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Is it possible to undo a PJ job?
- Thread starter Doublesixes
- Start date
You can do that now. Just close your eyes.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,602
- 222,030
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
i'm not really a fan of roadworn and actual patina instruments so i would probably take it to a luthier to have the hole filled and the bass repainted. either that or i would swap it for an unaltered p bass body.
I'd keep the original body and electronics intact.
Buy another P bass and put the old neck on it.
+1 The aging and wear of the finish on the front couldn't be duplicated if you removed, plugged and refined the J pickup. Either forget that it's there or refinish the whole bass.
I would disconnect the j pickup and play it as is. Yes you can fill the hole and refinish the bass but it’s so much trouble to go through and the refinish devalues the bass so much that i’d just sell it and find another one that hasn’t been modded.
Well, I can't get pass the goosebump stage while looking at that restoration job JohnK did on that old girl. Simply phenomenal.
I can understand why sspear wanted to restore the original burst to his bass as red was really out of character for that instrument. In my case, I'd like to keep the scars my bass acquired through the years prior to my ownership. My only and perhaps capital sin was to commission a good luthier to do the carving as I didn't put a single noticeable ding or scratch on that bass since I purchased it in 1977 from the second owner.
A little bit of history here. He told me that the bass pretty much looked in the same condition when he got it and that the roadie sent to Los Angeles to procure a used Gibson 335, a Fender P bass and some Marshall amps got a tip about some group that had just disbanded and that some equipment was for sale and kept in the back of a truck. All this around 1975-76. I suppose back in those years the charisma older Fender and Gibson instruments had was not even close to what they presently enjoy.
You’d mainly be hearing the differences between the two basses in that situation. No two sound alike.
Just throw it away it obviously isn't worthy to be in your presence.
I just did this with a 77. I had MJT do it along with a refinish. Came out incredible and I would do it again.
You guys will hate me for this but the biggest improvement was getting rid of that heavy Badass bridge.
Before having the route filled, I had completely disconnected the jazz pickup from the chain. IMO simply turning the knob down did not have the same tonal result. The bass sounds 20 times better to me with the stock pickup and the bent plate bridge.
Before having the route filled, I had completely disconnected the jazz pickup from the chain. IMO simply turning the knob down did not have the same tonal result. The bass sounds 20 times better to me with the stock pickup and the bent plate bridge.
If the pure P bass sound is the goal, then at least remove the J pickup and replace it with an empty J pup case with no pole holes. The bridge pickup has an effect of altering the string swing. Think of it as a jump rope swinging back and forth then put an object of slight resistance to the movement near the end of the rope. It would put a sort of Z shaped extra motion running up/down the rope along with with the normal undisturbed gentle swing.
I'm sure any audience would never know any difference except for the occasional critic who can't play a bass but knows all the jargon to cut down someone who does play one . LOL
Only a Master of Masters could plug that hole with no seams, match the grain then match the color. You could take a photo of an adjacent area, get it printed into photo film (not inkjet) cut and tape the photo to cover the hole LOL. It would need to be replaced occasionally because film degrades.
I'm sure any audience would never know any difference except for the occasional critic who can't play a bass but knows all the jargon to cut down someone who does play one . LOL
Only a Master of Masters could plug that hole with no seams, match the grain then match the color. You could take a photo of an adjacent area, get it printed into photo film (not inkjet) cut and tape the photo to cover the hole LOL. It would need to be replaced occasionally because film degrades.
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Or at the very least, don't look down while you're playing.
There's no point, and the results wouldn't be good anyhow – not without a body refin to an opaque color. And IME, you'd actually be devaluing the bass at this point, since it's a tasteful and [generally] desirable mod that was done so long ago. You'd reduce desirability by having a formerly '70s-vintage mod that you have done a visible contemporary "repair" on, rather than just leaving the '70s-vintage mod be.
Also, it's not doing anything to reduce your ability to use the bass as a normal P. Just ignore the J pickup if you have no use for it. I do the same on my J Basses, as I rarely have any use for the bridge pickup. It's there, and I almost never use it, but it doesn't get in the way of anything I want to do.
Also, it's not doing anything to reduce your ability to use the bass as a normal P. Just ignore the J pickup if you have no use for it. I do the same on my J Basses, as I rarely have any use for the bridge pickup. It's there, and I almost never use it, but it doesn't get in the way of anything I want to do.
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Whats done is done. Filling rhw hole wirh foam isnt going to keep.
Try something different...put a split coil J pickup in there, like a DiMarzio.
This will keep it very different form your J basses.
Try something different...put a split coil J pickup in there, like a DiMarzio.
This will keep it very different form your J basses.
I have a 69 Precision that has been modded with a J and a battery compartment. It wasn't original anyway, the frets wore out and were replaced within 3 years!! I can't see any repair job successfully replacing the missing sections of body and refinishing it to look like a 60 year old bass. You've just go to accept it's one of those one-way mods.
After all that I replaced the pickups with a Bart set and found I preferred the P pickup on its own! So I just turned off the J pickup! It demonstrates the pointlessness of modding an instrument and trying to make it sound like another. Now I advise just buying the bass you want in the first place!
After all that I replaced the pickups with a Bart set and found I preferred the P pickup on its own! So I just turned off the J pickup! It demonstrates the pointlessness of modding an instrument and trying to make it sound like another. Now I advise just buying the bass you want in the first place!
