How much do you mod your basses

[conttador]

Does every bass in your stable get modded and how much.

All of mine that are single coils get a stacked hum cancelling AlNiCo pickup.

My main player (whichever bass I am currently in love with) gets lots of tweaks. My current main squeeze is a black 92 JB+, I am switching all the hardware to black and have added a DiMarzio Area in the bridge and a Norstrand Split 51 in the neck. I have also had the bass refretted and Plekked by the local Gurus.

I’ve only modded a few because I wasn’t happy with their sound:

Prat NT singlecut - Replaced the Noll preamp with a FlexCore
‘78 Jazz - Replaced unknown pickups with Alleva Coppolo pickups
‘92 Sadowsky NYC Modern - previous owner replaced the original EMGs with Sadowsky Soapbars & the Sadowsky preamp with a John East. I un-modded it back to stock!
Next on my list is a newly acquired Ken Smith Design (KSD) protoj, the preamp was replaced with the John East Marcus preamp and has some unknown alnico pickups. I plan on replacing the pickups with Sadowskys or Coppolo’s again.

On most of my basses I’ll put in Dunlop flush mount Straploks on a few I’ll just replace the buttons to keep them as close as possible to stock.

I have a simple rule, if it doesn’t have proprietary electronics, it’s fair fabe to modify…

 

[spiritbass]

It depends. I've purchased a couple specifically for modification:

Very fun, but my permanent stable are all customs, so mods have been minimal. Custom pickups for two and a custom pick guard for another. All very custom. Okay, I'll shut up and play my bass now...

 

[Smooth_bass88]

some are left completely stock, others get modded to the gills.

 

[factory presets]

I don't believe in mods at all.

Oh they are real, alright.

I don't have any rules. But I tend to buy cheap players that sound good acoustically. Because I know they are only a new pickup away from sounding good plugged in. Of course not all cheap basses need new pups. So I
own a couple of virgins. Took the pre out my Heartfield coz it vexed me. Ended up putting an East Uni-pre in it. My goodness. And straplocks on everything. Hardly worth calling that (or changing strings) a mod.

Don't normally bother about cosmetics. Although when the OG knobs fell off the EB3 I was so disappointed to learn speed knobs were the only option. Now I got leftover Strat-style ones from the Heartfield but no Gibson to put them on. Put a couple on a P. They look great but clash with the tort. Might buy a black PG to go under them.

 

[Gustopher]

I almost always do something. Even if it is just cosmetic like a pickguard or pickup covers. I like to tinker, so it varies. On my current Jazz, I have done the preamp (Audere), strings (is that even a mod?) pickguard and pickup covers.

 

[el murdoque]

On my main bass, I considered very small mods at first. I wanted to change the strap pins for Schaller locking pins and the knobs, which are made of plastic to ones that are a bit more glamorous. Then I realized that the guys at Le Fay managed to build a 6 string bass that weighs in at 3740g (8lbs 3.92oz) by consequently shaving off every gram at every possible bit, and I could not bring myself to add 110g back by swapping these parts, so to this day, it remains how it was made: Perfect.

With my P bass, I did mods - for a simple reason. I had the instrument I wanted pictured clearly in my head and that was not available in my configuration. So I bought a Mexican Fender P because that was the only one available in Seafoam Green with maple board. I swapped out the components I did not like so much: Pickup, capacitor, tuners. I did add Schaller Straplocks this time. The pickguard came in anodized gold, which I did not like on pictures, which turned out to be quite beautiful IRL, but I ordered a pale mint pickguard because that metal surface of the golden one gave me the shivers when I touched it with my thumbnail, and I wanted either pale mint or pearl white. I tried the tug bar for a while (in the above the strings proper thumbrest position) with a drop of glue, but decided against it. I also thought about either a Badass II bridge or adding the ashtray, but this bass is also less than 4kg and I did not want to go over that mark for vanity reasons.

I ended up spending MiA Fender money on a MiM that has a resale value of next to nothing, but I kept all the original parts and should I ever part with it, I can put it back into the original state and sell the mods separately.

 

[Artman]

Every bass that I presently own is modded.

My SBMM Ray4 has Schaller tuners, an SD MM Alnico pickup and a MojoTone preamp. My Player Pbass has a vintage hot pickup, stock passive volume/tone circuit.
Even my 1982 Pedulla is non-stock because the original pickups and preamp were gone when I purchased it in 1990. It has some humbucking Bartolini Js similar to what would have been OEM, but a five knob-three band EQ rather than the oem four knob-two band with a big pickup selector toggle which always seems redundant to me if you already have two volume pots.
The bass is tool of the trade, not a piece of fancy jewelry.

