sacrifice it to the gods of fire.
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If I were you I'd rout it out and install a passive MM pickup of some sort with a three way switch. That way you can have it wired so that when in P only mode it should in theory sound exactly like it does now.
The chances of the removal of some body wood affecting the current P sound is very minimal and, worst case scenario, you could always fill the rout and refinish it back to standard. Dave Gilmour did pretty well with a strat that was hacked, routed, filled and constantly modded. A Pbass is just the bass version of a strat.
Have fun with it know it might suck or not , live and learn .
I have ruined many instruments, mics , amps no regrets here
If you do decide to mod it make sure you over think it
I have ruined many instruments, mics , amps no regrets here
If you do decide to mod it make sure you over think it
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