MIM conversion is it possible?

[/\/\3phist0]

Why bother? Even if you spend hundreds of dollars, it will always be a MIM body.

Because it's wood . Same wood as a mia .
The arbitrary value assigned to factory USA is immaterial to this discussion.

Because the store doesn't have what he wants .
If it doesn't make sense to you, shake your head and walk away.
You're not helping anyone .
You're not saving someone from a mistake
Please be curtious rather than curt.

 

[Snakeman1066]

Why bother? Even if you spend hundreds of dollars, it will always be a MIM body.

meh...so it's thee pieces of wood glued together instead of two...so what!?

 

[Snakeman1066]

Can a MIM J body be upgraded with more appropriate parts? I realize that they probably have a larger route and would need a pickguard. I don’t care for the knobs they come with. Is the bridge ok?

Thanks.

Asking for a friend.

yep people do it all the time....

This is a P Bass I call Fan-Boi...it's a MIM Dee Dee Ramone Body married to a MIJ Geddy Neck, with EMG Geezer Butler pick-ups and a Bad Ass Bridge...also added were a hipshot thumb rest and string retainer and a custom bone nut...also a switch craft jack...

personally i think it smokes a lot of MIA P basses I have played...so do what you want...and who gives a crap what others think...

 

[StereoPlayer]

Wow! I never check these things. This thread is #1 trending in the TB homepage! Thank to all.
And thanks for all the information!

 

[Snakeman1066]

I rather like the old school Fender bridge. Never failed me. I’m building a custom bass right now...guess what? A Fender bridge.
Tasty walnut Jazz

some do...some don't...I detest them...all of my Fender instruments have Slotted Bad ass style bridges...IMHO they look better, add a bit of sustain and weight, and are much easier to customize to fit my playing style (set up wise)

 

[bolophonic]

Thanks everybody. I got this coming today. And the neck should be here soon too.
View attachment 4068281
View attachment 4068282

That looks like it will be a killer bass. I love building jalopy basses. Most of mine have MIM Precision necks, but all sorts of bodies... Squier, Hondo, no-name. They are all usually within a usable range of similarity.

Also: it wasn’t until today that I knew that Jaco had P knobs on his Jazz. I like Jazz knobs, too, but I really don’t care for Strat knobs. I put some Gibson speed knobs on a Jazz when I was young and foolish. It didn’t look so hot.

 

[StereoPlayer]

That looks like it will be a killer bass. I love building jalopy basses. Most of mine have MIM Precision necks, but all sorts of bodies... Squier, Hondo, no-name. They are all usually within a usable range of similarity.

Also: it wasn’t until today that I knew that Jaco had P knobs on his Jazz. I like Jazz knobs, too, but I really don’t care for Strat knobs. I put some Gibson speed knobs on a Jazz when I was young and foolish. It didn’t look so hot.

Strat knobs look nice on a...Strat.

 

[musicman556]

This is a 2019 MIM, with an $11 pickguard off Amazon, a Dimarzio Relentless P pickup, aftermarket knobs, a Hipshot High Mass bridge, and Hipshot extended range tuner. Also new pots, etc. Basically the only metal parts I kept were three of the tuners and the strap buttons.

Every piece bolted/screwed right into place with zero issues. I took my time and it took me less than 2 hrs. I'm very happy with it, and have zero isssues with dumping another $300 into a $600 MIM.

Do what you do and enjoy it, Bro!

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Wow! I never check these things. This thread is #1 trending in the TB homepage! Thank to all.
And thanks for all the information!

 

[/\/\3phist0]

some do...some don't...I detest them...all of my Fender instruments have Slotted Bad ass style bridges...IMHO they look better, add a bit of sustain and weight, and are much easier to customize to fit my playing style (set up wise)

The Hipshot take *Kickass* (or even the Omega) are even nicer. ( I have built 3 with the Kickass, and own one still)
Bent plate bridges do the job just fine, I do like to have threaded saddles , but everyone has their preferences .
I love my Billy Bo with a trapeze tailpiece and Tune-o-Matic.

 

[bolophonic]

This is a 2019 MIM, with an $11 pickguard off Amazon, a Dimarzio Relentless P pickup, aftermarket knobs, a Hipshot High Mass bridge, and Hipshot extended range tuner. Also new pots, etc. Basically the only metal parts I kept were three of the tuners and the strap buttons.

Every piece bolted/screwed right into place with zero issues. I took my time and it took me less than 2 hrs. I'm very happy with it, and have zero isssues with dumping another $300 into a $600 MIM.

