Show us your "parts basses"

[WI Short Scaler]

My gig basses are random ash P bodies... one from Guitar Mill and one's a Mendel P. Otherwise they are identically appointed, with USA Geddy Lee Jazz necks, Dominger P and Tom Brantley Geddy J pups, 920d parallel-serial control joints, Hipshot detuner, Decoboom pickguards, Dunlop straplocks, and D'Addario EXL170 strings.

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Like the custom pickguards!

Really nice paint work on those two.

Thank you sir!

 

[maxschrek]

70's musicman slab body,
EMG active jazz pickups
Moses graphite neck

I sold it a couple years ago and miss this weird beauty.View attachment 4536742

Here it is now

I put this one together as well

 

[maxschrek]

And this one

 

[fourstringburn]

If using nearly all Fender parts counts, here are my 2 recent custom parts Jazz Basses. One you can see is a Vintage looking 1961 Jazz Bass in appearance with a hidden modern modification while the other is true custom Jazz Bass with Ebony fretboard and other features of what I like about vintage and modern Jazz Basses.

I recently updated the Vintage Jazz with a string-thru American Standard bridge and threaded saddles to give it more of a vintage look over using the High mass bridge as shown in the pic.

If your interested in all the details on these 2 builds, refer to this thread:

My Custom Build Fender Jazz Basses

 

[C Stone]

- paulownia body from a glarry fretless p-bass (got a nice one!).
- chinese neck from an ebay seller (super stable, but had to roll the playing edge for comfort).
- pickguard from pickguardian (he was slow, but hey: it's purple!)
- carbon fiber machine heads by gotoh (the lightest-weight machines i could find).
- schaller 3D bridge (a favorite bridge).
- pickup: dimarzio DP127 (i may eventually change it to a delano model).
- richter VT pre (prewired, self-grounding, no soldering!)
- schaller straplocks
- knobs from amazon (i'll reduce more weight when/if i change these from brass to plastic)
- TI jazz rounds
i love playing this lightweight ax (6.2 lbs.)!

Love it!

then theres this Glarry body
Some no name neck that I reshaped the headstock, cut a pick guard, a cheap bridge that fit the bill ( thanks for the tip @C Stone ) added 2 sets of Oripure pickups with CTS Pots and an on/off and Series/Parallel switch. (This Pic was taken before I added the on/off switch)
This one sounds fantastic and plays great!!
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Very nice work!@Dubious Aa

Great use of the Glarry bodies fellas! @Dubious Aa glad the bridge worked for you.

Here is my Glarry parts bass I added a Classic 70's J neck and Highway one tuners. Width wise the neck pocket fit very well but I did need to add a SUBSTANTIAL full pocket shim to use the CV neck, finished out at just 6.4lbs!

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

I love parts stuff. I made a P bass and sold it on here. I also have made a couple Jazzmasters from parts.

 

[T-34]

A scratch-and-dent G&L neck (they were selling those cheaply 10 years ago), a second hand G&L MFD pickup, various parts from old projects and to top it all, a body I've made out of old IKEA pine shelves:



It plays great!

 

[TDR1138]

Mighty Mite fretless neck
Mystery body, possibly Squier Affinity
Fender MIM tuners
Wilkinson bridge
Fralin pickup with CTS and Switchcraft electronics
Assorted bits and bobbles holding it all together…

 

[Bobbadfinger]

Borrowed from a friend (he's selling, m-a-y-b-e it will make companion to my Longhorn).
Really liked the neck, although those Artec pickups sounds like cr#p...

 

[droo46]

This is my Franken-P. It's not too bad for what it is. The neck is really nice, so I wouldn't mind putting the neck on a better instrument at some point in the future.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Mine is still in progress. Still fine sanding the neck and want to get a drill press to properly tap threaded inserts.

I already have Hipshot tuners & bridge and went with SD Antiquity pickups (both Alnico 2).

I'm in no rush because this always was a "sanity project" started in the foul year of our lord that was 2020. I guess my sanity still needs some work but that's another conversation altogether.

The main parts are a Squier Jag P/J and WD music fretless neck.

 

[pbass888]

The first one in my avatar is pure mutt . The neck brought on talkbass circa 2014 has a HG Thorr epoxy neck.the body is an mjt refin ,pickups are emg jvx (had bartolini and audere in the picture below ),strings are nickel rounds and the bridge is off an old highway one bass. This is my main bass and it sings . Used it on a reggae tour in 2018 (flats), several Jazz cds as a sideman and now , live shows, now that I have left Harlem and live in Denver CO.

