I bought a new bass. A $230 headless, “zebra wood” body, minimalistic P bass. The neck was wide and clunky. The pickup, not bad. The tuners work fine. The manufactured wood body alright. A good platform for modding into a useable bass.
I shaped and finished the neck, and took care of the minor fret sprout. I routed for a pair of batteries, and enlarged the control cavity to make room for a three band Artec MT-3 preamp. I routed for an added neck pickup and used a Delano I had in my spares box. I touched up the clear pickguard to blend it in a little as the wiring and shielding showing through was a little obnoxious. (I’ll re do the pickguard at a later date.) I used a three way pickup switch instead of a blend.
I’ve now got a very comfortable, fine playing, great sounding bass. It balances extremely well and has a wide tonal range, while all in the P bass tone camp. (The bridge looks crooked in the pics, but it isn’t.)
I shaped and finished the neck, and took care of the minor fret sprout. I routed for a pair of batteries, and enlarged the control cavity to make room for a three band Artec MT-3 preamp. I routed for an added neck pickup and used a Delano I had in my spares box. I touched up the clear pickguard to blend it in a little as the wiring and shielding showing through was a little obnoxious. (I’ll re do the pickguard at a later date.) I used a three way pickup switch instead of a blend.
I’ve now got a very comfortable, fine playing, great sounding bass. It balances extremely well and has a wide tonal range, while all in the P bass tone camp. (The bridge looks crooked in the pics, but it isn’t.)
