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NBD - Project Punk Precision

neurotictim

neurotictim

Jan 2, 2008
2,637
2,101
Virginia Beach, Virginia
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#1
I FINALLY traded away my POS Jay Turser Telecaster clone for a Squier Precision bass. :hyper:

Since I started playing with this punk guy (see THIS thread), I started jonesin' for a P-bass I could sticker up, beat up, and in general play it like I didn't care what happened to it.

I don't really care what it sounds like - blasphemy, I know - but the point of this project is to play really loud, fast punk - in-your-face kinda stuff. IMO, for this project, a Squier P with the tone rolled almost all the way back is perfect - no need to worry about nuance or any of that.

So anyway, here's what I'm starting with:

SDC10930.jpg


SDC10932.jpg


SDC10933.jpg


The case is kinda cool - didn't even know they made these fitted style cases for P-basses. This bass is beat-to-****, which is perfect for what I wanna do... New strings (trying out Dunlop SS 45-105 for the first time) and a setup is in order, but otherwise...

Now I'm gonna play in Photoshop for a while, making stickers. Or printing out stickers I find on Google, whichever.
 
#5
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I think that would be nice.

Although if it's not your thing, you could just peruse www.stencilpunks.org, they've got a lot of band stencils, political stencils, and couple of other miscellaneous stencils that you could try painting, or just printing out and gluing/stickering. A black pickguard would be pretty cool, but that's me, I've never enjoyed white pickguards.
 
#6
This is the part where I tell everyone, "If you don't like it, **** off!" in an effort to be more punk.

SDC10935.jpg


Really, though, I expect some will love, some will hate, but I'm happy now.

Total cost? About $20, plus the set of $15 Dunlop strings.

I did make one concession to the sound of the bass - I went ahead and shielded the cavity/pickguard.

SDC10934.jpg


Painted the pickguard (who needs to buy one, anyway?) with a rattle can possibly as old as I am.

Put the strings on, intonated and set the action, and it's good to go. Decent sound, too. Not the BEST sounding P-bass ever, but definitely not bad.

And a better look at the stickers?

SDC10938.jpg


I made pretty much all of them, knowing they weren't exactly "punk", but not really giving a ****, which is the point, right?
 
#13
Here's where I'm joking:
Take all the hardware and the neck off, tie it to a bike, and take a tour with it. Some asphalt, some dirt, up and down curbs.. That should wreck it sufficiently. :D

Here's where I'm not:
Drop it a couple of times on the sides, that way you'll surely mimic the beater bass look :D
 
#14
One thing that I used to do ( and a lot of other punk bassists i know used to do) was to actually rip the tone pot entirely out of the bass and wire straight to the jack. I know that Jay bentley of Bad Religion has done this to a few of his basses in the past ( I think he had a bass built in the past without any volume or tone pots whatsoever) I don't really find myself doing this anymore because I play lots of different types of music but it can be a fun experience and can make your bass a little different.

-Ron
 
#15
Ronbeast said:
One thing that I used to do ( and a lot of other punk bassists i know used to do) was to actually rip the tone pot entirely out of the bass and wire straight to the jack. I know that Jay bentley of Bad Religion has done this to a few of his basses in the past ( I think he had a bass built in the past without any volume or tone pots whatsoever) I don't really find myself doing this anymore because I play lots of different types of music but it can be a fun experience and can make your bass a little different.

-Ron
Click to expand...
They are by no means punk (although they like to think they are and use the "image") but MXPX's bassist, Mike Herrera wires his Stingray straight to the jack. No onboard pre, no tone like you'd find on a normal Stingray. He's stated that EBMM makes them for him this way.
 
#19
Really like the Mastadon sticker, you need some more like this.

Stickering a bass is an art, its like getting a tattoo. You need to place them so that they flow, instead of random location on the bass. Find a sticker for the space its filling.

The punk bassists in my area tend to buy Jazz basses, and remove the neck pickup. They also only sticker the Pickguard it seems, i guess so you can easily get rid of the stickers if you dislike them or want more.

I would love one of those waterslide pin ups you guys mentioned.
 

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