Oh, I forgot, another cat to blame for me hacking up my bass and my hairstyle at the time:
View attachment 3687099
View attachment 3687100
Mel Schacher
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Let's See Your Hot-Rodded Cheapo Basses!
- Thread starter Riff Ranger
- Start date
Yes they fit! Thanks! I threw in some Motor City pickups and wow! Beefy!
How do u like the Motor Citys? I just nabbed a set of split P's that are MC off the bay without even noticing they were actually branded
Sweet thanks for the reply, I figured for 24$ I can't go wrong. What's the dc resistance if u don't mind me asking, the ones I'm getting are supposed to be 13k pretty hot for a p pickup from what I readLove them!
Absolutely love it. I have a similar experience. I bought a 1960 Jazz bass for $100 in '70/'71, when a used Fender was just a used Fender. It went through a couple neck PU changes, and a bit of body reshaping.
So I guess at $100, that's cheap, and I did mod the livin' $&!^ out of it. I still gig it on occasion, but due to a surgery, these days it's shorter scale basses for this old dog.
My bar rig, Ampeg PF50T + 2x SWR WM110" with my modded Squier '51P and me.
Is that an ATK pickup? Cool whatever it is.
Oh, I forgot, another cat to blame for me hacking up my bass and my hairstyle at the time:
View attachment 3687099
View attachment 3687100
Mel Schacher
OH yeah! Mel was a major influence on my playing and choice of my first new bass - sunburst/rosewood '73 Jazz bass.
Let's play some foot stompin' music while we're at it...
Time for my 2nd hot/rat rod. Last year I got some (apparently) kit bass build a guy had for 38€ (pretty funny ad in which he basically begged for somebody to take away the ugly thing). Neck and body are unusable (soon to be converted into hangers), but everything else is OK so I figured out I'd get a cheap (basswood) body and neck, which I did from AliExpress for 50€ (comparable quality to Thomann's kits). The "build" didn't have a pickguard, but I happen to have a black one laying around from a Frankenstein that never came to fruition.
So, with everything on me I started this last Sunday, simply brushed the body and emptied a black spray can on it, in 2 stages/layers (headstock was OK with one). My intention is to lightly sand this and apply several layers of clear coat (probably water based poly), sanding every now and then in between. It's not too cold but it's certainly more humid than usual here in Madrid these days (grey and lots of morning fog), so it took several hours for it to lose the tackiness. No problem anyway as I'm not touching this probably until thursday. After clear coating I'll wet sand no further than grain 1000, then manually cloth buff some wax and leave it alone (maybe put some stickers on it, don't want it to look too tidy). Neck pocket (not the best fit in the world) is OK and alignment is calculated. Have yet to extend the bridge pickup route a couple mm each side (top & bottom) and I have to drill a hole from bridge to bridge pickup route for grounding (not a fan of the exposed copper strip). Don't have a long enough bit tho' so I'll probably do some kind of V drilling from both sides (done this before when adding a J to my other P kit build). So, on to the graphic material...
Parts...
Body...
Headstock (the terrible masking work where the fretboard begins is going away soon, with a sharpie, of course, rat rod style) ...
So, with everything on me I started this last Sunday, simply brushed the body and emptied a black spray can on it, in 2 stages/layers (headstock was OK with one). My intention is to lightly sand this and apply several layers of clear coat (probably water based poly), sanding every now and then in between. It's not too cold but it's certainly more humid than usual here in Madrid these days (grey and lots of morning fog), so it took several hours for it to lose the tackiness. No problem anyway as I'm not touching this probably until thursday. After clear coating I'll wet sand no further than grain 1000, then manually cloth buff some wax and leave it alone (maybe put some stickers on it, don't want it to look too tidy). Neck pocket (not the best fit in the world) is OK and alignment is calculated. Have yet to extend the bridge pickup route a couple mm each side (top & bottom) and I have to drill a hole from bridge to bridge pickup route for grounding (not a fan of the exposed copper strip). Don't have a long enough bit tho' so I'll probably do some kind of V drilling from both sides (done this before when adding a J to my other P kit build). So, on to the graphic material...
Parts...
Body...
Headstock (the terrible masking work where the fretboard begins is going away soon, with a sharpie, of course, rat rod style
) ...
Last edited:
Rat rod finally up and running. Had some time for clear coating on thursday, thus Saturday was assembly day. After a detailed setup it plays comfortable and sounds... like a Jazz Bass.
The foam ramp kills the look a little, I know, but I'm a Stingray5 guy and am VERY used to playing in that position (perfect spot for softness vs punch), so used to feeling the pickup underneath, it keeps my fingers from going too far under (playing more on the very tips). This is a short sample of how it sounds (both pickups, then neck, then bridge). Not bad at all considering the 88€ price tag for all the parts. I'm probably doing the push-pull S1 mod soon.
The foam ramp kills the look a little, I know, but I'm a Stingray5 guy and am VERY used to playing in that position (perfect spot for softness vs punch), so used to feeling the pickup underneath, it keeps my fingers from going too far under (playing more on the very tips). This is a short sample of how it sounds (both pickups, then neck, then bridge). Not bad at all considering the 88€ price tag for all the parts. I'm probably doing the push-pull S1 mod soon.
Last edited:
Great sounding bass.
I have a love/hate relationship with Jazz basses. I love the sound but can't get on with having 2 volumes when playing live.
The only J I currently own is a fretless (with chromes) that I've used quite a bit in the studio but has only seen 3 or 4 gigs.
Some more samples. This is what I indeed usually play in bands (mostly distorted, using a -thin- pick and hitting hard, yet guitar-like fluid). I've made some dirt samples, both in standard tuning (my usual HC/punk stuff) and in drop-D, which I often do when subbing for one of my fave Spanish metal bands (use a 5er normally, but could probably get away with an easily "D-droppable" 4). Each sample has both pickups on, then only the neck pickup (despite being an RKL fan the bridge pickup soloed tone is not something I like for anything remotely rock, much less pick work -not a solo guy-).
Last edited:
Thanx! I feel your pain, I'm thinking about doing VBT to both this and my other kit build (P/J). I'm mainly a Stingray5 player, have almost never dealt with 2 volume pots. Easy and cheap mod tho', non invasive and totally reversible really if your Jazz is of the expensive kind.
I was thinking of picking up a cheap fretted Jazz to use as a modding platform.
The other day I found a 2 band MM preamp clone (that I made years ago) that had briefly been fitted in a P bass. It will be worth a try if I ever get round to doing it.
can you give a brief description of how you did your "blacked out" board, please? i have a fretted neck/board i'm thinking about defretting --- thought i'd just use a black epoxy coating and be done --- but i'm curious about your method/experience.
I had this done and will see if the guy who did it remembers how he did it better than I do, but I believe he used epoxy and fine rosewood sawdust to fill the formerly fretted bits. I will post an image later, and I think those following this thread will dig it: I haven’t modified this instrument in any other ways, but this one’s a doozycan you give a brief description of how you did your "blacked out" board, please? i have a fretted neck/board i'm thinking about defretting --- thought i'd just use a black epoxy coating and be done --- but i'm curious about your method/experience.
All of my basses would be considered kind of trashy by a gear snob... $100 used MIM necks, mutilated no-name bodies from ebay, standard-level pickups and hardware, even the strings are purchased used from the TB classifieds.
