I've wondered about the Hillsboro- but I'm in the minority who doesn't dig the pickguard. It looks like it was fashioned by someone on Window Pane looking at his reflection in a funhouse mirror.
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Modding a Dean Hillsboro
- Thread starter samc2527
- Start date
I've wondered about the Hillsboro- but I'm in the minority who doesn't dig the pickguard. It looks like it was fashioned by someone on Window Pane looking at his reflection in a funhouse mirror.
The first time I saw the pickguard, I'll admit, I didn't really like it. It has grown on me since lol. The trans-blue comes standard with a white pickguard. I can't find any replacements because I would really like to throw on a black pickguard and some white Jazz pups.
The tone and playability is amazing for any bass. My g/f actually picked it up for me on sale for just about 200 bucks so a great deal to boot!
The tone and playability is amazing for any bass. My g/f actually picked it up for me on sale for just about 200 bucks so a great deal to boot!
I had WD Music make me a custom pickguard. I took a big sheet of paper, and traced my pickguard, and mailed it to them. I want to say it was around $60-$80 for everything. I got the smoked mirror pickguard on my blue hillsboro. Here's how it turned out:
Damn, that looks great. I had the white Hillsboro and traded it in…big mistake, and I missed out on a trans black jazz one on ebay awhile back…it had a tortoiseshell pickguard which I've never seen before...looked incredible but I hesitated and the sale ended with it unsold. Believe me, I check every day hoping it gets relisted.
By the way, they're definitely one of the most underated basses out there, and the pickguard is a work of art, especially compared to the same old same old.
By the way, they're definitely one of the most underated basses out there, and the pickguard is a work of art, especially compared to the same old same old.
They are very underrated basses and can be found cheap if you are patient. I picked up a cherry single for under $200 shipped from Hello Music a while back. It setup fine and half sounded pretty good. I did end up replacing the pickup and pre with EMG MMCS & BTS to give it a different flavor.
USA Deans are supposed to be extremely good but I have never had the chance to try one.
USA Deans are supposed to be extremely good but I have never had the chance to try one.
I had WD Music make me a custom pickguard. I took a big sheet of paper, and traced my pickguard, and mailed it to them. I want to say it was around $60-$80 for everything. I got the smoked mirror pickguard on my blue hillsboro. Here's how it turned out:
It's got that Steve Harris P-bass color scheme going on! Before he painted it white, that is....
let me first say this, i am a big advocate of the hillsboro bass. i have owned a couple of them, and all were impressive for the price.
i havent had one in a while, but am currently waiting on a hillsboro single in the tobacco sun burst finish. i ordered a dpdt on-on switch (to use as a series/parallel option), a seymour duncan basslines mm pickup, and a tone monster active/passive 3 band preamp... you see where i'm headed with this. >
i havent had one in a while, but am currently waiting on a hillsboro single in the tobacco sun burst finish. i ordered a dpdt on-on switch (to use as a series/parallel option), a seymour duncan basslines mm pickup, and a tone monster active/passive 3 band preamp... you see where i'm headed with this. >
let me first say this, i am a big advocate of the hillsboro bass. i have owned a couple of them, and all were impressive for the price.
i havent had one in a while, but am currently waiting on a hillsboro single in the tobacco sun burst finish. i ordered a dpdt on-on switch (to use as a series/parallel option), a seymour duncan basslines mm pickup, and a tone monster active/passive 3 band preamp... you see where i'm headed with this. >
I just received my second Hillsboro 2 weeks ago. I have the black (in my pic <----) and now the gold Eric Bass sigs. Nice basses!
very nice! congrats on your two basses!
for now i got this bass (single) because it is cheaper and i can do so much to upgrade it, and is going to be a keeper, along with the white one when i get it... btw, i would not do anything to the Eric bass, i thought it was great as it was.
i have had the chance of testing the Eric signature models at a namm show a while ago, no surprise they were as awesome as they look. i almost bought the white version when it came out, but i had too many guitars at that time. i have reduced to my favorite two since then, and do plan on getting it now.
for now i got this bass (single) because it is cheaper and i can do so much to upgrade it, and is going to be a keeper, along with the white one when i get it... btw, i would not do anything to the Eric bass, i thought it was great as it was.
One thing to bear in mind, the p/up is not in the same place as a MM, this will effect the tone, not by much, but maybe enough to make the upgrade not worth it. I have one of these, all i did was upgrade it to a 3 band eq system. I have also owned a pre EB MM, there is not a lot of difference in the tones you can get, but it's a damn site lighter
