As a Telecaster tinkerer and recent convert to bass, I've been reading all I can about basses.I just read this article on Premier Guitar...
On Bass: Leaving Well Enough Alone | Premier Guitar... and reluctantly have to agree with him although I LOVE to tinker. All instruments can't be expected to be stock keepers but when you find one it's maybe best to "step away" from the soldering iron....regardless of what the headstock reads.
What say y'all?
I used to screwdriver and soldering iron parts for a living 20 years ago.
It's about as hard as replacing leaking cam timing feed lines from a modern engine when you've done it 1000x.
Hard parts are as interesting as tire rotations and alignment jobs after a while.
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Common build patterns
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1) Customers that want their bass to sound like totally unlike XXXXXX bass.
That rarely works bc I found that a player is more a part of the equation than the gear.
In cases of cloning a build that did work, the targeted tone was so utterly overboard that nuance doesn't tend to come through.
I'll cite Warwick, MM, Spector (real ones with a Haz + EMGs), Epiphone hollowbody, Rick, and Wal as particular sounds that are difficult for a lot of players to make not sound like that instrument but pointless to clone something else to sound like one.
At that point just go buy XXXXX bass, it's easier to get an "SVT sound" out of "not an SVT" than it is to make your MIM Jazz 5 sound like a Modulus.
2) Like to like mods.
It's a piece of cake job to throw in boutique or "real" pickups to do a like for like mod.
OLP rays, Fender anything, Warwick crapstar to German, korean Spector to Haz'd out EMG NS whatever.
I used to live on jobs like these bc they are totally satisfactory, fast to turn around, and the customer already has this sound in their head they are 100% sold on.
3) Ground up mutants.
These are time consuming and cause the most issues.
Wood recipe cloning into a different scale, body/neck, or trying to multiply one build into a Wal-Stingray-P.
These are fun, but that customer generally has needs that are only addressed after the build has walked out the door.
It comes back, over and over again.
There is rarely remediation, it's a one shot or tantrum per usual interaction.
There's never a resolution, what they're trying to get isn't attainable bc it's not a gear issue.
4) Race car jobs.
These are ever evolving mods like #3, but the customer is totally different in that every build close has some satisfactory outcome.
Unlike #3 a negative or meh result is a "learning experience" welcomed by the customer.
They could be a player working, a hobbyist bouncing around genres, someone just there for the ride to see what the instrument can do.
There's rarely a resolution unless they stop playing.
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So there you have it, my instant gut PTSD experiences wrenching on gear in my 20's.
I tend to collect parts from #3 and #4 types of customer.
I've worked on enough gear than subconsciously when I leave a bass on the wall I know I hit either it's current limit of exploration based on available parts.....or it's taken apart in a gig bag bc it's just a test bench.
These are cattle to me, not pets.
I won't put my tools down unless people stop making parts with new ideas.
What fun is there in that?
, i did not get that memo, or if i did: i misplaced it!
