Interested to know how many people create exactly what they want from parts, or spare themselves the fuss and pay extra for the real thing?
I'm personally pondering how to get a bass that looks like a '75 natural ash Jazz with maple fretboard and white block inlay neck (and not pay crazy vintage USA prices). Which route would you take?
1. Pay close to grand for a Japanese '75 reissue on ebay, which looks perfect and they're generally known to be quality instruments. The pros are I can start playing straight away. The cons are it's a little pricier than a frankenbass, possible customs tax, and if I don't like it I can't send it back.
2. Use a MIM natural ash body I have, buy a maple and white block inlay neck from Allparts, and slap a CUSTOM logo decal (Edit, won't be using Fender branding) on it. The pros are it's a little cheaper than the Japanese option. The cons are hiring a tech to get everything set up right and troubleshooting possible incompatibilities.
I have put together a few parts basses and guitars for myself or other people because of the cost aspect. You can get a little more for your money if you're buying the more expensive parts, however if you're putting together a parts Squier it can end up costing more money to get it done unless you're really shopping around. Still, you get a custom instrument for far less than custom shop prices either way. IMO it's worth it.
Lately I have bought basses as complete packages. That is mostly because it's a lot harder to build your own parts G&L, and I love this manufacturer. Still, I would like to do a custom Warmoth build here when I get some cash.
It's pretty easy to put together a Fender-style bass yourself. The parts usually fit if you plan it a little bit. Leo Fender industrialized and standardized the production of instruments so that every part can be exchanged with another similar one. An AllParts neck will likely fit an MIM body perfectly. The wiring might be the hardest part, and even then you can get solderless harnesses made so you just put some wires in a hole and screw them down.
Here's a guy to contact for custom harnesses :
kellingsound88 on eBay
He can get you one with a prewired jack, and solderless components, but he also customizes your wiring scheme however you want. He's pretty reasonable price-wise.
For the rest you just need a screwdriver, a ratchet set, and (possibly) a drill. You don't need the drill usually if you make sure to buy pre-drilled parts. AllParts should be drilling the neck just fine for MIM bodies, but sometimes the neck drill holes won't line up properly with the holes in the body if you use cheaper necks or cheaper bodies (as in Squiers or other budget ones). If you do have to drill neck holes, you need a wood workers clamp of some sort to clamp the neck down in the pocket, then you drill a shallow hole through the body holes, using them as a reference.
Having a tech do a setup is nice, but you can get pretty close yourself if you buy a ruler that has 1/64" marks on it, a capo, and an automotive feeler gauge. Here's a guide :
Invalid Link Removed that I used to learn how to do it. I don't have any formal training, but after doing it a few times I can get pretty close to mimicing my guitar tech's setup. It's really just about getting accurate measurements, then taking baby-steps to tweak your setup to get the measurements within spec.
One thing that has aided my home setups is getting some radius gauges though. They just make setting the string height way easier because you can set the E and G string, then rest the radius gauge on the strings and raise or lower the middle two using the gauge as a reference.
