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New pickups and possibly electronics to a cheap bass?

petjaolvi

petjaolvi

Guest
Jul 14, 2017
11
4
Finland
#1
I recently picked up an used Eko MM-305 5-string Stingray copy for a fairly good price. I love the playability of the bass as it has a tighter string spacing and the neck is not too wide (I'm a small guy with small hands!). I can also get the action much lower than on my Music Man SUB USA, which is great.

The bass sounds good now, but I'm wondering if I could make it more growly and 'Stingray-like' by switching the pups and possibly electronics? Do you have any recommendations? Also, could my bass be changed from passive to active?

I know, I know, my Eko will always be a cheap bass and it'll never be a genuine Stingray, but as a student I really can't afford a real EBMM bass. I'm also not asking if it's worth it because I won't be selling the bass and I want to explore the world of modifying instruments as there's something rather cool about having an instrument that you've actually improved yourself. What matters the most to me is that I have a bass that I like playing.
 
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#3
old spice said:
I did something similar, and it has worked pretty well for me, but the cost of the replacement pickup, preamp, nut, battery box, pickguard and luthier labor brought me pretty close to the price of a used instrument with those features.
Click to expand...

Yeah I figured it would cost money but I've been browsing ebay and used music equipment/parts sites from my country and for example Seymour Duncan SMB-5A pups pop up from time to time for a reasonable price so that would probably be more cost-effective for me.
 
#4
I replaced the electronics on my Squier VM Jazz fretless with those from a MIM Fender FSR Jazz, and it made a big difference, at least to my ears. And everything still cost me less than a used MIM Fender Jazz fretless.
 
#7
Is it like the OLP, with dual volumes? I'd first mess around with the existing pickup, maybe try direct to output wiring, or series/parallel switching, etc... Sometimes it matters what passive electronics there are in the bass, other times not so much. Don't forget to try different strings and setup specs (pickup height especially). That alone can keep you busy for a while, and on the cheap side, and you can learn a lot about the bass. You may grow to like its sound as is, or with minor mods.
 
#8
when a bass is very comfortable to play, it's always worth replacing the pickup/s in my world.

i replaced the pickups in my ibanez mikro ($179) with a single seymour duncan MM pickup and added an ebay active preamp. the bass sounds so good now, and pretty stingray-like. to cover the hole where the second pickup went, my husband cut out a piece of pearl pickguard material in the shape, more or less, of a ray pickup.

the MikroRay with pickguard

the MikroRay with pickguard

the pickguard fitted onto the Mikro after it's CNC'ed/
 
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#9
sikamikanico said:
Is it like the OLP, with dual volumes? I'd first mess around with the existing pickup, maybe try direct to output wiring, or series/parallel switching, etc... Sometimes it matters what passive electronics there are in the bass, other times not so much. Don't forget to try different strings and setup specs (pickup height especially). That alone can keep you busy for a while, and on the cheap side, and you can learn a lot about the bass. You may grow to like its sound as is, or with minor mods.
Click to expand...

Yes, two volumes and a tone knob. I lowered the action to my liking right after I got the bass and raised the pickup a little and managed to get a little bit more 'burp' to the tone. I'm also looking to buy some Cocco stainless steel strings to put on it as I have them on my SUB USA and they compliment Stingray type basses very well (highly recommend them!)
 
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#10
pcake said:
when a bass is very comfortable to play, it's always worth replacing the pickup/s in my world.

i replaced the pickups in my ibanez mikro ($179) with a single seymour duncan MM pickup and added an ebay active preamp. the bass sounds so good now, and pretty stingray-like. to cover the hole where the second pickup went, my husband cut out a piece of pearl pickguard material in the shape, more or less, of a ray pickup.

the MikroRay with pickguard

the MikroRay with pickguard

the pickguard fitted onto the Mikro after it's CNC'ed/
Click to expand...

Thats a cool looking modded bass you got there!

May I ask what tools did your husband use to cut the pickguard? I'm also planning to swap out my Eko's white pickguard to a black one, but a standard Stingray Classic 5 pickguard won't fit the pickup and they have the truss rod hole and my bass doesn't have the standard Stingray truss rod, so I might have to do the pickguard by myself to get the look I want.
 
#11
petjaolvi said:
Thats a cool looking modded bass you got there!

May I ask what tools did your husband use to cut the pickguard? I'm also planning to swap out my Eko's white pickguard to a black one, but a standard Stingray Classic 5 pickguard won't fit the pickup and they have the truss rod hole and my bass doesn't have the standard Stingray truss rod, so I might have to do the pickguard by myself to get the look I want.
Click to expand...

my husband used his CNC mill to cut it out. assuming you don't have one, you could do it with a laminate trimmer or a dremel with the right attachment, which he's used in the past, but he's used those with an acrylic or MDF template.
 
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#14
Modding can be a lot of fun and quite rewarding. However, it's not hard to get carried away, either, so it's worth setting some limits and making deliberate choices. For me, the point of modding is to make a budget bass as good as (or better than) the next step up, while still costing less than the next step up.
 
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#15
I had a Warlock NJ series in the mid-80's. I changed out the bridge for a Schaller (wanted a Badass but it didn't fit), replaced the nut. I replaced the passive pickups with EMG's. The instrument really came alive and it was worth it to me to make the mods. If I remember correctly, I had about $600 into it. I really don't remember for sure but the point about just getting an instrument with what you want to start with is a valid one. Seems like a "real" Warlock would have been around the same price after the mods. But it sounds like you have a nice playing bass that you want to upgrade so have fun and do it!
 
#18
I do this sort of thing all the time. A Pup and Pre upgrade can do wonders. For your situation contact Nordstrand as they can make you a Pup that fits and they offer a two band Pre for that MM SR Sound. They even have a MM Pup that has OLP sizing.
 
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#19
If you can do all the work yourself and shop carefully you may not have too much invested.
It's fun to mod, sometimes makes a real improvement and you get that satisfied feeling
of making your vision come true.
At the same time, it's also easy to spend several times what it's worth and end up with
something that isn't any better than it was to begin with.
Spend time learning what to expect from each mod.
Ask here to see if anyone else has been happy when using whatever you want to try.
 

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