View attachment 3557484 My Blue cheapie got new Tuning Machines and La Bella Nylon Tapewound 115’s. Big and fat easy playing. And a neck and Headstock sanding with 1500. A little nut slot work. Smooth
I like that head stock. Cool P!
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Let's See Your Hot-Rodded Cheapo Basses!
- Thread starter Riff Ranger
- Start date
I like that head stock. Cool P!
I recently bought a CIC Squier Classic Vibe 70's P bass, perhaps not a "cheapo" in some people's books, but I would go with "affordable". It's a great bass as-is, but with a few mods it can become a top-level instrument! I installed a Custom Shop 62 pickup, Gotoh GB640 Res-o-lite tuners, CTS pots, PIO cap, Switchcraft jack and TI jazz flats. It is now my main bass. The mods aren't really visible except for the tuners and they're only subtly different visually, so it's a bit of a "sleeper". Sounds amazing to me and it feels great to play. I wouldn't trade it for any new bass right now. Only mod I'm still considering is possibly a new nut, but we'll see.
I love the "in-between" neck, it's a P neck, but slimmer at the nut than most. Looks like a 70's vintage, but with the modern neck carve it's easier to play.
The CS 62 pickup is for the tonez.. my favourite P pickup. The CTS pots and PIO cap are just better quality than the small pots and little cap that it came with, better feel on the pots and at the very least a psychosomatic improvement in tone
. Switchcraft jack holds cables better. The tuners ended up only being aroud 70g lighter in total than the stock ones (and the stock ones were actually surprisingly good), but it's enough of a difference to get the balance point just right, so no more neck dive. The tuners had the lowest "improvement to cost" ratio, but that little difference just finishes the instrument and puts into the "awesome" category for me, no real improvements to be made from there.
I know if I sold it I'd never recoup the costs of the mods, but I don't care. It's meant to be played and enjoyed and it is and will be for a very long time to come!
I love the "in-between" neck, it's a P neck, but slimmer at the nut than most. Looks like a 70's vintage, but with the modern neck carve it's easier to play.
The CS 62 pickup is for the tonez.. my favourite P pickup. The CTS pots and PIO cap are just better quality than the small pots and little cap that it came with, better feel on the pots and at the very least a psychosomatic improvement in tone
. Switchcraft jack holds cables better. The tuners ended up only being aroud 70g lighter in total than the stock ones (and the stock ones were actually surprisingly good), but it's enough of a difference to get the balance point just right, so no more neck dive. The tuners had the lowest "improvement to cost" ratio, but that little difference just finishes the instrument and puts into the "awesome" category for me, no real improvements to be made from there.I know if I sold it I'd never recoup the costs of the mods, but I don't care. It's meant to be played and enjoyed and it is and will be for a very long time to come!
I was about to pull the trigger on one of those myself when this Fender came along to perfectly match my Squier VMPV. I have these two nearly where I want them, and will post accordingly when I settle on mods. By my personal standards, there’s nothing “cheapo” about the Fender, but it does just squeak in under the terms I suggested at the start of this thread; since it will be a twin to the Squier, I will post them together.I recently bought a CIC Squier Classic Vibe 70's P bass, perhaps not a "cheapo" in some people's books, but I would go with "affordable". It's a great bass as-is, but with a few mods it can become a top-level instrument! I installed a Custom Shop 62 pickup, Gotoh GB640 Res-o-lite tuners, CTS pots, PIO cap, Switchcraft jack and TI jazz flats. It is now my main bass. The mods aren't really visible except for the tuners and they're only subtly different visually, so it's a bit of a "sleeper". Sounds amazing to me and it feels great to play. I wouldn't trade it for any new bass right now. Only mod I'm still considering is possibly a new nut, but we'll see.
I love the "in-between" neck, it's a P neck, but slimmer at the nut than most. Looks like a 70's vintage, but with the modern neck carve it's easier to play.
The CS 62 pickup is for the tonez.. my favourite P pickup. The CTS pots and PIO cap are just better quality than the small pots and little cap that it came with, better feel on the pots and at the very least a psychosomatic improvement in tone
I know if I sold it I'd never recoup the costs of the mods, but I don't care. It's meant to be played and enjoyed and it is and will be for a very long time to come!
