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Revamping a Squier Precision Bass

#141
Made a lot of progress on my P-Bass with jazz neck. The bulk of the work is done, and I hit a few snags. The major one is that in drilling the tube to run the battery wiring, I accidentally drilled out through the top. :bawl: I either misjudged the angle (despite my careful alignment) or the somewhat flexy long bit wandered off course. I'm really bummed about this because I took special care to protect the finish in other steps. You'll see the damage in the pics of the top, between the two knobs. F***. Well, I either have to find a way to repair this fairly well or it's refinishing anyway. :scowl:
Other issues are minor. (1) the knobs are reversed from what I would prefer - had to do this to fit the preamp in. I'm mulling an alternative solution. (2) the tone knob sits up really high - I can shim it down with washers underneath, but then it won't clear the preamp. I think there's additional routing in my future. (3) The custom headstock decal has not arrived. (4) I just got this back together before I had to go out to a rehearsal. I got no sound out of it so I need to go back and check the wiring, etc. So, chores for the coming week. However, I think it's starting to come together nicely.

Two pics here. Additional pics at http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii182/neobassman/Bass Stuff/
 

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#144
bassgod76 said:
Drilled through the top!!! Ouch! I was wondering how you'd fit all that preamp in that P cavity.
Click to expand...

Yeah it doesn't "really" fit. I'm trying to decide if I want to excavate sideways to gain some lateral room, or go deeper in the shallower section between the pups and the first knob. I guess I could also open up a control cavity in the back, but I would like to find a way to fit it under the pickguard. I would be curious to know how others have solved this. Hmmm... is there any way to get rid of the boo-boo at the same time... I guess another plate on top would look just weird....
 
#145
A-Step-Towards said:
The bass looks great! that small chip would probably be touched up with nail polish that matches somewhat.

at least its not like the chip in the squier i just bought squier pete wentz for 130$ its going to need some mods :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment, and the suggestion. That is a nasty chip - are you going to patch in a piece of wood or go for some "custom body sculpting?"
 
#148
neobassman said:
Thanks for the compliment, and the suggestion. That is a nasty chip - are you going to patch in a piece of wood or go for some "custom body sculpting?"
Click to expand...

Man idk its huge and i cant tell if its in the wood as well your just the paint i think it took some wood off as well , plus these basses have a ugly bat logo i think i may just play it as is and use it as a beater depending on how bad the body is.


But hopefully it makes you feel better about your chip, it looks so tiny compared haha:D
 
#149
Just had a bulb. Maybe I can rout out a shallow pocket under the big slab of pickguard between the pups and neck (but lower, closer to the pots). I'll have to check if the wiring will go that far. There's a lotta leads attached to that preamp!
 
#150
neobassman said:
Yeah it doesn't "really" fit. I'm trying to decide if I want to excavate sideways to gain some lateral room, or go deeper in the shallower section between the pups and the first knob. I guess I could also open up a control cavity in the back, but I would like to find a way to fit it under the pickguard. I would be curious to know how others have solved this. Hmmm... is there any way to get rid of the boo-boo at the same time... I guess another plate on top would look just weird....
Click to expand...

I did my joan rivers p bass and I put a full EMG preamp in it. I widened the control cavity and fabricated a pickguard to cover it. I will post the build thread tomorrow.
 
#153
Good suggestions. I think I'm going to try routing an additional cavity under the existing pickguard, and hunt for some blue nail polish to make the chip less obvious.... I'll post pics of where this all goes next - probably will get to it on the weekend.
 
#155
neobassman said:
Good suggestions. I think I'm going to try routing an additional cavity under the existing pickguard, and hunt for some blue nail polish to make the chip less obvious.... I'll post pics of where this all goes next - probably will get to it on the weekend.
Click to expand...

OK so it's been 2 1/2 months but I finally got back to this project. I routed out a new pocket for the preamp:
P4260379.jpg

P4260381.jpg


...and lined it with copper foil:
P4260384.jpg


I also extended the foil on the underside of the pickguard to cover the new cavity (not shown). I needed to extend one wire to get the preamp wiring to reach to the pocket. I also had to repair two broken connections on existing wires - I guess all the cramming stuff in with the old layout stressed a couple connections. Moving the preamp allowed me to swap the volume and tone controls back to the proper locations. I also was able to shim down the tone control with a couple washers to get it to a more reasonable height outside:
P4260383.jpg


...and put the whole thing back together. I purchased some blue and purple nail polish and mixed up a bit of both (It actually took more of the purple than of the blue to get close to the original color.) to mask the hole in the top I erroneously made earlier. It is an obvious repair from within two feet, but pretty unnoticeable if you don't know it's there. I suspect I might do more damage by trying to go further, so under the circumstances I'm OK with the repair. It is visible in the picture between the volume and tone knobs, just towards the strings from the pickguard. It looks like a reflection or smudge in this picture...
P4260385.jpg


The bass sounds and plays great, especially through my newly completed fEarful 15/6 cab. the maple Jazz neck is great on the P body, and I can completely understand why so many people make this swap. Last step is to put a custom decal on the headstock - I'll post a final project picture when that's done...
 
#157
Nice! That turned out really well. You can barely notice the hole now. Heck, the bass I did in this thread looks bad all over from within two feet! So, did you just buy a new neck after the other one cracked, or what?
 
#158
rdwoody1 said:
Nice! That turned out really well. You can barely notice the hole now. Heck, the bass I did in this thread looks bad all over from within two feet! So, did you just buy a new neck after the other one cracked, or what?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment. Yep, I tried to glue the original back together but didn't like the way it turned out. Great neck for a Steinberger now! I swallowed my pride and purchased another neck and used a different method for installing the bushings (big C-clamp). Seems to be fine. Not cost-effective, but fine. I'd do it all again and learned a lot for the next project. The bass sounds awesome IMHO and has respectable action.
 
#159
neobassman said:
Not cost-effective, but fine. I'd do it all again and learned a lot for the next project. The bass sounds awesome IMHO and has respectable action.
Click to expand...

Parts basses are never cost-effective, but saving money is not the reason why we tinker. Just like you, I learn a ton from every project. And even though parts basses have almost zero resale, I have to say that they have great fit and feel when finished and setup.

I was playing one of my EB Sterlings for a few weeks, then I switched over to my Joan Rivers P. I'm always blown away by her thunderous low E and throaty mid range.

Modding is great because I can take a "closet queen", and turn it into a frontline player.
 

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