Let's See Your Hot-Rodded Cheapo Basses!

[Sub-hoo-fer]

Good to see this thread come alive!

latest project - glarry p bass collaboration with my son (design and paint) and me (electronics, bridge, fret work, strings, more fret work). Dropped in a Steve Harris pup and upgraded the pots and jack. She is currently wearing half of a Steve Harris flats set and half random strings from the parts drawer - we had an “issue” when stringing up.

 

[Malak the Mad]

Good to see this thread come alive!

latest project - glarry p bass collaboration with my son (design and paint) and me (electronics, bridge, fret work, strings, more fret work). Dropped in a Steve Harris pup and upgraded the pots and jack. She is currently wearing half of a Steve Harris flats set and half random strings from the parts drawer - we had an “issue” when stringing up.
View attachment 5383246

I did a couple spatter-based pieces back when I was a teenage art student...long before I'd ever heard of Jackson Pollack, no less! So, tell your son, from one artist to another, the spatter-effect looks great and is much loved!

 

[Riff Ranger]

Good to see this thread come alive!

latest project - glarry p bass collaboration with my son (design and paint) and me (electronics, bridge, fret work, strings, more fret work). Dropped in a Steve Harris pup and upgraded the pots and jack. She is currently wearing half of a Steve Harris flats set and half random strings from the parts drawer - we had an “issue” when stringing up.
View attachment 5383246

Cookies ‘n’ creme!

 

[daveman50]

OK, I'll play. I modified a Danelectro "Dano 56" by installing a Dan Armstrong plexi-bass pickup... as a copy of a similarly-modified Silvertone 1444 bass I had the pleasure to play a few times.

As described here:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/he...ertone-model-1444-bass.1208199/#post-18890763

 

[Dincrest]

My #1 bass: A heavily modded LTD (by ESP) HTB-600 Children of Bodom signature bass. It was a Guitar Center rescue I got for less than $250. I feel like I got a Lexus at a Chevy price. The bass was so much nicer than that, it just needed some love and, at the time, I needed a backup. Guess what? That bass became my #1. It's been in multiple bands/musical projects with me, toured up and down the east coast, even been in photo shoots with models. I've often thought about retiring the bass and keeping it purely as a display piece, but that bass does NOT want to retire. I will take it to the afterlife with me. Everyone I play with says it's my best sounding bass or that the tone is amazing.

The mods I had a luthier I know do:
-the sick swirl paint job
-had the active EMGs swapped out for passive Duncans and a V/V/T control setup
-Hipshot Xtender
-GraphTech TUSQ nut
-Dunlop StrapLocks

Stock photo of before:

Photo of after:

 

[Riff Ranger]

My #1 bass: A heavily modded LTD (by ESP) HTB-600 Children of Bodom signature bass. It was a Guitar Center rescue I got for less than $250. I feel like I got a Lexus at a Chevy price. The bass was so much nicer than that, it just needed some love and, at the time, I needed a backup. Guess what? That bass became my #1. It's been in multiple bands/musical projects with me, toured up and down the east coast, even been in photo shoots with models. I've often thought about retiring the bass and keeping it purely as a display piece, but that bass does NOT want to retire. I will take it to the afterlife with me. Everyone I play with says it's my best sounding bass or that the tone is amazing.

The mods I had a luthier I know do:
-the sick swirl paint job
-had the active EMGs swapped out for passive Duncans and a V/V/T control setup
-Hipshot Xtender
-GraphTech TUSQ nut
-Dunlop StrapLocks

Stock photo of before: View attachment 5383652

Photo of after:
View attachment 5383663

Do the two knobs left over from the conversion to your new electronics configuration do anything?

 

[Dincrest]

@Riff Ranger

No, they're dummy knobs. I'm thinking of getting a pair of novelty knobs to put on those dummy knobs for decorative purposes.

 

[ghiggin1079]

This is my Glarry GIB 5 HH (you may have seen it in the Exquisite, Glarry, Burning Fire thread). I swapped out the chrome hardware, for black, TUSQ XL Nut, fret dress and polish, radiused the fret board and installed a three band preamp with mid sweep (Tone Monster SBK-3A) taking it from a confusing system to a good, versatile player. I won't be a regular five string player, but I wanted something I could turn to when needed.
View attachment 5267388 View attachment 5267387 View attachment 5267389

Are the pickups to this the std Duncan asb2-5/EMG-40 sized soapbar?

 

[J Wilson]

Squier James Johnston Sig from a few years ago. Just fine as is, but I wanted a certain look, so after a few days at the J Wilson Custom Shop, I got this back:

I was always a sucker for that LPB paint scheme, and this was WAY cheaper than going down to Carter's or George Gruhn's and buying an OG. I always liked the white pickguard/pickup shells scheme on Strats, so that's where this came from. Fender Yosemite Jazz pickups barely used from Reverb, white PG and shells from Bass Parts Resource, chrome witch hats from All Parts, passive balancer and Super Jack and the pickup foam with the embedded springs from Stew Mac. Fender FB620 bag.

