"New" bass

I just bought a sweet-swounding homemade fretless Jazz copy off a guy, sans pickups, pickguard, and control plate for $30. Got a pair of Fender Custom 60's pickups for $50, pickguard for $15, control plate for $20, and I've got a fretless for $115 bucks. That makes for one happy Boognish!

 

It's got a 2 piece alder body with a bound maple neck. I haven't wired the pickups yet (the control plate still hasn't arrived) but it sounds awesome acoustic: that sweet fretless "mwah" all the way up and down the fingerboard, decent sustain (although I'm used to an aluminum neck Kramer, and nothing sustains as long as that), and really nice mid-low to treble tones.

The only really unfortunate thing about the guitar is that the builder routed a space for a precision pickup, backwards, using the jazz slot for the treble strings (!!!), which, of course, is not covered by the pickguard. So it has a little hole. Eventually, I'll get a piece of alder, cut it to fit, glue it in, fill it, sand it, and refinish. I've got a jar of gold metalflake from a race motorcycle that I built, and I am really tempted by the incongruity of a super-cheezy 70's finish on a fretless, but for now, I think I'll just play it.

I don't have a digital camera, as I have lately been spending every extra penny on bass and recording gear. But the finish on the bass isn't too exciting-natural under a chipping clear gloss lacquer. One strange note-the original owner put a Gibson bridge on it. This is fine by me, as I would have replaced any Fender bridge with a Badass II, anyhow. Well, there's the down-and-dirty. Have good days, all.

Peace,
Josh