Complete. It still needs a proper intonation set up and a few things adjusted, but it sounds pretty good as-is and I'm very happy with the look and feel.
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Putting together a parts P
- Thread starter mistergoats
- Start date
Holy Mother of Toilet Seat! That looks fantastic! I've always loved the dark tortoise on ~white. Beautiful.
Thanks, all!
I had a plan in my mind the whole time to make this a blend of modern and vintage. I love the Tele headstock so much, but I prefer the modern body styling of the P over the slab body.
I know @JimmyM will have something to say about this, but on their own, I'm not really digging the Geezer pick-ups. They're really fatter that I expected and the tone sweep is really, really subtle. I'm trying them out in with the band tonight. I might just have them adjusted wrong.
I had a plan in my mind the whole time to make this a blend of modern and vintage. I love the Tele headstock so much, but I prefer the modern body styling of the P over the slab body.
I know @JimmyM will have something to say about this, but on their own, I'm not really digging the Geezer pick-ups. They're really fatter that I expected and the tone sweep is really, really subtle. I'm trying them out in with the band tonight. I might just have them adjusted wrong.
Hey, if you don't dig it, you don't dig it. It happens. Looks good, though.
Ya man, for sure. Do you have any suggestions for something with a little more "grind"? I'm thinking maybe Fralins or something along that line. I seem to remember reading something about the best way to get that sound is adding a J pickup. Thoughts?
Fair dues. I was listening to a couple of P-bass pickup shootouts, and was listening for a little more treble. Thinking about it now, it could really be the wood in that body. Before I make any decisions, I need to get it in the mix and see how it sounds. It's reminiscent of the G3 I have on full buck and a half, so I'll see how it holds up versus that in the mix.
As someone who has gotten the same sound out of different woods but same pickup, I don't know...unless it's a really dense one compared to something considerably less dense, then I have a hard time thinking it's the wood. Plus the Geezer definitely isn't the brightest P pickup ever. But it's not dark like a Model P or QP and it can be made to sound pretty bright. Experimented with your amp's controls yet?
No, not yet. I've had it on the Yamaha THRC 10 in the basement, but putting it on the SVT tonight. There will be a marked difference in tone, methinks. I may have been jumping the gun a bit. I'm excited. And of course, I want the thing I made with my hands to be awesome. 
Okay, you win this round. Those pickups sound fantastic in the mix. A little dull and thuddy on their own but they sit right in the pocket with two other guitars and drums.
One quick question for you - they're a little quiet. I know, I know "turn your amp up, dummy!" but how close to the strings should I go with the height?
I usually use heights pretty closely based on what Fender recommends in the bass setup guide...seems to work with a little fine tuning:
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Grand. 2.8mm bass and 2mm treble. I used the ol' "double nickles" measurement and fine tuned a bit from there, but it seems WAY too far away.
Thanks Jimmy.
After all that, I just stripped out the EMG Geezers and replaced them with Lollar overwounds and an Emerson P bass pre-wired kit. Certainly not the same sounds at all. My wife thinks all my basses sound the same now; she really liked the more vintage-y GZR sound. Taking it out tonight to see how it sounds in the mix with the Lollars.
Of the dozens and dozens of P bass pickups I've tried, I narrowed it down to three favorites. My first is the Bartolini Class Bass model. It's very bright and hi-fi. There hasn't been a tone I couldn't get with it. A close second is the Seymour Duncan SPB4 Steve Harris model. It's bright with a really strong mid range presence and tight lows. The third would be the Dimarzio Will Power. Not as bright as the other pickups but tons of Mids and lows. This pickup sounds best with a high output Jazz bass pickup. I did like the Geezer Butler pickup. It had a decent P bass tone, nothing that stood out good or bad. I wasn't happy with the construction and had a few problems with the wiring harness. I got frustrated and sold them.
All those pickups sound good when you write them out, but I play pretty much strictly hard rock/modern punk, so the need for a real clarity of tone isn't required. I have considered Bartolini's in the past. Might give them a try.
I had the same frustrations/experience with the Geezers. I felt like the tone pot did basically nothing and the ground wire kept slipping off. Drove me nuts.
