Let's See Your Hot-Rodded Cheapo Basses!

[/\/\3phist0]

Bought this 70s Goya from a TBR as neck/body/bridge. For 100.00
One piece mahogany body
With the 1.75 " nut it was a good candidate for a 5 string conversion.
Added the tuner. Filed a nut. Added a string module to a 4 string Kahler fixed bridge. 15.5 mm spaced. Since the neck heel is only 2.5"
2x EMG P5a (alnico) pickups.
Man this thing is great . Seriously a killer B.
Installed cheapo gold tuners, and double sided taped the gold ashtrays.
Also Black Pearl block inlay stickers

 

[EatS1stBassist]

Bought this 70s Goya from a TBR as neck/body/bridge. For 100.00
One piece mahogany body
With the 1.75 " nut it was a good candidate for a 5 string conversion.
Added the tuner. Filed a nut. Added a string module to a 4 string Kahler fixed bridge. 15.5 mm spaced. Since the neck heel is only 2.5"
2x EMG P5a (alnico) pickups.
Man this thing is great . Seriously a killer B.
Installed cheapo gold tuners, and double sided taped the gold ashtrays.
Also Black Pearl block inlay stickers
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Great looking bass! I like that Bo in sparkle!

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Great looking bass! I like that Bo in sparkle!

Thanks for the kind words.
I built the Billy Bo also.
Special Edition Build off - Super Tangerine Billy Bo

 

[EatS1stBassist]

Thanks for the kind words.
I built the Billy Bo also.
Special Edition Build off - Super Tangerine Billy Bo

Fantastic job!

 

[Riff Ranger]

Bought this 70s Goya from a TBR as neck/body/bridge. For 100.00
One piece mahogany body
With the 1.75 " nut it was a good candidate for a 5 string conversion.
Added the tuner. Filed a nut. Added a string module to a 4 string Kahler fixed bridge. 15.5 mm spaced. Since the neck heel is only 2.5"
2x EMG P5a (alnico) pickups.
Man this thing is great . Seriously a killer B.
Installed cheapo gold tuners, and double sided taped the gold ashtrays.
Also Black Pearl block inlay stickers
View attachment 3928532 View attachment 3928533 View attachment 3928534 View attachment 3928535 View attachment 3928536 View attachment 3928550
View attachment 3928551 View attachment 3928552

That looks like a fun fleet, and your new hot-rodded cheapo fits right in. My five-string '95 Ibanez ATK and my four-string '84 Peavey Fury both have 1.75" nuts (both stock but for the strap buttons, with every intention to keep them that way, if you can believe it). It's weird; the ATK neck feels like a substantial five-string neck (nothing like a Soundgear/SR), but the Fury neck doesn't feel crazy wide.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Fantastic job!

Thank you so much!

The real payoff is both of these are fantastic players.
The Billy is dead sexy.

I had the exact same Goya model back in the 80s. That one got G&L mfd's
The neck is thick but comfy , also very stable, needs no help from the trussrod even after adding the string.
Heavy but resonant body.
Tight spacing makes for a fun, fast bass. The EMGs are great too.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

That looks like a fun fleet, and your new hot-rodded cheapo fits right in. My five-string '95 Ibanez ATK and my four-string '84 Peavey Fury both have 1.75" nuts (both stock but for the strap buttons, with every intention to keep them that way, if you can believe it). It's weird; the ATK neck feels like a substantial five-string neck (nothing like a Soundgear/SR), but the Fury neck doesn't feel crazy wide.

4 strings:
1.75" is typical for a "P"
1.5" is a "J" width (and many others)
----
5 string designed necks are at more of a taper / fan out (nut to bridge) to accomodate the needs of players to get their fingers in between strings for slapping, or their familiarity / comfort.

-----

The Goya (I dubbed it "Double Chocolate (P)uddin" ) IS narrow, but so are many of the Ibby designs (15.5mm spacing at bridge)

 

[Riff Ranger]

4 strings:
1.75" is typical for a "P")

'twas in the beginning, yes. But my 2010 Fender Precision, and '90s four-string ATK, and other P-like-objects all have a nut width of 1.625", which seems more common since the '60s. Peavey's T series basses, and the first generation of Furies, had the wide 1.75" nuts; but as you say, they don't fan out on their way toward the bridges quite like the neck on my 1.75" nut five-string ATK. Oddly enough, the later Furies have notoriously narrow necks. I consider myself mildly picky about neck profiles, but somehow these all work for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[bound'n'blocked]

I'm not sure, but I think this was my first complete instrument purchase from eBay (I had bought parts for some projects). Its a Squier Standard Jazz. I got it from some pawn shop in Texas for $75 shipped. It was pretty rough. Over the years it has been my experiment bass...new bridges, necks, or pickups and electronics. Finally decided to fix it up nice. Allparts neck, aftermarket bridge, guard, and harness, and a nice paint job. Only original parts are the pickups, body and string tree!

BnB

 

[Riff Ranger]

I'm not sure, but I think this was my first complete instrument purchase from eBay (I had bought parts for some projects). Its a Squier Standard Jazz. I got it from some pawn shop in Texas for $75 shipped. It was pretty rough. Over the years it has been my experiment bass...new bridges, necks, or pickups and electronics. Finally decided to fix it up nice. Allparts neck, aftermarket bridge, guard, and harness, and a nice paint job. Only original parts are the pickups, body and string tree!