These basses needed nothing, but I was after this look with a balancer, and the stock pickups would have been just fine, but I stole the Yosemites, so there they went.

(If I posted this earlier, excuse my poor SEARCH skills.)

 

[MadJack]

Are the pickups to this the std Duncan asb2-5/EMG-40 sized soapbar?

1-3/8" x 4", so probably yes. I know those pickups are 4" long.

 

[ghiggin1079]

1-3/8" x 4", so probably yes. I know those pickups are 4" long.

Yup that'll do 'er. I got one coming in the post. Cheers!

 

[Riff Ranger]

View attachment 5433988
Squier James Johnston Sig from a few years ago. Just fine as is, but I wanted a certain look, so after a few days at the J Wilson Custom Shop, I got this back:

View attachment 5433990
I was always a sucker for that LPB paint scheme, and this was WAY cheaper than going down to Carter's or George Gruhn's and buying an OG. I always liked the white pickguard/pickup shells scheme on Strats, so that's where this came from. Fender Yosemite Jazz pickups barely used from Reverb, white PG and shells from Bass Parts Resource, chrome witch hats from All Parts, passive balancer and Super Jack and the pickup foam with the embedded springs from Stew Mac. Fender FB620 bag.

These basses needed nothing, but I was after this look with a balancer, and the stock pickups would have been just fine, but I stole the Yosemites, so there they went.

(If I posted this earlier, excuse my poor SEARCH skills.)

I can’t recall seeing this before, so I’m very glad you added this one here. The stock version looks but the hot rod version looks

 

[McSalterson]

This is a Sterling Ray5HH that I bought used for about $280. I ripped out both of the stock pickups and all of the electronics.

Put in:
A single Nordstrand humbucker
John East 3 band preamp
AlBridge bridge
Black pearloid pickguard
Black knobs
Black Dunlop straplocks (after picture was taken)

 

[McSalterson]

I also bought a new Ray4H for $285 a year ago that had a faulty preamp. I took it apart, sent the body off to be painted and bought all new components. It's been 10 months and I still don't have the body back. I have all the components sitting in my closet, but if I ever get the body back, it will have

Custom paint job
Aguilar pickup
Retrovibe Stinger preamp
AlBridge bridge (black)
Cavity plate (black)
Hipshot tuners (black)
String tree (black)
Straplocks (black)
New knobs (yes, black)

 

[Malak the Mad]

I also bought a new Ray4H for $285 a year ago that had a faulty preamp. I took it apart, sent the body off to be painted and bought all new components. It's been 10 months and I still don't have the body back. I have all the components sitting in my closet, but if I ever get the body back, it will have

Custom paint job
Aguilar pickup
Retrovibe Stinger preamp

Sorry to hear you haven't gotten your body back. I've been considering a refinishing job on a Fender Classic '70s Jazz body, too, and I don't want the same to happen to me. Ironically, I'm also planning on giving it some extra routing, installing a MusicMan-style humbucker between the existing pickups and controlling it all with some Jaguar-style switches and a Retrovibe Stinger preamp.

Good luck with your build!

 

[knigel]

Here is a guy that I has gone through a few iterations, but I think it's finally done. Il Mostro!

Hayman 4040 neck I had made by Nick Holcomb that plays incredible, Squier P Body, crazy mashup pickguard, Duncan pickup with a push pull series / parallel master volume and a two band stacked preamp. They don't have a wiring diagram for what I wanted to do but somehow I figured it out. Sounds pretty damn aggressive and sits well in a mix.

 

[JIO]

Cheap & hot-rodded - old (bought for cheap many years ago) guitar body (possibly ESP?), free Epi Goth T-bird neck (gift from a friend), '60s Teisco single-coil pu's* & V/T knobs (bought years ago when they were cheap), gold Ibanez individual bridge units & Y-tuners (bridge, bought many years ago, tuners gifted)... a bit funky, but plays/sounds great -a BA R&R axe if there ever was one! It's light too - 7lbs/4oz.

*sorta J pu locations but maybe more Stingray B-pu position. Whatever it is - it sounds pretty darn good!

 

[Oig]

I can’t remember if I posted this before, but it’s now long gone and I wish I hadn’t sold it! I got it as a battered old GSR 205 (I think). It got a high mass bridge, Seymour Duncan preamp, Gotoh tuners, Jazz knobs and a pickguard repurposed from an old Esquire. Best feeling 5 I ever had, and light as a feather too.

Also: Not modded yet, but soon…

 

[Deleted member 365158]

This was a poorly painted and badly modified plywood Pbass body when I got my hands on it but worth the $20. After it sat around for a while I decided to use it as a bass vi platform and enter it in the last winter build off.
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/winter-build-off-2024-best-bass-vi-for-my-budget.1633711/

 

[Riff Ranger]

This was a poorly painted and badly modified plywood Pbass body when I got my hands on it but worth the $20. After it sat around for a while I decided to use it as a bass vi platform and enter it in the last winter build off.
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/winter-build-off-2024-best-bass-vi-for-my-budget.1633711/

View attachment 5449707 View attachment 5449708

So slick!