The one below is newly purchased warmoth parts. now it has two pickups (emg jx) a funny little bridge and a roasted fretless neck and body with alder fingerboard . The warmoth necks are better than my vintage pre cbs jazzes(which are actually amazing).

Edit : total cost of each bass approx $875 and $750 respectively

 

[staurosjohn]

All of my basses are ‘parts’ basses - ‘cause I like to use the parts I like These 4 show up, on TB, quite a bit Even got neckplates to match ‘year’ of assembly!

 

[JRA]

These are all parts basses.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Yeah, I guess technically this would be my parts bass. I found this ESP F-104 bare body on CL for $20 -

I stripped it down, repainted it with a custom swirl finish, put an Ebay neck on it (from Australia, not China), Guyker tuners, EMG active soapbar pickups. Nothing fancy, but it is one of my favs -

 

[cholyoke]

From top to bottom:
2019 MIM Precision body with defretted 2014 Precision special (jazz) neck, dual reverse P wired VVT
Warmoth body with 1991 Precision neck, triple reverse P wired to rotary switch VT
1991 MIM Precision body with 2016 jazz neck, dual reverse P wired VVT
Aria Pro ZZB with Kahler and Allen Eden medium scale neck, reverse P poles in jazz width coils.

The white and black one started it all and is still my favorite bass.

 

[ChickWithaRic]

Mine is still in progress. Still fine sanding the neck and want to get a drill press to properly tap threaded inserts.

I already have Hipshot tuners & bridge and went with SD Antiquity pickups (both Alnico 2).

I'm in no rush because this always was a "sanity project" started in the foul year of our lord that was 2020. I guess my sanity still needs some work but that's another conversation altogether.

The main parts are a Squier Jag P/J and WD music fretless neck.

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I think I stared open mouthed at that paint job for about five minutes. That's top drawer work.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Yeah, I guess technically this would be my parts bass. I found this ESP F-104 bare body on CL for $20 -
View attachment 4536946

I stripped it down, repainted it with a custom swirl finish, put an Ebay neck on it (from Australia, not China), Guyker tuners, EMG active soapbar pickups. Nothing fancy, but it is one of my favs -
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Love it. Would fit well with the band Living Colour.

 

[ChickWithaRic]

Some of the sweetest instruments around are parts basses. You chose each part, you spent forever changing things around in your head, eventually dropped your money, waited for it all to arrive, then you made it all work, with every tiny detail being just for you, just the way you like it. It doesn't get more custom than that.

I'll start, with my Jazz bass.

The body is northern ash, it was made by a UK company called Guitarbuild. Shipping was reasonably priced and fast, it came in at a little under $120. What I really liked was that if you choose their "buy from stock" option, you get the exact same item you saw on their website. Very cool. It's a 3 piece body with nice figuring, and is a 1960 pattern, with pre-CBS pickup spacing and it even has a Fullerton hump. All the finish is Tung oil and beeswax.

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The neck is Chinese and is made by Kmise. Mine has carbon reinforcing bars, allegedly. I haven't cut it in half to confirm this. It came with a paddle headstock, and was completely unfinished, which for me was a positive factor. On the downside, the heel was 2mm too thick to fit a body using standard Fender dimensions, so it needed a little work. Otherwise, it ticked all my boxes - maple fretboard, black block inlays, and unbound. I dislike bound necks for many reasons, and it goes nicely with the pre-CBS body for the sake of enthusiasts. It needed fretwork. It needed a LOT of fretwork. But I'm happy with it. After a little work, I got the neck pocket super tight.

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I gave it an early 50s P shape head shape just to be rebellious, and gave it my own fake branding.

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Tuners are Guyker, made in Korea. They are very nice. String retainer is a Hipshot.

Preamp is Guyker, too, and works really nicely whilst still looking stock J unless you look closely. Annoyingly, the stacked tone controls don't have a center detent position. I've become used to it.

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The bridge is a Babicz because I think it's the best Fender bridge going, and the strings go thru the body.

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Pickups are Wilkinson vintage alnico-v, in genuine Fender covers, and although they do sound really good, they are placeholders for something better.

I'm going to be ordering a Geddy Lee set from Tom Brantley very soon, to replace them.



Show us your parts basses

Somehow managed to not post the full view pic. I used to eat the paint off of imported toys as a child.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

I think I stared open mouthed at that paint job for about five minutes. That's top drawer work.

Thanks! Beleive it or not it's all Krylon or Rustoeum and the gold shapes are decals I got on Etsy. I had MUCH guidance from TB members is the Luthier's Forum. The sides did not come out as glossy but I think that over time it will naturally "relic" well.

Time will tell and thanks for the compliment!