I have owned basses that I've left totally original. A couple of different Ibanez basses during the 80's, a couple of Gibsons, a Kramer, a Yamaha BB-something or other, a CIJ Fender Geddy, and CIJ non-Geddy Fender J-Bass.
I also no longer own any of them.

 

[Vektori]

Yeah.

My Yamaha RBX374 has gone through a lot of different pickups and electronic configurations, also couple of refinishes.

Changed MM pickup on my MTD Artist 5 and added a J pup between the MM and neck. Added blend and a switch. Were thinking of changing the bridge, but probably won't. Tuners needs to be changed soon, though, they are about to break.

My parts jazz is also quite modded.
And even changed pups into a bass i made myself. In general i prefer split coils.

 

[zubrycky]

Oh they are real, alright.

I don't have any rules. But I tend to buy cheap players that sound good acoustically. Because I know they are only a new pickup away from sounding good plugged in. Of course not all cheap basses need new pups. So I
own a couple of virgins. Took the pre out my Heartfield coz it vexed me. Ended up putting an East Uni-pre in it. My goodness. And straplocks on everything. Hardly worth calling that (or changing strings) a mod.

Don't normally bother about cosmetics. Although when the OG knobs fell off the EB3 I was so disappointed to learn speed knobs were the only option. Now I got leftover Strat-style ones from the Heartfield but no Gibson to put them on. Put a couple on a P. They look great but clash with the tort. Might buy a black PG to go under them.

Of course they're real. I just don't have the slightest interest in doing that.

I do respect people who are into mods, obviously. I bought more than one instrument that was modded by its previous owner and some of my basses had to be modded due to restoration.

That said, personally, this isn't my cup of tea. I'm just not interested in invest my money and my time in such things. Besides, here in Brazil everything is expensive and there are a lot of itens that aren't easy to be found (I'm not complaining. I'm just explaining how things are here).

I won't start a expensive hobby with money that I can use to buy instruments.

 

[Killing Floor]

Totally depends on the bass. All mine have been shielded and the bridge grounds have been landed. Technically that is a mod for some big brands. I fix what I need to fix. I am savvy enough to realize basses are not investments. I buy mine to play the paint off ‘em and if something needs to be upgraded or replaced it’s done.

 

[Ostie]

I put Duncan Vintage ‘62s on my Jazz and shielded it. That’s the only mod I’ve ever made. A couple basses I bought used came with Hipshot tuners and bridges.

 

[factory presets]

Of course they're real. I just don't have the slightest interest in doing that.

Sorry. Didn't mean to imply you needed that explained. Just taking it out of context for the laughs. Things are expensive and hard to find here as well. In Australia we call it the tyranny of distance. Of course the internet helps. I like to mod cheap gear because I get what I want for less money than buying it off the shelf.

 

[Leigh Semmens]

Some of you sound like the guy with the favourite axe (chopping kind) it's had 6 new handles and four new heads, but it's a great axe, so why get another one...........

 

[GIBrat51]

Does every bass in your stable get modded and how much.

All of mine that are single coils get a stacked hum cancelling AlNiCo pickup.

My main player (whichever bass I am currently in love with) gets lots of tweaks. My current main squeeze is a black 92 JB+, I am switching all the hardware to black and have added a DiMarzio Area in the bridge and a Norstrand Split 51 in the neck. I have also had the bass refretted and Plekked by the local Gurus.

To answer your questions in order:
1. NO. I can only think of 2 basses - out of the 27 I've owned (and the 24 that I still own) that have been modified in any way. Well, 3 - if you count changing a pickguard...
2. How much? My '73 Rick 4001, which had the treble circuit cap, was modified with the factory push/pull treble tone pot that Rick basses have had since the mid 2000's. MY '01 COY Rick 4003, which came from the factory with the treble tone cap deleted - like they all did at the time - had the cap and the push/pull tone pot installed. And, that's it. As for the pickguard? The original black one on my '78 P-Bass was broken (where they usually break); so, it was removed; carefully stored; and replaced with a factory Cream/Black/ Cream one. Looks a lot less gloomy that way, too. And, that's it; all the rest of them are just the way they came from the factory. Well, except for strings...