View attachment 3557595
Beautiful!I recently bought a CIC Squier Classic Vibe 70's P bass, perhaps not a "cheapo" in some people's books, but I would go with "affordable". It's a great bass as-is, but with a few mods it can become a top-level instrument! I installed a Custom Shop 62 pickup, Gotoh GB640 Res-o-lite tuners, CTS pots, PIO cap, Switchcraft jack and TI jazz flats. It is now my main bass. The mods aren't really visible except for the tuners and they're only subtly different visually, so it's a bit of a "sleeper". Sounds amazing to me and it feels great to play. I wouldn't trade it for any new bass right now. Only mod I'm still considering is possibly a new nut, but we'll see.
I love the "in-between" neck, it's a P neck, but slimmer at the nut than most. Looks like a 70's vintage, but with the modern neck carve it's easier to play.
The CS 62 pickup is for the tonez.. my favourite P pickup. The CTS pots and PIO cap are just better quality than the small pots and little cap that it came with, better feel on the pots and at the very least a psychosomatic improvement in tone
I know if I sold it I'd never recoup the costs of the mods, but I don't care. It's meant to be played and enjoyed and it is and will be for a very long time to come!
View attachment 3557595
That's a lovely couple. And a very nice pair of basses, too
Seriously, though, very nice indeed!Beautiful!
Thank you
Porta-potty blue, I like it!View attachment 3557484 My Blue cheapie got new Tuning Machines and La Bella Nylon Tapewound 115’s. Big and fat easy playing. And a neck and Headstock sanding with 1500. A little nut slot work. Smooth
That means I will have to play the crap out of it!
Just wanted to add that the stock CIC Classic Vibe instruments are surprisingly good as-is. I could have happily played and gigged the bass unmodded. The quality of workmanship and finishing on the instrument fits somewhere between MIM and MIA in my experience, so I felt that the hardware just didn't quite do justice to the instrument and hence the mods (and the fact that I can't seem to ever leave things stock, I'm always trying to "improve" my stuff).
If I were looking for a travel bass or backup instrument, I'd get another CIC CV and leave it stock.
I have pre-ordered an Indonesian CV Jaguar which will see a few mods when it arrives, too, so I'll probably post that in this thread when it's arrived and modded
If I were looking for a travel bass or backup instrument, I'd get another CIC CV and leave it stock.
I have pre-ordered an Indonesian CV Jaguar which will see a few mods when it arrives, too, so I'll probably post that in this thread when it's arrived and modded
I did swap... picked up a neck from a Mustang P/J. Also have a Nordstrand ‘51 split coil pu & Hipshot Lollipop tuners on the way...
View attachment 3533045
Nordy arrived... still waiting on Hipshots! (this is actually not so ‘cheapo’ any longer
)
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I will have to A/B the pickups for a bit (Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound in the four, M&V Atlas in the five) and settle on one kind before they’re really done, but the twins are nearly done:
Pickguard Planet had black/DAYGLO ORANGE/black as an option, and how could I say no to that?
Pickguard Planet had black/DAYGLO ORANGE/black as an option, and how could I say no to that?
Why do they have to be the same? I actually like the fact that right now they are different. If it were me (I know this is about you, but just IF), i wouldn't be using them the same, so like:
Those pickguards really set off the sunburst and highlight the edges beautifully, IMO. Great little detail!
Great looking twins! I like symmetry...
... never tried the M&V’s- but have QP’s in 2 of my P’s!
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Hot rodded my slab body the other week there. Would say not in a big way but that wouldn't be strictly true.
Got a fella in England to build me an over wound pickup.
Got a fella in England to build me an over wound pickup.
Cost me under $150 for this Carlo Robelli bass in 2006. Have gigged in in NY and in Greece since then. Recorded two demos with it, as well.
The sound engineers were happily surprised at how good it sounded.
Played great out of the box (although it didn't have a box
), other than needing a setup. The active electronics on this bass and the pickupare excellent. It's held up great over the last 13 years.
All I've done to hot rod it is add Aurora strings and custom dice control knobs made from dice actually used in a casino.
The dice make this a hot rodCost me under $150 for this Carlo Robelli bass in 2006. Have gigged in in NY and in Greece since then. Recorded two demos with it, as well.
The sound engineers were happily surprised at how good it sounded.
Played great out of the box (although it didn't have a box
are excellent. It's held up great over the last 13 years.
All I've done to hot rod it is add Aurora strings and custom dice control knobs made from dice actually used in a casino.
View attachment 3562728
That's what my oldest bass-playing buddy says, which I think makes sense generally; with these two specifically, however, I want to have consistency in my "go-to" tones when switching between four- and five-string instruments (I also have matched ATKs). As the post that started this thread suggests, I do have others, and do appreciate some variety between those.