View attachment 4068712 Do what you do and enjoy it, Bro!

I had never heard of Dimarzio Relentless pickups before. Those look cool and interesting.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Billy Bo: Special Edition Build off - Super Tangerine Billy Bo

Rondo body: G&L tribute neck Special Edition Build off - Blue Flame Maple PJ 4-5 conversion

My mongrel Jazz: (4 string GFS paulownia body, 5 string Squier VM Jazz neck. wilkinson bent plate bridge, Hipshot Ultralite tuners, MEC passive pups, black glass glitter pickguard, filigree engraved control plate )
New parts build. 4 to 5 conversion

Polishing a turd? Maybe, then again, find me a 7.3 lb Fender USA in Pink, with a blocked bound neck.
Custom shop? 5k!
mine 300.00

 

[bolophonic]

I have never had a single problem with any bass bridge, to be honest. Even the cheapest bent-plate bridges have worked just fine for me. I like to find odd bridges that I haven’t seen before. Schaller roller bridges are my favorite “standard” replacement bridges because I think they have a nice look and feel.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

I had never heard of Dimarzio Relentless pickups before. Those look cool and interesting.

they are new, released @ a month ago, Billy Sheehan design.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

On a P/J I've put together, I have two metal knobs for the volume knobs and a small black plastic one for the tone. Just sayin, might not be your cup of tea but I like it... Something like this

 

[micguy]

Why bother? Even if you spend hundreds of dollars, it will always be a MIM body.

The fact that it's a MIM body means the wood is simply not motivated to vibrate like it would if the same piece of wood were used in a custom shop instrument. Everyone knows that. ;-)

Fender basses are one of the most upgradeable things in the world. Leo Fender came up with the designs in the 50's, and they haven't really changed much. The original designs used hardware that was designed to work decent, but at the lowest possible cost. From that humble start, Fender started trying to make multiple tiers or grades out of each bacsic design. There is so little difference between the top and bottom of the line,and so many different sub model grades that the whole thing gets a bit silly. There are probably people having meetings in a daily basis to come up with clever ways to make a level 4 Fender Bass somehow appear more different than a level 3 Bass. I'm not even sure how many levels there are - a couple (or is it 3?) Squier grades, A couple MIM grades, 3 American factory made grades, 2 or 3 custom shop grades......

 

[/\/\3phist0]

The fact that it's a MIM body means the wood is simply not motivated to vibrate like it would if the same piece of wood were used in a custom shop instrument. Everyone knows that. ;-)

Fender basses are one of the most upgradeable things in the world. Leo Fender came up with the designs in the 50's, and they haven't really changed much. The original designs used hardware that was designed to work decent, but at the lowest possible cost. From that humble start, Fender started trying to make multiple tiers or grades out of each bacsic design. There is so little difference between the top and bottom of the line,and so many different sub model grades that the whole thing gets a bit silly. There are probably people having meetings in a daily basis to come up with clever ways to make a level 4 Fender Bass somehow appear more different than a level 3 Bass. I'm not even sure how many levels there are - a couple (or is it 3?) Squier grades, A couple MIM grades, 3 American factory made grades, 2 or 3 custom shop grades......

Adding to this, the REASON he chose Alder was because it was cheap and plentiful in the dimensions he needed.
The threaded saddles came about because the bar stock that he bought and sent out to be chromed (nickel plated)
was unavailable for a time, so they went and ordered Surplus threaded stock (which didn't need to be plated and was cheaper) and made a jig to drill them for the height and intonation adjustment screws.
I worked with the man he was CHEEEEP.

 

[micguy]

Adding to this, the REASON he chose Alder was because it was cheap and plentiful in the dimensions he needed.
The threaded saddles came about because the bar stock that he bought and sent out to be chromed (nickel plated)
was unavailable for a time, so they went and ordered Surplus threaded stock (which didn't need to be plated and was cheaper) and made a jig to drill them for the height and intonation adjustment screws.
I worked with the man he was CHEEEEP.

One of the legends I heard (not sure if it was really true) was that, when someone was fired, he would take their business cards, and cut them up to use as neck shims.

 

[dkelley]

I've swapped many Fender and Squier necks and they all fit like a glove!

Squier but not all Squier... don't forget about affinity (different measurements) and some other non-standard lineups.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

One of the legends I heard (not sure if it was really true) was that, when someone was fired, he would take their business cards, and cut them up to use as neck shims.

LOL, not likely because when you were out, he wouldn't have wanted your name to be attached to his company in any way.
The replacement's first job when hired would have been to mark off the predecessor's name on the card, and hand write in his own.