Personal opinion - for what it's worth. I have never understood the compulsion some people have, to buy a bass - and then spend time and money in a quest to make it sound like a different bass. If you don't like how it sounds, why in the Hell did you buy it in the first place? I can understand buying one for the express purpose of "modding" the thing. Shoot - I have a couple of those, myself. But, they were barely functional basses, when I bought them. The time/cost of modifying them, or just putting them back to stock - and playable - would be about the same. Buying a perfectly fine sounding/playing bass - sometimes a brand new one - and immediately changing bridges, tuners, pickups - whatever - is something I just don't understand. But, for those of you who feel the need to do it? Well, it's your bass; you have a perfect right to do whatever you want to with it. So... mini-rant over. Carry on...

 

[staurosjohn]

… just a bit!

View attachment 4661596

For anyone interested… here’s a recent vid with my modded Player P… Fralin 10% OW pup - EB Cobalt Flats An original - written by our lead singer/guitarist…

 

[Wolfhound32]

Does every bass in your stable get modded and how much.

All of mine that are single coils get a stacked hum cancelling AlNiCo pickup.

My main player (whichever bass I am currently in love with) gets lots of tweaks. My current main squeeze is a black 92 JB+, I am switching all the hardware to black and have added a DiMarzio Area in the bridge and a Norstrand Split 51 in the neck. I have also had the bass refretted and Plekked by the local Gurus.

Once upon a time I modded every bass. Then when I stepped back and considered the changes over years of playing I discovered that mods rarely made anything better-- just different. One's sense of "better" tends to change over time too

Of my 5 current basses, only one has been modded, and that was purely for aesthetics (pickguard/knobs/TRC) as I wanted this particular bass to have a specific look.

Having said that, I do install Dunlop Strap Locks to every bass I own, so there's that LOL!

 

[obieito]

I don't have as many basses as most here, in my herd, as years go by (4) it's been 50%
I have my first, a Yamaha rbx to which I wouldn't think of any reasonable mod, it's ok as it is and I didn't sell it for sentimental reasons and cause I couldn't get decent offers for a Taiwan made Yamaha (Now I'm actually happy I didn't though it's just there in its case)
My first real good bass was a 98 am dlx jazz, crimson red with what I thought was an awful (cheesy?) white pickguard. I'm European and you don't get so many options here so I took it as is, it's an awesome axe.
My first mod was painting black the pickguard with car spray, came out great! Then I ebayed a black/white turtle one and used it for a while, went back to the black painted one. I also switched the plated controls thingie with a black one.
Years later I was fed up with its lousy preamp and not so exciting Noiseless pickups, so I first got it passivized by my tech, and soon afterwards got me a pair of 70s Lollars which I replaced and soldered, NOW that was my first big mod. It growls so sweetly now!
Then I got a 60s LPB P AO which I don't intend to mod ever, it's awesome as it is, my first Precision, I see no need to mod it at all.
My last one is a beater to keep at the rehearsal room, I got a very cheap Squier Standard precision, Pewter Black, so nice little axe.
I went all the way there, with SPB2 PU (didn't bother with the J PU), black Wilkinson hardware, it's fun and has been an enjoyable mod.
Now I'm looking for a Black Mex or Japan P to put in it a Quarter Pounder PU I found for dirt cheap.
That's my next project but so far haven't found the el cheapo black P I'm looking for.
Thanks for watching!
(If anyone has )

 

[ragetoca]

I have bought 3 basses under $400 and have modded them significantly. They all sound amazing and sounds almost as good as my very expensive basses for 1:3 of price

 

[micguy]

Do I mod my instruments? Thats an interesting question. I build my own instruments, and I know exactly what I like in terms of hardware, neck contours, those kinds of things - as such, when an instrument is first put together, those things are pretty much set in stone. But the pickup configuration and circuitry - I start with an idea of what might work, but knowing that I'll learn something along the way. Are the changes that result "experiments by the manufacturer", or "tuning tweaks", or are they "mods"?

In the end it doesn't really matter - I have a few really nice basses that are tuned by the "manufacturer" precisely for what works for me - the definition of a "signature bass". The fact that I sign my initials on my headstocks also works to support the idea that these are "signature basses". Anyway, If you ask any person who's ever had a signature bass made for them if the first attempt was exactly what they wanted, the reply is almost always no - it takes a few tries to zero in on what really works for them. My basses (even though I am both the manufacturer and the customer) are no exception.

 

[zubrycky]

Sorry. Didn't mean to imply you needed that explained. Just taking it out of context for the laughs. Things are expensive and hard to find here as well. In Australia we call it the tyranny of distance. Of course the internet helps. I like to mod cheap gear because I get what I want for less money than buying it off the shelf.

No problem, bro. BTW, I thought things would be easier in Australia.