Heard a lot about the Phat 2, mainly how great it is once you yank it out! Maybe it’s because mine is older, but there’s no pre. It’s 100% passive.
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Hot-Rodded Cheapo (GSR205 content...)
- Thread starter Oig
- Start date
It wasn’t on mine. I measured the spacing on the old bridge and it was 15mm or close to that on each saddle. Mine doesn’t have a preamp either. Maybe it’s an odd bird? Or maybe it’s old. Specs change...
I hot rod’d a 4 string GSR 200 P/J several years back. Installed a set of active EMG P/J’s wired vol/vol/tone (no pre), a Gotoh bridge and tuners, and a graphite nut. It was light and sounded huge, and it was totally silent, no hiss or buzz even in recording situations thanks to the EMGs.
Kinda want to do it again, esp after seeing yours.
Kinda want to do it again, esp after seeing yours.
how could you have changed it from 15mm to 17mm spacing on that neck with that much space outside the G and B strings still? I can't imagine that you added an entire 8mm, nearly a centimeter, roughly a third of an inch, to the overall string width, and have it still fit so similarly looking on the neck.
If that's true then the "before" pic must be misleading somehow because I sure don't see much difference in the outer string-to-fretboard-edge between before and after.
ALL THAT BEING SAID, This is a totally awesome thing you're doing, I LOVE the bridge, LOVE The pickguard, LOVE the preamp addon/upgrade.
So good to see!
Personally I am totally enjoying my cheapo ibanez bass, it's my main bass now besides my carvin fretless. I love my fully stock crappy old sr300 with proper setup (Which I think is nearly never done, specially regarding the pickup angles/heights and choice of strings for the bass).
If I ever did an upgrade it would probably be new pots because the current ones are pretty scratchy, but I also don't have any de-oxit so maybe if I did they could be cleaned up.
That's about it though.
insane basses... WAY WAY WAY better than they should be. I like it so much I've been selling off my much heavier, less comfortable, much higher quality big name basses. I'm not kidding.
the bridge and so on with my bass is actually pretty good. sustain is good, intonation is perfect (after I set it up), action is quite low although a spec buzzy (the frets are not super well finished or even, I'll say that about the cheapness), and it sounds so good you'd all be pretty shocked compared to other sr-300 basses of any year, I bet ya.
If price was no object, I might just do some upgrades like you're doing... possibly even change it from 4 to 5 strings.... not sure it could hold up though.
If that's true then the "before" pic must be misleading somehow because I sure don't see much difference in the outer string-to-fretboard-edge between before and after.
ALL THAT BEING SAID, This is a totally awesome thing you're doing, I LOVE the bridge, LOVE The pickguard, LOVE the preamp addon/upgrade.
So good to see!
Personally I am totally enjoying my cheapo ibanez bass, it's my main bass now besides my carvin fretless. I love my fully stock crappy old sr300 with proper setup (Which I think is nearly never done, specially regarding the pickup angles/heights and choice of strings for the bass).
If I ever did an upgrade it would probably be new pots because the current ones are pretty scratchy, but I also don't have any de-oxit so maybe if I did they could be cleaned up.
That's about it though.
insane basses... WAY WAY WAY better than they should be. I like it so much I've been selling off my much heavier, less comfortable, much higher quality big name basses. I'm not kidding.
the bridge and so on with my bass is actually pretty good. sustain is good, intonation is perfect (after I set it up), action is quite low although a spec buzzy (the frets are not super well finished or even, I'll say that about the cheapness), and it sounds so good you'd all be pretty shocked compared to other sr-300 basses of any year, I bet ya.
If price was no object, I might just do some upgrades like you're doing... possibly even change it from 4 to 5 strings.... not sure it could hold up though.
Ya know, now that I think about it I may have confused these measurements with the ones I took of my Carvin 6 string’s bridge. Either way, the new bridge is wider than the original and feels better.
Nothing wrong with the SR300, I was seriously looking at one earlier this year. Took me a while getting used to this, but once I got over the cheapness I began to see its potential. I guess we’ll see when it’s all said and done, right?
Glad you like the mods, I’m pretty stoked about them myself!
Nothing wrong with the SR300, I was seriously looking at one earlier this year. Took me a while getting used to this, but once I got over the cheapness I began to see its potential. I guess we’ll see when it’s all said and done, right?
Glad you like the mods, I’m pretty stoked about them myself!
Yes - I had the same thought as dkelley - where did all the space come from ? The strings SHOULD be hanging over the edge of the fingerboard if you widened the spacing so much.
Maybe you are measuring from the inside edges of the strings instead of the string centers?? Anyway - this is great and I am going to get one of those bridges in anticipation of getting another Ibby x05.
Maybe you are measuring from the inside edges of the strings instead of the string centers?? Anyway - this is great and I am going to get one of those bridges in anticipation of getting another Ibby x05.
See two posts above. In my case it wasn’t incorrect measurement but a brain fart. I’m not sure which is more embarrassing....In any case, you’re indeed right - I think it had 16.5 mm spacing originally.
Old and new. Even just visually the difference in quality is night and day. The machining on the Yamahas is just so much cleaner.
They feel great too! Much better. It can pretend to be a good bass now, lol
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Your headstock logo is different too. Mine read Ibanez soundgear GIO. (advertising itself as cheap poopie) REMOVED ALL WITH METAL POLISH Now all black headstock. White Ibanez decal on body added. Was too black if there is such a thing.
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Funny, I always like to see something on the headstock. I add logos on my own builds for that reason. I didn't get rid of the Gio to mask it (anyone familiar with Ibanez basses should still know exactly what it is) - it was just too cluttered. At least, that's my rationale and I'm sticking with it hahaha!