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BnB

Is that the original finish? Looks pretty immaculate for a $75 pawn shop find!

 

[EatS1stBassist]

I'm not sure, but I think this was my first complete instrument purchase from eBay (I had bought parts for some projects). Its a Squier Standard Jazz. I got it from some pawn shop in Texas for $75 shipped. It was pretty rough. Over the years it has been my experiment bass...new bridges, necks, or pickups and electronics. Finally decided to fix it up nice. Allparts neck, aftermarket bridge, guard, and harness, and a nice paint job. Only original parts are the pickups, body and string tree!

View attachment 3934025

BnB

Beautiful job bnb!

 

[bound'n'blocked]

Is that the original finish? Looks pretty immaculate for a $75 pawn shop find!

No, that was the biggest part of the "hot rodding" process. It was originally a 3tsb. The finish was in pretty good shape when I got it, so when I finally decided to paint it I just scuffed up the clear coat, fixed a couple of small divots in the finish, and painted it with a rattle can from Wally World.

BnB

 

[Wherestheone]

Indonesian (2005) Squier Affinity, bought from a former drummer's young lad. $150 Cdn with gig bag. As brought home:

Was in pretty darn nice shape to start. Took a bit of the high gloss finish off, PG rattlecanned with Gloss Navajo White ($0.62 from a $10 can) then some clear ($0.67......hahaha), installed a SCPB-3 and a Fender "vintage" bridge that I received as trade for a $100 pedal. Some D'Addario Chromes on the slowly getting better neck (action) and it thumps. Next up, some better tuners and some work on the fret ends. Gonna be a great little backup bass / campfire bass!!

The two pics here are for sure in different light....the "after" pic shows the red to be much darker than it really is...
After:

 

[Wherestheone]

Here’s my finished burned cheapo.
No stain or color was used. I just burned It wiped it down with a towel and 3 coats of oil based poly. View attachment 3882045View attachment 3882046View attachment 3882047View attachment 3882048

That pickguard looks AWESOME on that finish!! Nicely imagined sir!

 

[Volker Kirstein]

This is Li'l Red, a Squier Mini P I picked up NIB for €149. I applied Red Pearl Block inlay stickers, restrung with Ibanez Mikro strings (except for the G, which is a generic .045 nickel roundwound), and added red knobs that go to 11.

The original price was €169, but I got a €20 refund because of a scratch on the upper horn.

If you don't mind having the fat part of the string wound around the tuner post, any short scale strings will fit. I do mind, and Ibanez Mikro strings have the perfect winding length to taper for this bass.

 

[Root 5]

Bought this on the TB classifieds for cheap and sanded it down, stained it and put a Joe Barden pickup and fretless neck - turned out to be great playing bass and very light.
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I dig it.

 

[Riff Ranger]

Bought this on the TB classifieds for cheap and sanded it down, stained it and put a Joe Barden pickup and fretless neck - turned out to be great playing bass and very light.
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I'm glad somebody bumped this one and made me take another look at it. That's dreamy.

 

[bound'n'blocked]

I had forgotten about this one...

89 BC Rich Warlock platinum series. Bought it last summer (another pawn shop grab) for $150 plus tax. He was moving out all of his "pointy" guitars because he said they were too hard to store. A new paint job, Kick ass bridge I had from an old project, new wiring harness (Tonemonster from eBay) and knobs and a set of Snarlin' Dogs and it looks like new!

BnB

 

[Riff Ranger]

I had forgotten about this one...

89 BC Rich Warlock platinum series. Bought it last summer (another pawn shop grab) for $150 plus tax. He was moving out all of his "pointy" guitars because he said they were too hard to store. A new paint job, Kick ass bridge I had from an old project, new wiring harness (Tonemonster from eBay) and knobs and a set of Snarlin' Dogs and it looks like new!

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BnB

Y E S. That matching truss rod cover is key.

 

[Riff Ranger]

I’ve got another one!
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1992 Peavey Fury (180 USD in 2019).

I remember wishing I had gotten one of these back in the early ‘90s when I had just gotten started. A cousin and a friend both had them, and I remember loving the necks even though I generally prefer Precision dimensions. When my cousin recently got himself another, I finally had to have one of my own.

It came to me in good shape and ready to handle my standard tuning, general purpose bass needs—but the cheap white plastic pickguard and even cheaper plastic knobs (replacements?) had to go.

I custom ordered a mirror pickguard (70 USD ) but it didn’t quite fit , knocked a solder joint loose learning that the hard way , and the maker, ahem, didn’t take it too well when learning that the guard didn’t fit , so I didn’t feel like dealing with them further. I set this bass aside for weeks, tried getting a white one with a black guard to see if I could swap parts, but nothing quite matched up. The teenage dream was becoming a middle age nightmare.

After I came upon some sweet old Peavey knobs (9 USD each), though, I knew I had to give them a try:
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Emboldened by the instant improvement, I summoned my courage and went about making the guard fit. I will need to drill some new screw holes if I fully commit. What do you think? Should I get drilling?

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Pickguard screws and brass potentiometer sleeves in (1 USD, haha), rocking this morning's junior ranger webinar!