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Let's have fun with hypothetical modifications!

wraub

wraub

Apr 9, 2004
7,761
10,630
ennui, az
#1
Wanna play with me? :D Okay...

Let's say that you had recently acquired an inexpensive but good quality bass for, basically, pennies. Also, let's say that said bass is more than acceptable, but closely enough covers ground you already have covered with other basses. It is pretty good, but, somewhat redundant, as this bass has a P/J PU setup, and you already have both a P and a J.

If you were to change out the PUs for something different and more "fun", what would you choose? Routing or basic mods are fine. (Please bear in mind that this bass wants to be passive, but fairly aggressive, and that all parts are likely to be sourced through TB classifieds, as I am broke. ;) )

Thunderbird? Bartolini Soapbars? Jazz? P-90s? :D
Have useful suggestions or info? Or, maybe some jokes about pirates playing bass?
All are welcome. :D

Thanks.
 
#2
This process took me down the road to my current #1.

My Hammersmith 5 has a Nordstrand P pickup at the neck. At the bridge is a Duncan NYC 5 dual coil pickup. (Think double jazz pickup.)

All passive.

Mast volume and tone. 3 way selector for neck/both/bridge. 3 way selector for the bridge pickup series/parallel/single (inner most coil).

It's a passive beast with several usable tones. About the only thing I could do to keep it passive and make it more versatile is to route out a mudbucker (ala Billy Sheehan) closer to the neck.
 
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#5
wraub said:
Wanna play with me? :D Okay...

Let's say that you had recently acquired an inexpensive but good quality bass for, basically, pennies. Also, let's say that said bass is more than acceptable, but closely enough covers ground you already have covered with other basses. It is pretty good, but, somewhat redundant, as this bass has a P/J PU setup, and you already have both a P and a J.

If you were to change out the PUs for something different and more "fun", what would you choose? Routing or basic mods are fine. (Please bear in mind that this bass wants to be passive, but fairly aggressive, and that all parts are likely to be sourced through TB classifieds, as I am broke. ;) )

Thunderbird? Bartolini Soapbars? Jazz? P-90s? :D
Have useful suggestions or info? Or, maybe some jokes about pirates playing bass?
All are welcome. :D

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Simple...PJ with Lace Sensor Man O' War P and J set and Stellartone Bass Duo Six.
 
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#6
Sounds almost like a project I have been thinking about for a while. I would like to og reverse P, with a MM style humbucker at the bridge. Kind of Reverend Mercali style. A switch to split the humbucker would be nice in addition to VVT or VBT
I have been looking at a beat up/ stripped aria pro II CSB which might be my victim for experimenting.:cool::bassist:
 
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#12
JIO said:
If it were a P-bass (whatever badge) it would be interesting to try this pu location order. Never seen it before or since and could result in some interesting tones.

Click to expand...

Is that a mudbucker at the bridge with a P pickup and jazz (or 50s p) snugged up against the neck? Pretty wild, here's some other shots:
hqdefault.jpg
gettyimages-605411489-612x612.jpg
 
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#18
Something I've been tossing around in my head for my BB415. I like gigging it but would like more something from the back pickup. I don't care for it's solo'd sound or the single coil buzz.

So why not add another rail in back? It's not quite in the Stingray position as the coil closer to the neck roughly lines up with the back SR coil.

Controls are volume, PU blend, and tone. Pickup selector is parallel - single - series. Pots changed from 250k to 500k to (hopefully) give a bit brighter tone.

Tuners are Hipshot Ultralight Y's. I figure the 1/2 pound saved on tuners will roughly compensate for the extra electronics and PU and also eliminate the current bit of neck dive. Result should be somewhere around 9lbs flat.

BB_pickupIdea_02.jpg


Last thing... an extra fret. I prefer 22 and, hey, it's hypothetical! If I were to do something like that it would be a removable single fret attachment held on by 2 alnico magnets and the fret wire would just overlay the end of the fretboard. (Actually, magnets would probably mess with string vibration so I'll just go with 'held on by magic' for now.) Getting it aligned with the other frets would be tough but anything is possible...
 
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#19
Hypothetical (but practical). If the bass that it's like (another PJ if I'm getting things right here) has typical Alnico pickups, then consider some ceramic/steel pickups to move you a distance away from that sound, making this bass non-duplicative. I'd suggest Dimarzio model P's and J's, or Nordstrand P blades and J blades as pickups that'll fit into the routes you have , but will change the vibe considerably.
 
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